Gupta Era Temple found with Inscriptions in ‘Shankha’ Lipi

• 17 Sep 2021

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered the remains of an ancient temple from the reign of the Gupta Empire in Bilsarh village in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh.

Highlights

• An ancient staircase bearing inscriptions in the Shankhalipi (conch script or shell script) script (used between the 4th and 8th centuries CE) was found.
• The text on the staircase bore the title of ‘Sri Mahendradity’ - a title accorded to Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I. He ruled over north-central India during the 5th century (CE).
• The ancient stairs led to an undiscovered structural temple that was built during the Gupta era for Brahmins, Jains and Buddhists.
• The recent discovery is significant in the sense that to date only two other structural temples from the Gupta age have been found- Dashavatara Temple (Deogarh) and Bhitargaon Temple (Kanpur Dehat).
• Guptas were the first to build structural temples (use of stone blocks), a distinct change from the ancient rock-cut temples (rock cut temples are monolithic structure, i.e. they are cut out of a single stone).