NVERSATION WITH PRAVEE
DH News Service RANCHI, Oct 20

A seal bearing letters in nail headed Brahmi script has been
recovered from Benisagar village in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum
district indicating the existence of a Vedic Hindu university of 5th
century AD in Jharkhand. The seal is currently in the possession of a
villager.

Mr Onkar Chauhan, the archaeological superintendent of ASI, Ranchi
said that the seal discovered from a rain gully of a mound at
Benisagar indicated that it was a seat of learning which taught the
four vedas in ancient times. He said after considering the antiquity
of the seal, experts are of the view that vedic system of learning
was prevalent in India during the 1st century with four education
systems - Charan, Agahara, Travvidya and Chaturvvidya.

According to Mr Chauhan, the recovered seal is circular with a linear
border horizontally bifurcating the motifs and legend. The motifs are
depicted on the upper half and the legend below. "The motif perhaps
represents rosary beads, Kamandlu and Danda," he said.

He further said the legend comprising nine letters which are well and
informally cut read: "priyangu dheyam chaturvvidya". This means a
person called Priyangu is well versed in the four vedas. The seal is
a private one belonging to a person with the knowledge of the four
vedas. The seal has Brahmi characters from 5th century AD and
Sanskrit language, he said.

Located at a distance of around 53 miles from the district
headquarters of Chaibasa in the bordering ares of Orissa, Benisagar
has been the attraction for the archaeologists even in the 21st
century as the archaeological remains of the place comprises low
mounds of brick ruins and stone temples with phallic and stone
images. The place, predominately inhabited by Kols and other
aboriginal tribes, has mounds scattered all over the area.

Mr Onkar Chauhan said the discovery of such private seals in a large
number were made during the excavation of Basarh and Bhita in Kutch
region. "There are certain resemblance in the seals discovered in
Kutch region and the one found in Benisagar. In both cases the script
characters used in the inscription are of 1.5 inches height. However,
seals from Kutch region belonged to 8th century AD," he said.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has already been informed
about the discovery of the seal and that Mr Chauhan is planning to
make a presentation of the subject at the Indian Archaeological
Society meet which is scheduled to be held in Tirupati in December.