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October 16, 2008

Ancient Buddhist monastery unearthed in India


by David Masters

A second century Buddhist monastery has been uncovered by archaeologists working in western India.

It took three years for the state-funded site dig to uncover the monastery, which confirms the prevalence of Buddhism in ancient western India.

The monastery is sited in the ruins of an ancient Vadnagar town.

Situated on a high plinth, it is made out of baked bricks covering an area of 16 square metres.

A small courtyard in the centre of the structure may have been used by the monks for praying.

Y A Rawat, director of the Gujarat state archaeological department, said the monastery was an important find because it revealed that Buddhist monks had settled long-term in the region.

He added that the archaeological dig was inspired by the travelogue of a 7th century Chinese monk called Wenshang who reported 1,000 monks living in 10 monasteries across western India when he visited the region.

Rawat believes the monastery his team has unearthed is one of the ten referred to by Wenshang.

The site of the monastery is unusual, given that monks preferred to live outside human habitation.

Rawat said the presence of a monastery within the walls of a town demonstrates how strongly Buddhism was followed in the region.

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