Cuttack: A team from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Cuttack Chapter have stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient maritime Lamp post in Telikuda Village of Kakatpur Block in Puri district. The broken lamppost was discovered in a neglected condition over a sand dune on the bank of Kadua River near its estuarine point.
The existence of the lamp post was reported to Intach’s Cuttack Chapter by a local heritage enthusiast Satyajit Swain. The remnants on the top of the sand dune were discovered when the place was cleared of vegetation for making a temple. A team from INTACH, lead by Deepak Kumar Nayak which included Anil Dhir, Biswajit Mohanty and Bikram Nayak had gone to Telikuda village to document this historical site.
The lamppost was constructed using burnt bricks and stone slabs. The post had collapsed a few decades back and locals had repaired it using cement plaster and bricks. However, the old bricks and stone slabs are still present in the foundation and lower portion of the fallen tower.
According to Deepak Nayak, the Co-Convenor of INTACH’s Cuttack Chapter, the finding of this ancient light post can shed new light on the maritime history of Odisha. Information gathered from the locals revealed a pillar-like abandoned structure on the top of the sand dune since ancient times. The post was nearly 15 feet in height and was known as the ‘Alua Khunti’. A fire would be lit on the platform atop the pillar which used to act as a navigation beacon for the boats that passed through the Kadua river on the way to the sea in ancient days.
The Kadua, a distributary of the ancient Prachi River, was in ancient times navigable and had a flourishing maritime activity. The accounts of both the Prachi Mahatmya and Kapila Samhita mention the River Chitrotpala which flowed in the same path as the present-day Kadua. The 7th Century CE Chinese traveller Hieun Tsang possibly went through these waterways to reach the port of ‘Che-li-to-la’ close to Konark, Nayak has said.
According to Anil Dhir, the Convenor of INTACH Bhubaneswar Chapter, who had earlier documented the entire archaeological remains of the Prachi Valley, this find further establishes the rich maritime activity which was prevalent in the Prachi Valley in ancient days. Dhir has already documented around 140 temples, 80 Mutts, 40 Ghats, Ports and Anchorages, River Forts etc. in his earlier surveys. The team also discovered some very interesting archaeological remains near the lamppost. Out of them, an ancient stone lamp, red blackware potsherds, and fragments of religious sculptures are of interest. Er. Gopal Behera, the Convener of the Cuttack Chapter is writing to the authorities and the ASI to make an expert study of the site. He said that this ancient vestige should be properly conserved and restored. There is certainty that much more will be yielded if a proper survey and archaeological excavation is conducted.
