A site located very near to Chariot Wheel Marks is the Newly Excavated Stupa. The official board outside the site only mentions this as a newly excavated stupa with no other dates or details mentioned.
Ancient texts mentioned that there was a large Stupa located in Rajgir built by Ajatshatru containing a Buddha relic. There is another very small site in Rajgir where one can see some stone columns which is mentioned as “Ajatshatru Stupa” but historians have seen ancient text where there is an eyewitness account of the stupa being built with mud bricks and not stone.
The brick stupa was however never located earlier until archeologists started noticing a large mound next to the main road that showed some promise of being an archeological site of great importance, a site connected with a Buddha relic. So around 1997, excavation started to earth the mound.
Types of Stupas
There are five types of stupas that one can see. The type of stupa is not determined by the size but instead by what it contains and why it was built.
Relic Stupa – This is the most important stupa in Buddhism as this type of stupa contains the remains of Buddha within a small casket.
Object Stupa – These types of stupas contain some objects that might have belonged to Buddha or sometimes objects belonging to the prime disciples of Buddha.
Commemorative Stupa – These stupas were built to mark certain important life events of Buddha at a place where they might have occurred.
Symbolic Stupa – These were built later often to commemorate the teaching and life of Buddha.
Votive Stupa – These can be often seen as a cluster of small and mini stupas next to a bigger site. These were smaller stupas built by devotes as a symbolic gesture.
Why Rajgir Stupa is Important
Ajatshatru considered the most important king of the Haryanka dynasty was a follower of Buddha and it is said that he had met Buddha when he was alive and had come to Rajgir. Following the death of Buddha, Ajatshatru constructed a stupa containing his relics thus making it one of the most sought-after stupas which to date haven’t been found.
After the death of Buddha his relics were divided separately into eight groups and one of these was taken by Ajatshatru for the stupa in Rajgir.
History Of Excavation Of Newly Found Stupa In Rajgir
Rajgir has been the center of many archeological explorations and archeologists are still expecting many more sites that are yet to be discovered to be unearthed. The question out here is where are these unexplored places in Rajigir.
For many decades historians have zeroed in on Rajgir where the famed stupa which housed the Buddha relic was originally placed. This stupa was built by Ajatshatru with the relic. Rajgir was also mentioned in the ancient texts of Mahaparinirvansutta as one of the eight places of significance in Buddhism having a stupa with a relic of Buddha. We also get to hear about this great stupa from the travelogues of famous Chinese traveler Fa Hien who has given details about this stupa at Rajgir.
During the late 90’s Indian Railways were planning to extend their rail network around this region connecting Rajgir with Bihar Sharif and they had proposed a route which made the local archeological team a bit apprehensive. They had noticed a large mound located next to the main road which somehow did not look natural so the Archeological Survey of India – Patna Circle decided to quickly do some investigations before the railways started clearing the path to build the railway line.
A quick round of excavations quickly yielded results in the discovery of some brick-layer structures that were clearly from the pre-Mauryan period. This was determined by the size of the bricks which were around fifty-two centimeters by twenty-five centimeters with a thickness of eight centimeters, the size of bricks of this dimension was a trademark of pre-Mauryan construction.
Indian Railways were informed and they at once dropped the plan to extend the rail network using this route and changed their plans to accommodate the exploration of this region.
Officials of the Archeological Survey of India were ecstatic about this discovery as they assumed that this was the famed Rajgir stupa that housed the Buddha relic. However, there was an issue because many decades later when Ashoka adopted the path of Buddhism, he went on building many stupas around India so the newly excavated stupa at Rajgir could very well be one of them and not the one having the Buddha relic.
A further excavation did not reveal the presence of any Buddha Relic and archeologists assumed that this was a commemorative stupa and not the one mentioned in Mahaparinirvansutta but was still of significance considering the age and period that this stupa was built. The excavated structure was primarily made of bricks with a layer of plaster. The plaster had a thickness of five centimeters of which two point five centimeters were mud which was in the inner side and the exterior two point five centimeters were made of concrete.
What made the archeological team confirm that this was a pre-Maurya period and not a Gupta period stupa was firstly the brick size. Gupta period constructions had bricks which were most square and rectangular. Another important factor was the size of the stupa, Gupta period stupas were considerably larger than pre-Maurayan period stupas.
Excavation at the site also revealed pottery and other items like water dispensers etc. made of polished stones which was a trademark of the Mauryan period.
The importance of the stupa can be determined by the Chariot Wheel Marks which is another tourist site located right next to the stupa. Due to the constant movement of carts with devotees coming towards the stupa, the tracks got deeply engraved on the top layer.
What To See At Newly Excavated Stupa?
The stupa is very easy to spot and can be seen from the main road. This is not a ticketed monument and can be accessed by tourists. Vehicles can be parked next to the main road around this site.
The stupa has been very well excavated and now one can see certain restored sections of the structure. At the base, the stupa has a diameter of forty meters which then rises to around six and a half meters. The exposed stupa has two distinct terraces with the lower terrace having a measurement of twenty-nine meters by twenty-five meters and a two-meter height. Supporting buttresses are spaced around two to three meters apart and are present around the structure to give stability.
On the upper terrace, one can see brick chambers attached to an apsidal brick structure on the western side. This apsidal brick structure measures around thirteen point twenty meters by two point forty meters. The apsidal brick structure is a filled-up structure comprising a mixture of earth and stone rubbles.
One can see the structure from the ground level and it is prohibited to climb on top of the structure thus one cannot see some of these in finer details.
Location Of Newly Excavated Stupa On Map
Video Of Newly Excavated Stupa
Other Blogs On Rajgir
Maniyar Math
Chariot Wheel Mark and Shell Characters In Rajgir
Son Bhandar Caves
Cyclopean Wall Of Rajgir
Hiuen Tsang Memorial Hall
Nalanda Mahavihara Archaeological Site
Resources
Archeological Survey of India – Patna Circle
Archaeological Institute of America
All Old Photographs Courtesy – CVI Mumbai