KOLKATA/DANTAN: A wave of excitement swept the Moghalmari excavation site near Dantan on Wednesday following the chance discovery of a gold coin and a locket. Though yet to be confirmed, archaeologists feel the exhibits belong to the sixth century AD, which is generally known as the Gupta period in ancient history. It is also known as King Shashanka's reign in the history of Bengal.

In 2003, when Indologist BN Mukherjee had visited Dantan to document Bengal's navigational history, he came across a huge mound at Moghalmari, which the locals call Sakhi Sena or Sashi Sena. They told him that underneath the mound lay the state's oldest Buddhist monastery, which might even beat the Raktamrittika Vihara of Murshidabad (erstwhile Karnasuvarna) in age. Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang had mentioned the existence of an old Buddhist monastery in Bengal that was older than Raktamrittika. However, this was never found and historians felt the excavation might finally bring the age-old mystery to an end.

At the behest of Mukherjee, the Calcutta University took up the excavation project at Moghalmari. Gradually, a tri-ratha structure, typical of Buddhist monastic architecture complete with innumerable cells for the monks was unearthed.

The nature of the architecture proves that construction and growth here happened in two phases. The first was between the sixth and seventh century while the second was in the ninth and 10th century.

The CU excavation happened in phases and was sponsored by the Archaeological Survey of India. It drew its conclusions about the sixth century monastery. In March, on the basis of these conclusions, the state archaeological department declared Moghalmari as a protected site and on November 20 re-started the excavation.

The gold coin found on Wednesday has the image of a king on one side and a goddess on the other. The locket, on the other hand, has standing images engraved on it. "Though we have sent the exhibits for inspection so that their antiquity could be ascertained, it is possible that they belong to the sixth century," said Amal Roy, deputy director of the state archaeological department.

Once this is established, it will be proved that the monastery was indeed built in the Vajrayana phase of the propagation of Buddhism. At this time, deity worship was slowly making inroads into Buddhism, explained archaeologist Durga Basu.

