Afsar (Aphsanr, also called Jafarpur)
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Afsar (Aphsanr, also called Jafarpur)
Village in the Nawada sub- division of Gaya District, Bengal, situated in 25 degree 4' N. and 85 degree 40' E. Population (1901), 1,022. A statue found here of the Varaha or boar incarnation of Vishnu, apparently of the Gupta period, is of exquisite workmanship and one of the finest in India. A valuable inscription, giving a long genealogy of the later Guptas, now lost, was also dis- covered at this place. But the most interesting object is the buried temple, the ruins forming a mound sharply conical and nearly 60 feet high. This is one of the earliest Gupta temples ; and besides its age, the disposition of its parts, its terraces on terraces, its quaint pillars, pilasters, and niches, and the charming variety in its ornamentation, render it by far the most interesting temple in Behar.
Archaeologically, it is of great interest as a Hindu relic of a period of which Brahmani- cal remains are few. Architecturally, it is second in importance only to the Buddh Gaya. temple.
[J. F. Fleet, Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings and their Successors (Calcutta, 1888).]
