New Delhi: Jammu’s sole Buddhist site is finally stepping into the spotlight, as a growing chorus of demands calls for the infrastructure development and promotion of the site on the International Buddhist map.
“We have been in talk with CM Omar Abdullah about how we can promote this. We are going to run a small cruise service in Chenab river also,” said Satish Sharma, minister in Jammu Kashmir government, speaking at the photo-exhibition Ambaran: The Historic Buddhist Citadel of J&K at Ajanta Hall of Delhi’s National Museum.
On the inaugural day of the exhibition, Sharma was joined by Vijay Kranti, photographer, and Tibetologist who photographed the Ambaran site, BR Mani, and director-general of National Museum who excavated the site from 1999-2001. Among the audience were cultural enthusiasts, literary figures, and politicians such as Meenakshi Lekhi and Balbir Punj.
It’s been 25 years since BR Mani first started excavation of the Ambaran site. But it still hasn’t reached a conclusion. Mani recalled how he was stopped from excavating the site by the owner of the land because he was afraid the government might acquire it after that.
The walls of the Ajanta Hall at the National Museum were lined with high-resolution images of the Ambaran excavation site—potteries, relic caskets, and semi-precious stones. All the photographs have a brief description. “It is Jammu Kashmir government’s endeavour to place Akhnoor on the tourist map of JK and India,” reads one of the display boards, praising the Omar Abdullah government for promoting the state’s cultural heritage.
Kranti, who photographed the site and its antiquities between 2010 and 2013, said this exhibition is a small contribution to promoting Ambaran once again on the International Buddhist map. He said even the Dalai Lama had stressed the importance of the site, saying that historians might have to rewrite some chapters of the history of Buddhism.
Tucked away in the scenic town of Akhnoor, Jammu’s best-kept secret, Ambaran whispers tales of a bygone era. Its ancient Buddhist ruins are a testament to the region’s forgotten heritage.
“Maybe in future, some archaeologist will go there, excavate and expose the entire area,” said Mani, adding that the site is important as it is the only known Buddhist site in the Jammu region.
Now Ambaran is poised to unveil its timeless beauty to the world—situated on the right bank of Chenab river also known as Asikni.
Ambaran was a monastery that remained active for about 900 years between the 2nd century BC and the 7th century AD, a period belonging to the Pre-Kushan, Kushan, and Post-Kushan Gupta periods.
According to an excavation report by BR Mani, the site seems to have been abandoned sometime around the seventh century AD due to flooding.
“This monastery appears to have been located on an active trade route of Northern India which also connected two famous Buddhist universities of Nalanda in the East and Taxila in the West,” reads the description of one of the photos.
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Ambaran excavation
Ambaran site found the spotlight in 1936 when Charles Fabri, an art critic and curator of the Lahore Museum, took interest in this site. He found several terracottas at the site.
But after Fabri, no one took the site seriously until BR Mani started the excavation in 1999 when he was superintendent archaeologist at Srinagar circle of Archaeological Survey of India.
“From the artistic point of view of the impact of Gandhar style on these terracottas mixed with the style of Madhya Desh. It came to my mind that probably this site has never been excavated and this should be excavated,” said Mani.
Mani also excavated the stupa near the site in search of relic caskets as he read John Hubert Marshall’s (archaeologist and former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928) report on how the relic caskets were found in those stupas.
The style of construction of the stupa suggests that it belongs to the 1st century AD. A similar style of stupas was noticed earlier at Taxila. Mani found a relic casket and the casket contained bone relics, semi-precious stones, and pearls.
“There is no inscription so we can’t say to whom this relic casket belongs or whose bone relics are enshrined,” said Mani.
Kranti said Mani’s excavation proved to be fertile. Among the discoveries are a three-layer casket set of copper, silver and gold containing bone relics and ornaments.
“He went quite deep and found so many layers of history there,” said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)