by Ershad Kamol
While re-digging his pond recently, Mongal Member at Sultanpur of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila found a 10th century statue of Lord Vishnu five metres below the ground.
The night after the discovery, the so-called Magnet Party (smuggling group) of the locality offered Mongal Tk 10 lakh for the statue. He refused the offer. He feared about the safety of the artefact and contacted the local police station to handover custody of the statue.
Meanwhile, local journalist and cultural activists contacted Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (ASB) and urged them to help preserve the statue properly. Editor of Smatat Barta, a local daily of Brahmanbaria, Manjurul Alam said, "We thought it is our responsibility to protect our heritage from the clutches of smugglers."
Chairman of ASB Prof Sirajul Islam along with archaeological experts rushed there to have a look at the statue. The experts claimed the five feet high and 2.6 feet wide statute of Lord Vishnu, weighing 262 kg, is an artefact of 10th century made during the Chandra dynasty's rule of Samatat Kingdom, now the greater Comilla district.
Renowned archaeologist AKM Zakaria went to the spot to look at the artefact just after it was discovered on June 14. He said, "It is a unique piece of art made with superior quality black stone… could be made of high-quality Basalt. It is one of the finest and one of the largest artefacts discovered in the country."
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