The Ghazipur district in eastern Uttar Pradesh has recently made national headlines because gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was brought back for burial. Even if he wasn’t a user to be proud of, the ancient afterlife of Ghazipur has a lot of hidden things that he can bring to light, as long as other people know about it.
For most people, any mention of Ghazipur’s history would be taken as a reference to the East India Company’s Benaras Opium agency, which operated out of a giant factory here and whose presence and operations overshadowed the city itself. Connected to this site is the tomb of the guy who presided over the Society in India, Lord Cornwallis. Today, the factory’s presence is limited to the history books and Cornwallis is a mere memory.
But beyond the East India Company, Ghazipur has a deeper history, dating back centuries. And, surprisingly, the community has more lines of this ancient history than of the East India Company. All it takes is a little perseverance along those lines.
In a green setting near the Ganges River, near a village called Zamania, lies the archaeological site of Lathiya. The position was first explored through the mythical Alexander Cunningham, who founded what would later become the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). According to him, Zamania is named after Khan Zaman, governor of Jaunpur during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. But in Lathiya, the Mughals disappeared and the Gupta dynasty dominated.
In Lathiya there is a pillar from the Gupta era: a sandstone column, about eight meters high, held to the ground by four vertical stones. Excavations carried out several years ago revealed the shape of a wall around the base of the stones. It is advisable to read the excavation report, with the main points it presents.
The top of the pillar had a bell-shaped capital topped by eight lions, all damaged now, oriented in eight different directions. This capital was crowned by the Garuda twins, back to back and lying on lotus leaves. All of this was assumed by archaeologists discovered in an examination of the damaged remains discovered near the pillar.
The excavations also exposed elements, numbering around 400, adding elements made of terracotta, stone, copper, glass, bone, shell and iron. These included a seal with copper rings and terracotta seals bearing the Gupta era Brahmi script of the fourth or early fifth century AD. Remains of four brick temples from the Gupta era have also been found at the site, revealing the length and importance of the site.
Remains dating from the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC. From the Maurya and Sunga periods, they add to the site an updatable, and even older, size. Unfortunately, this beautiful site was also damaged. The Ghazipur district bulletin shows that many bricks were removed. through the locals and used in the structure of their houses. Today, the guest will have to believe the glory of the position at its peak.
Not far from Lathiya is Bhitari, perhaps the most important ancient site in the district. In the middle of an ASI-protected complex, which was probably the site of a Vishnu temple, stands another pillar. It bears a 19-line inscription recounting the deeds of Skandagupta, a ruler of the Gupta dynasty of the fifth century AD. makes Gupta’s victory truly remarkable.
Some distance away, on the banks of the Ganges, there is a position called Odhiyar. Here, a site now called ‘Aditya Ghat’ was once Varaha Ghat, named after a Varaha temple here. A shrine dedicated to Varaha still exists, but the temple and the idol it comprises appear to be recent. According to locals, the original idol was stolen decades ago and has yet to be found. The surrounding domain comprises fragments of idols and temple pieces, indicating what was once here. The ‘Aditya’ name of the ghat is attributed to the commercial giant Aditya Vikram Birla, whose circle of relatives is said to have rebuilt the ghat, as a triyete to a Swamiji who once lived here.
While Odhiyar Varaha is lost, some of Ghazipur’s heritage that has been moved from its original location, but has not yet been lost, can be discovered in the nearby city of Varanasi. Here, inside the complex that houses the Sanskrit Vishavidyala Sampurnananda still stands pillar of Ghazipur. About ten meters tall, the pillar is a relic of the Gupta era and bears the inscription of a ruler named Shishupal. And, as if that weren’t enough, it has an inscription for the time being, in a script that resembles shells, dating back to the sixth century A. D.
To the two ancient inscriptions that already appear on the pillar, a third, more recent one has been added on a stone slab. This proves that the pillar does not belong to its current location but was brought here from a position called Prahladpur, in the district. He further states that the replenishment was ordered through James Thomson, vice-governor of the north-eastern provinces, and that it was completed when the pillar was rebuilt in May 1854 by one George Atkinson, who was probably a Bengal officer. .
These fragments of the afterlife resemble a giant jigsaw puzzle that, once assembled, will provide a clearer view of what Ghazipur once was: perhaps a land of temples and memorials along the Ganges. A sacred position long before it was destroyed by an opium factory and before the arrival of gangsters posing as benefactors of the public.
He is a heritage explorer through nature with a penchant for searching for hard-to-understand sites. A representative logo per profession, tweets @HiddenHeritage. The reviews expressed in the above article are not public and only those of Array do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s perspectives.
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