Shiva temple unearthed near Bhiwandi

Shiva temple unearthed near Bhiwandi
N Ganesh

March 1: Led by a local healer and armed with spades and sickles, villagers of Bhangrepada in Thane district, have unearthed a Shiva temple in the Dindeshwar hills off the Kalyan-Bhiwandi road. The temple is believed to date back to the Shilhara dynasty which reigned in the Konkan and Kolhapur belt around the tenth century.

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While in the recent past excavations in the Thane District have yielded several idols, coins and other artefacts of historical significance, it is perhaps for the first time that an entire temple has been unearthed.

Though excavations at the site, located on the northern slopes of Dindeshwar hills off Kalyan-Bhiwandi road, are far from over it has already caught the fancy of Shiva devotees who have been arriving here in hordes.

The excavations have uncovered the sanctum sanctorum housing the Shiva Linga which leads to a mandapa with a rectangular centre stone that was once occupied by an idol of Nandi. There is now no sight of the Nandi. Like most other Shiva shrines, this one's entrance faces west. A lone rectangular piece of stone with a lotus sculpted in it is an indication of a ceiling that must have once existed as the lotus was the motif used in the centre of the ceiling.

While officials from the Archaeological Society of India have paid a visit to this site the Bhangrepada villagers are eager to lay stake on the temple as their own.

Dr Vijay Bedekar, founder of the Institute for Oriental Study, who has visited the site believes that the ``temple is a great discovery that would shed light on some dark corners of Indian history, specially related to Thane.''

Thane which was known as Shri Sthanak, has to its credit three magnificent temples that belonged to the Shilhara dynasty, the Shiva temple at Ambernath, the Shiva temple near Lonard caves and the Shiva temple at Atgaon.

Bhiva Bhangre, the 60-year-old village healer who is an ardent devotee of Shiva claims the temple was unearthed as a result of some divine vision.

He led the five member youth team comprising Sadanand Bhiva Bhangre, Sakharam Bharkat, Naresh Balu Sapte, Suresh Shirpat Chowdhary and Dattatreya Pandurang Kothare which discovered two parallel stone columns in the ground.