According to A K Sharma, director of excavations at the site, the discovery of the factory site will scotch speculation about the location of the religious capital of the one of the most powerful dynasties in the region. Archeologists and historians have been divided over the issue, placing the location of the religious capital at Paonar in Wardha district and Mandhal in Umred tehsil (Nagpur district).

The factory site, discovered adjacent to a Shiva temple of the same period during excavation at Hidimba Tekdi, Mansar on April 2, has thrown up several religious seals in clay, all clearly carrying the inscription of Pravareswaraya. This inscription refers to Pravareswaradeva Kulasthanam, the religious capital of theVakatakas, who ruled the region during the third and fourth century.

The discovery of a seal is considered to be conclusive evidence of the location of capital (in this case religious) of any particular kingdom. The seals discovered at Mansar clearly bear the legend Pravareswaraya in the box-headed Brahmi script, attributable to the Vakataka period. It is known that the political capital of Vakatakas was situated at Nagardhan, adjacent to Mansar.

The mention of Pravareswaradeva Kulasthanam -- the abode of the presiding deity of the Vakataka dynasty -- is found in various inscriptions of the period including inscription at the Narasimha temple at Ramtek near Mansar. However, in the absence of conclusive evidence, the location of the religious capital remained an issue of debate.

The discovery of the factory site follows the unearthing of a set of Shiva temples at the site. In addition to the factory site and seals, several broken parts of various decorative statues have been discovered. Theinscription on the seal was decoded by Krishna Deva, eminent heiroglyphist and former director of the Archaeological Society of India, New Delhi.

Outlining the history of the area, Sharma said the period of Rudrasena II and his wife Prabhavati -- who was the daughter of the famous Gupta dynasty of North India (395 to 419 AD) -- was marked by remarkable religious and cultural activities. Their son Pravarasena II -- who ruled from 422 to 443 AD -- probably renovated the existing Shiva temples at the site and added a few more. He also built the large temple complex, discovered at the site recently.

Sharma said most probably, Pravarasena II named the presiding deity at Mansar as Pravareswara in honour of his grandfather Pravarasena I. He said earlier discoveries (a copper plate discovered near Mansar) and the recent evidences lead to the belief that official religious functions were performed from this religious capital -- also termed `Vaijayikadharmasthan'.

References to the donation of land byPravarasena II and charters issued by him mentioning that he built a new residence at the location and named it `Pravarapur', have also been discovered and reinforce the belief that the religious capital was located here.

The Mansar site has yielded evidence pointing to the religious history of the region. Apart from the three massive Buddhist stupas and two chaityas belonging to a different time period, it has thrown up remains of 16 Hindu shrines, built in the form of lotuses and six Shiva lingas.

Most of the statues and decorative articles display artistic craftsmanship in Lalitpur sandstone and are comparable to craftsmanship in the Gupta period.

Sharma added the discoveries show that right from the Satavahana era to the Vakataka period, the region not only enjoyed political stability, but also excellence in architecture, culture and literature.

The excavation is being carried out under the aegis of the Bodhisatva Nagarjun Smarak Sanstha va Anusandhan Kendra. It is being co-ordinated bySharma and Jagatpati Joshi, former director general of the ASI, with the assistance P M Khobragade, Dharmendra Sharma, J S Dubey and M S Mani, research scholars.