Bhubaneswar: The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage(Intach) has launched a project to document the monuments of Prachi Valley in Odisha, where a civilisation believed to be earlier than that of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, flourished on the banks of a river Prachi.
The Prachi river, a tributary of the Mahanadi, originates about 10 kms from Bhubaneswar. It flows through Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts, and this region is called the Prachi Valley.
Recent archaeological excavations have revealed rich findings of the Prachi Valley Civilization which predates both Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
“Without scientific documentations of the monuments of the ancient civilization an important realm of Odisha’s history would remain incomplete”, said state convener of Intach Amiya Bhusan Tripathy.
The chief project coorinator, Anil Dhir told India Whisplers that under the six-month project ‘ Documenting the Mounuments of the Prachi Valley’ the entire stretch of the river till the estuary will be surveyed and a comprehensive report would be prepared by Intach. The project will record 350 monuments.
According to him work for the project has been commenced from Bakreswar Temple in Bhinjarpur near Bhubaneswar last week.
Local chronicles show there are around 350 to 400 monuments including temples, ‘maths’, ghats, structures and sites constructed during the 7th century to the 15th century along the 60-km stretch of the river. However, many of the old monuments have disappeared in recent years, which make it all the more necessary for a proper listing of the existing vestiges.
