HISTORY, LEGENDS & MYTHOLOGY

Rare Buddhist artefacts recovered near Indo-Nepal
border in Bengal

     Rajarammohanpur ( West Bengal ): Customs officials have recovered as many as 22 rare Buddhist artefacts from an abandoned house at Panitanki located on India-Nepal border. Acting on a tip-off, a team of custom officials raided an abandoned house at Panitanki in West Bengal . Officials said that a probe is being carried out to ascertain the origin of the artefacts. "It is not yet confirmed if it was coming from Nepal . We had got information that they were lying unclaimed in an abandoned house. We recovered them," said Om Prakash, Customs Inspector. The artefacts have been handed over to the Siliguri-based North Bengal University (NBU) to ascertain their historical value. Experts said that the structure and images suggest that these relics are over a century old. "Definitely, all these have a great historical value. Particularly, the ones with Buddhist tantric influence and also all these object from the sub-Himalayan region. Definitely, it has a great historical value," said Ratna Roy Sanyal, Director of the museum at the NBU. Nepal , shares a 1,747-kilometer long border with India . The border which passes through West Bengal is particularly vulnerable. Scant security allows for smugglers to bring in a variety of goods to cater to the needs of a wide clientele.
-May 27, 2007    

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