Various Hindu temples and shivllings are being discovered in India and around the world during archeologists’ surveys or due to natural calamities. It almost seems as of our ancient forefathers are rising again. Is it a message for us?
Shiv Linga in Paikgacha, Khulna
A Shiv Linga of Lord Shiva has recovered from the Kopotakkho River near Kapilmuni in the Khulna district. This giant Shiv Linga came in the net of Jagdish Biswas who went there for fishing in Golabati area of Kapilmuni in Paikgacha upazila of Khulna.
As per the statement, when Jagdish Biswas cast a net in the Kopotakkho River, the head of Lord Shiva’s Shiv Linga floated last Friday night (August 20, 2022). Then, Jagadish recovered it from there and carry to his home.
All the people of this village want to keep it for their prayer. They requested that we want to keep it for our prayer, we do not want to send it to the museum.
Ling is a Sanskrit word that literally means the source of creation. Shiva is not a person who is living somewhere in this creation. Shiva is the ultimate expression/state/manifestation of consciousness which has no further divisibility, he is the Shoonya, the state which people call Samadhi, becoming one with the supreme state of consciousness.
Indonesia and Hindu temples
Indonesia too has many buried artifacts. Due to the frequent earthquakes and mountain eruptions, many temples in ancient times (Hindu kingdoms flourished in Indonesia from the 5th century to the 16th century CE) were abandoned and buried after those natural disasters, to be unearthed again centuries later by our archaeologists.
Every now and then our archaeologists found buried Shivlings (Siwalinggas), often with statues of Lord Ganapati nearby.
Monolithic sandstone Shiva linga
The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) recently discovered a monolithic sandstone Shiva linga from the 9th century CE, during the ongoing conservation project at Mỹ Sơn — a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples in Quảng Nam province in central Vietnam.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also applauded the ASI on the discovery, calling it “a great cultural example of India’s development partnership”. He also said that the artifact reaffirmed the “civilizational connect” between India and Vietnam.
According to the official website of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, “Many of their shrines honor Shiva—often shown as a linga, while their carvings depict all manner of Hindu deities. Hindu doctrines were blended with homegrown beliefs, such as their conviction that they were descended from a goddess named Po Nagar, born from heavenly clouds and seafoam.”
Centuries-Old Hindu Temple
A 200-year-old Hindu temple that was buried in the sand along India’s Penna River for almost a century has been rediscovered. The temple, called Nageswara Swamy, is located in the town of Perumallapadu within India’s eastern state of Andhra Pradesh
Nageswara Swamy was buried by sand and sediment from the river as the Penna meandered and shifted its course. State archaeologist Ramasubba Reddy tells the publication that the temple may have begun to be swallowed by sand dunes when the region saw massive floods in 1850.
Bali’s ‘largest’ ancient Hindu temple
The workers in Bali were digging a drain in the island’s capital Denpasar at a Hindu study center when they came across the remains of the stone temple.
They reported the discovery to the Bali archaeology office, which then unearthed substantial foundations of a structure that the excavation team believes dates from around the 13th to 15th centuries. According to Wayan Suantika, the head of the team that was the biggest ancient Hindu temple ever discovered in Bali.
Lord Vishnu’s Temple In Northwest Pakistan
A Hindu temple, believed to have been constructed 1,300 years ago, has been discovered by Pakistani and Italian archaeological experts at a mountain in northwest Pakistan’s Swat district. The discovery was made during an excavation at Barikot Ghundai. It was built by the Hindus 1,300 years ago during the Hindu Shahi period, he said.
The Hindu Shahis or Kabul Shahis (850 1026 CE) was a Hindu dynasty that ruled the Kabul Valley (eastern Afghanistan), Gandhara (modern-day Pakistan-Afghanistan), and present-day northwestern India.
Hindu temple-like structure found under mosque in Mangaluru
A Hindu temple-like architectural design has been discovered underneath an old mosque on the outskirts of Mangaluru. The structure was uncovered in the Malali Market Mosque premises under the Ganjimath gram panchayat limits. The discovery came to the fore, during the renovation work at Juma Masjid in Malali, on the outskirts of Mangaluru. The renovation work was being conducted by the mosque authorities, with a part of the mosque already demolished.
4000-year-old Shivling found near Varanasi
After discovering an ancient crafts village near Varanasi by the research team at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the Ancient History department of BHU has unearthed a shivlinga dating back 4000 years at Bhabhaniyav village under Varanasi. This ancient shivlinga was discovered when the team was busy conducting archaeological excavations at Babhniav village, located 18 km from Banaras.
