Excavations at Sirpur

Archaeological excavations at Sirpur, an ancient city near Raipur in Madhya Pradesh, were carried out between 1953 and 1956 under the University of Saugor and later by the Archaeological Department of Madhya Pradesh. The article opens by situating Sirpur (Śrīpura) historically and describes the city’s extensive ruins which had attracted only brief reports in official bulletins prior to this study. Over three seasons the excavators uncovered two monumental seated images of Buddha, one six feet high found in the main temple and another over eight feet high discovered in a large monastery. They also unearthed a series of monasteries, a temple monastery and a large brick temple with a complex plan, as well as five additional monasteries in subsequent seasons. Artefacts included implements of agriculture, smithy and pottery, complete sets of goldsmith’s tools complete with tongs and hammers, Buddhist bronzes and seals, and small images of Kubera, Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī and Tārā. After the second season, Dr. M.G. Dikshit concluded that the monastery remained in occupation for about two hundred years before being taken over by people professing the Śaiva faith; the Saiva occupants repaired the buildings extensively and the monastery was finally abandoned by the end of the eleventh century. The article notes that Saivite intrusion is indicated by the discovery of crude plaques of Gaṇeśa, Mahiśāsuramardinī and Śiva-Parvati. The author comments on later reports which repeat these conclusions but warn that the evidence is not as abundant as suggested and emphasises that a complete report is still awaited. In the second part of the article, the author discusses inscriptions discovered in Sirpur’s monasteries and temples, including a record attributing the construction of the Vipāśā monastery to Bhikṣu Ānandaprabha during the reign of King Balarjuna, a member of the Pāṇḍuvaṃśī dynasty. He analyses other epigraphic evidence, such as charters issued by Sivagupta and Tivaradeva, to reconstruct the political history of Sirpur and its integration into the empire of the Sarabhapuriyas and later the Tākariyas. The article argues that Sirpur was a flourishing metropolis that hosted a significant Buddhist community before gradually becoming a centre of Śaivism. It underscores the site’s potential to illuminate religious transitions and urban life in early medieval central India and calls for a comprehensive publication of the excavation findings to fully appreciate Sirpur’s historical importance.

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