BHDS, Cardiff University to conduct joint research in archaeology, history, heritage studies

PATNA: The Bihar Heritage Development Society (BHDS) has signed an agreement with the Cardiff University of the United Kingdom for undertaking joint research projects in the fields of archaeology, history and heritage studies.

According to a statement issued by the BHDS, a wing of the Art, Culture and Youth Department of the Bihar Government, here on Friday, "The MoU signed with Cardiff University is sure to benefit BHDS as the faculty gets an opportunity to work with internationally reputed experts in their field, and they get exposure to latest techniques and methods in the field of archaeology". A collaboration with an acclaimed institution like Cardiff University will help BHDS to carve out its identity at the international level, said Bijoy Kumar Choudhary, Executive Director of BHDS. Professor James Heggarty, Head of the School of History, Archaeology and Religious Studies, Cardiff University and Bijoy Kumar Choudhary, Executive Director of BHDS signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

The agreement has been signed to undertake joint research projects in the fields of archaeology, history and heritage studies. This agreement will be valid for three years, but it can further be extended with the consent of both the parties, said the statement. The agreement stipulates that both the institutions will sign a legal agreement for any research project they will undertake. The agreement provides for jointly organizing seminars, conferences and workshops related to research projects to be undertaken and the mutual visit of faculty members to each other’s institutions.

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The statement further said that Cardiff University and BHDS are already cooperating on an exciting project, namely, ’Archaeology on the footsteps of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang'. Bijoy Kumar Choudhary of BHDS and Prof Max Deeg, an internationally reputed scholar of Chinese Studies and a professor at Cardiff University, are the joint Principal Investigators of the project. Xuanzang's travelogue of India helped Alexander Cunningham in the 1860s and 1870s to identify famous sites such as Nalanda and Vaishali. "But no systematic work since then has been undertaken to follow the footsteps of Xuanzang who gave distances, directions and descriptions of several ancient sites that he visited between 630 AD and 642 AD. The travelogue has still immense potential for the discovery of new sites and antiquities", said BHDS in its statement. Max Deeg has translated Xuanzang's travelogue of India along with an elaborate commentary, and his accurate reading of the text has proved very useful for the archaeologists of BHDS who have been exploring the sites described by Xuanzang, said Choudhary. In this process, several new archaeological sites and antiquities have been discovered so far in the Patna-Jehanabad-Gaya-Nawada-Nalanda sector. In this process, all major hills falling in the region have been explored, and its sculptures, antiquities and archaeological features scientifically documented and studied.

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A rough chronological bracket has been assigned to each site in accordance with antiquities and feathers found there. The work is still in progress, and the places visited by the Chinese traveller in the Nalanda-Jamui Bhagalpur sector are being explored. BHDS is presently engaged in excavating at Telhara in the Nalanda district, a site described in glowing terms by Xuanzang. The excavations have unearthed impressive remains of a Buddhist monastery, and an array of exciting antiquities, he said.