12-11-2006, 07:54 PM
'India's Pompeii' uncovered
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->when Ashoka the Great was founding the first Indian empire, when Julius Caesar reigned over Rome, when traders from the Mediterranean found their way to what is now an obscure Maharastra village.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> dusty village museum houses a treasure-trove of 23,852 pieces of stone and terracotta sculptures, replicas of Roman coins and lamps, miniature inkpots, jewellery and household vessels and ivory.
There are uncounted thousands more in Ter's sands of time, civilizations layered over one another. A highly skilled people lived here: bricks excavated from the site are light enough to float on water.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ter's ascent came after trade with the Roman Empire under the Satavahana dynasty that ruled Dakshinapatha or the Deccan. A 1st century Greek navigation document <i>The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea</i> is history's earliest reference to Tagara or Ter. It calls it a great emporium where merchants brought goods like muslin and carnelian, which were traded with the Romans.
Ter then acquired a religious aura as successive Southern dynasties â from the Vatakatas, Chalukyas and Yadavas â came and went. We know that from its range of Buddhist caves, stupas, and Hindu and Jain temples in brick, stone, or hewn out of rock, built from donations and royal patronage. Maharashtra's 13th century saint-poet Gora Kumbhar lived here, with the town playing host to saint conventions. Experts call Ter a 'citadel city'. Limited excavations have revealed remains of a wooden rampart.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->when Ashoka the Great was founding the first Indian empire, when Julius Caesar reigned over Rome, when traders from the Mediterranean found their way to what is now an obscure Maharastra village.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> dusty village museum houses a treasure-trove of 23,852 pieces of stone and terracotta sculptures, replicas of Roman coins and lamps, miniature inkpots, jewellery and household vessels and ivory.
There are uncounted thousands more in Ter's sands of time, civilizations layered over one another. A highly skilled people lived here: bricks excavated from the site are light enough to float on water.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ter's ascent came after trade with the Roman Empire under the Satavahana dynasty that ruled Dakshinapatha or the Deccan. A 1st century Greek navigation document <i>The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea</i> is history's earliest reference to Tagara or Ter. It calls it a great emporium where merchants brought goods like muslin and carnelian, which were traded with the Romans.
Ter then acquired a religious aura as successive Southern dynasties â from the Vatakatas, Chalukyas and Yadavas â came and went. We know that from its range of Buddhist caves, stupas, and Hindu and Jain temples in brick, stone, or hewn out of rock, built from donations and royal patronage. Maharashtra's 13th century saint-poet Gora Kumbhar lived here, with the town playing host to saint conventions. Experts call Ter a 'citadel city'. Limited excavations have revealed remains of a wooden rampart.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->