Ratnagiri
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Ratnagiri
(Lat - 200.38’N and Long- 860.20’E)
Ratnagiri on ‘the Hill of Jewels’, in the Birupa river valley in the district of Jajpur, is another famous Buddhist centre. The small hill near the village of the same name has rich Buddhist antiquities. A large-scale excavation has unearthed two large monasteries, a big stupa, Buddhist shrines, sculptures, and a large number of votive stupas. This excavation revealed the establishment of this Buddhist centre at least from the time of the Gupta king Narasimha Gupta Baladitya (first half of the sixth century A.D.). Buddhism had developed at this place - unhindered upto the 12th century A.D.
In the beginning, this was an important centre of Mahayana form of Buddhism. During the 8th-9th century A.D., this became a great centre of Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana art and philosophy. Pag Sam Jon Zang, a Tibetan source, indicates that the institution at Ratnagiri played a significant role in the emergence of Kalachakratantra during the 10th century A.D. This is quite evident from the numerous votive stupas with reliefs of divinities of the Vajrayana pantheon. Separate images of these divinities and inscribed stone slabs, and moulded terracotta plaques with dharanis found in the excavation at Ratnagiri.
Presently this university of Buddhist learning is found in ruins that attract a number of visitors every year. For lovers of art and architecture, lay tourists as well as special groups, Ratnagiri offers in its magnificent ruins, a large brick monastery with beautiful doorways, cella, sanctum with a colossal Buddha figure, and a large number of Buddhist sculptures. There is a smaller monastery at the place along with a stone temple, brick shrines and a large stupa with numerous smaller stupas around.
How to Reach
Air : Bhubaneswar is the nearest airport, connected to most major cities in India.
Rail : Cuttack is the best railway station within easy reach, at a distance of 70 km from Ratnagiri and well connected with major stations across India.
Road : There are good roads from Cuttack, and direct buses run between the two places.
Rock art: geoglyphs and petroglyphs
2024: protected monuments
Chaitanya Marpakwar, August 12, 2024: The Times of India
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From: Chaitanya Marpakwar, August 12, 2024: The Times of India
Mumbai : In a major move towards conservation, state govt has notified geoglyphs and petroglyphs in Ratnagiri as ‘protected monuments’ under the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960. The group of petroglyphs at Deud, Ratnagiri, dates back to the Mesolithic era (roughly 20,000-10,000 years ago), according to a notification by culture department. Geoglyphs and petroglyphs are different types of ancient art forms, both involving the creation of images or designs on the earth’s surface or rock surfaces.
The petroglyphs depict a rhino, deer, monkey, donkey, and footprints, as per the notification. It said this group of petroglyphs in Konkan holds extraordinary importance as it represents the creations of Mesolithic humans; the total area around the monument to be protected is 210 sq metres. While seven — one 17-ft long — have been discovered in Umbarle village, Dapoli taluka, the eighth is in Borkhat village, Mandangad taluka. Clusters of geoglyphs are spread along 900 km of the Konkan coast in Maharashtra and Goa. Ratnagiri alone is home to more than 1,500 such artworks across 70 sites, seven of which are on the Unesco’s tentative World Heritage list.
“While most common rock art in India are in the form of rock paintings, rock etchings, cup marks and ring marks, the large concentration of geoglyphs on the laterite plateaus (Sada) in Konkan are unique and most remarkable open-air ensembles of prehistoric human expression... These are distinct concentrations of pictorial representations that include marine and riverine (life, as well as mammals), reptiles, amphibian and avian life which vanished from the region centuries ago,” the Unesco description states.
Conservationists have expressed concerns over a proposed oil refinery in Barsu, warning that it could damage the geoglyphs in the area.
See also
Ratnagiri
