Sri Surya Hills in North East India : The A Proposed World Heritage Site

Ref.: 100
Área temática: 04 Sin asignar
Fecha de recepción: 14/11/2008

AUTORES (* Autor principal)

Kumar Das, Parimal * - Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (India)
Biswas, Rabidyuti - Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (India)

EVALUACIÓN FINAL DEL COMITÉ CIENTÍFICO: Pendiente

ABSTRACT

Sri Surya Hills, a perpetual adobe of the Sun God is well known in North East India for its rock cut caves, Hindu siva lingams, Buddhist stupas as a picture gallery of the archaeological remains. The sculpture and artefacts found in the Sri Surya Hills appears stylistically to be of 7th to 9th centuries AD. The ancient historical site actually comprises only a small portion of an even larger area and indeed only a corner of a large ancient town. Directly north of the Sri Surya Hills at about one and half kilo meter away flows the mighty river the Brahmaputra and overlooking it is a small promontory called Mahadev Hills with ancient temple on the top of it. On the Sri Surya Hills there are two examples of standing Jain Trithankaras etched on rock wall is an example of history of Jainism in North East India. There is a Majar of Sufi Kamal Uddin Shah representing the existence of Islam in one of the hills near Sri Surya Hills. There for the evidence of the influence of four religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam converging in this one place in the Sri Surya Hills is remarkable and unique. The existence of a large built-up area of 25 square kilo meters points to the fact that this was possibly a royal capital of a great and prosperous kingdom located near the Brahmaputra as in ancient times large navigable rivers were the main highways for administration and commerce. The renowned Chinese traveller Huan Tsang who visited the capital of Kamrupa, at the time of King Kumar Bhaskar Barman left measurements of this royal capital. In this paper, based on the different literatures of history and archaeological findings by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the authors analyzed the importance of the Sri Surya Hills and describe its ancient significance as a royal capital town of North East India.

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