Deepak Kumar Nayak, Project Assistant of Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage(INTACH) with Rabindra Rana, heritage enthusiast of Odisha located the 500-year-old submerged temple in the Mahanadi river near Baideswar in Padmavati area, Cuttack.
About the Temple:
i.The 16 feet temple dates back to the late 15th or early 16th century, considering the construction style of the Mastaka and the materials used in the construction.
ii.The temple was dedicated to the Gopinath Dev constructed in the region known as “Satapatana” in the early days.
iii.In the early 19th century the deities of the temple were shifted to the present Gopinath Dev temple in Padmavati village.
iv.The discovery was made as part of the documentation project of a heritage site in the river valley.
About the documentation project:
i.The documentation project of a heritage site in the Mahanadi valley was launched by the INTACH Odisha in 2019.
ii.This is a pilot project of INTACH and the first of its kind study on any river in India.
iii.The project survey covers around 1,700 km including the tangible and intangible heritages of Mahanadi Valley form the source to sea on both the banks of the river.
iv.The INTACH has located more than 65 temples in the Mahanadi river during this project.
v.The document of the survey will be released as a multi volume report of more than 800 monuments in 2021.
Key Points:
i.The request to relocate and restore the temple to a suitable site using the required tools will be made to the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI).
ii.Anil Dhir, the project coordinator of INTACH mentioned that the temples in the Hirakud Reservoir can be dismantled and reconstructed.
About INTACH:
Chairman– L.K. Gupta
Headquarters– New Delhi
