Mansar - The Discovery of Pravaresvara and Pravarapura Temple and Residence of the Vakataka King Pravarasena II. Proceedings of a Symposium at the British Museum, London, 30 June - 1 July, 2008

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Abstract

Until a decade ago, Mansar was a small, insignificant market town in Maharashtra at the National Highway No. 7, 5 km due west of the Ramagiri (Ramtek). At the eastern side of this town were some rock formations with a temple of the Manbaus sect, a tank, and a hillock named after the goddess who is enshrined in the temple on its top: the Hidimba Tekdi. This hillock was known as the site where the splendid "Siva of Mansar" (National Museum in Delhi) had been found in 1972. At the eve of the great archaeological discoveries discussed in the present volume, Hans Bakker wrote in "The Vakatakas" (Groningen 1997) about what was suspected under the surface of the hillock: "If the brick temple on the Hidimba Tekdi matched the quality of the Siva (Shiva) image, it must have been a magnificent one." And so it turned out to be! Excavations of the hillock started in the season of 1997-98 under the supervision of the Buddhist organisation of the Nagarjuna Smaraka Samstha (Nagpur), the owner of the land, and directed by J.P. Joshi and A.K. Sharma, Archaeological Survey of India (Delhi). The discoveries in this and the following years were astounding and revolutionized everything we knew of the Vakataka kingdom — so much so that it seemed imperative to organize an international conference to review our knowledge. This conference was held at the University of Groningen in 2002 and its results were published in: Hans Bakker (ed.), "The Vakataka Heritage. Indian Culture at the Crossroads" (Groningen 2004). Archaeological work in Mansar continued, and in addition to the Hidimba Tekdi (MNS 3), adjacent sites were explored, which resulted in the discovery of Pravarapura (MNS 2), another, smaller residence building (MNS 4), and a stellate-plan linga temple (MNS 5). Again the urge was felt to share and discuss the new findings with specialists of Indian history, art, and religion. This led to a two-day symposium at the British Museum (London), from 30 June to 1 July 2008. The present e-book contains the contributions to this symposium: Hans Bakker (ed.), "Mansar: The Discovery of Pravaresvara and Pravarapura, Temple and Residence of the Vakataka King Pravarasena II". Participants to the British Museum symposium were: Claudine Picron (Paris), Anne Casile (Paris), Ellen Raven (Leiden), Michael Willis (London), Meera Dass (Bhopal), Joe Cribb (London), John Siudmak (Oxford), Sonya Quintanilla (San Diego), Daud Ali (London), Peter Bisschop (Edinburgh), Hans Bakker (Groningen), Natasja Bosma (Groningen) Kaoru Nagata (Kumamoto) Walter Spink (Ann Arbor), John Perkins (London), Mirjam Westra (Groningen), John Guy (New York), Martine Kropman (Groningen), Adam Hardy (Cardiff), George Michell(London).