Submerged for more than a century, a Hindu temple has been found at Kurdi in Quepem.
According to a Times Of India report, the relics of an ancient temple of Shree Ganesh has been found at Kurdi, a village in Goa that lies submerged in water round the year.
It was a chance discovery, as the original inhabitants of the village stumbled on the idol of Lord Ganpati during one of their annual visits to the site at this time of the year when the village resurfaces.
“More explorations led them to the relics of the ancient temple. The idol of the deity is made of stone, and probably dates back to over a century. Nobody knew a temple existed in this village, not even the old timers who resided here. This suggests that the Shree Ganesh temple may have been razed at least over a century ago,” said locals according to the TOI report.
Lending credence to this suggestion is the fact that there are no records of this ancient submerged Hindu temple with the state department of archaeology. Locals have now demanded that government authorities take immediate steps for conservation of the ruins of the temple.
Sources point out that the ruins went unnoticed by Kurdi residents as the site was covered by mounds of earth and thick vegetation. The submergence of the village, and the subsequent relocation of the villagers, led to the ancient temple ruins slipping into oblivion, before the recent chance discovery brought it into focus.
The ruins of the ancient Shree Ganesh temple are located less than 500m from the ruins of the relatively well-known ancient temple of Shree Someshwar, the presiding deity of Kurdi.
The relics of Someshwar temple, along with the vestiges of the entire submerged village, resurface during the summer months of April and May, before going under water once the monsoon sets in.
The villagers of Kurdi and Selaulim, over 3,000 in number, were displaced after their villages came under the reservoir submergence of the Selaulim irrigation project. A dream project of Goa’s first Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar, the Selaulim dam was conceptualized in 1965. Once work on the dam began in 1977, the villagers left their hearths and homes to be rehabilitated in remote Valkini and Vaddem villages.
Information Credit: Govind Kamat Maad | Times Of India
Pic Credit: www.khbuzz.com
