Archaeological Gazetteer of Samastipur District

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I am grateful to Shri Nitish Kumar, the honourable Chief Minister of Bihar, who has evinced a keen interest in the archaeological heritage of Bihar, and has personally backed up the present project of documentating the antiquarian remains in Bihar.

During the course of exploring the sites and remains at the grassroots, I visited numerous villages, and was amazed to see how curious and helpful the villagers were in guiding me to the antiquarian spots. I must express my deep gratitude to them. I have been encouraged by numerous professionals- from universities, ASI, Archaeology Directorates and so on- for persevering with this project. Their words of encouragement helped me to stay focussed on the project.

I am grateful to Shri Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, presently, Speaker, Bihar Legislative Assembly, for introducing me to Päņr, one of the most important archaeological sites in the district of Samastipur.

I would specially like to thank Shri Ajit Kumar Prasad, a senior archaeologist and formerly with the Directorate of Archaeology, Govt. of Bihar, for examining the potsherds collected from each site, and offering his written comments on them. Dr. Arvind Mahajan of the Directorate of Museums, Govt. of Bihar, provided useful comments on the documented sculptures on the basis of the photographs shown to them. I would like to thank both of them.

The Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute (KPJRI), under my direction, undertook the exploration and documentation of the antiquarian remains in Bihar in June 2007. The methodology adopted for this work is as follows. The field-work was done by Research Investigators who extensively explored the villages, supposed to have some remnants from the past and filled up a comprehensive printed data-sheet for each antiquarian find-spot. The Investigators were specially appointed for the project, and they underwent a training programme comprising lecture sessions, exposure to different kinds of antiquities and potsherds, correct ways of reading topo sheets and filling up the data-sheets and pilot explorations of archaeological sites with experienced archaeologists. A ten- page data-sheet was developed to have a comprehensive documentation of the archaeological features of a given site, and the entries of D-form prepared by ASI were incorporated into it. But several new entries such as legends and myths associated with a site or with an archaeological feature were made, as it was realized that these provided insights into unraveling the historicity of a site. The filling up of the contact details of the local people was made obligatory with the hope that a networking with them would be important for preserving and protecting the archaeological sites at the local level.