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Kutila Mura stupas stand majestically on top
of the highest mound in the northeastern part of the Lalmai ridge near
ananda vihara.
The stupas are among the best preserved and most attractive monuments
in mainamati.
In form and style, they differ from those of shalvan
vihara and other sites. They represent the traditional style,
while Shalvan Vihara and others reveal an evolved style. The three main
stupas here, standing north south in a row, apparently symbolise the 'three
jewels' of Buddhism (tri-ratna): Buddha (knowledge),
Dharma (morality) and Sanggha (discipline). The foundation
of the middle stupa was laid in the form of a Dharma-chakra, its
hub being represented by a deep shaft, while the spokes were formed by
eight box-chambers where innumerable tiny terracotta and clay votive stupas
and sealing were enshrined together with large pieces of a class of fine
Buddhist sculptures in soft grey shale. The foundation shafts of other
stupas also contained similar relics, but no sculptures.
Evidence from the excavations suggests 7th century as
the probable date of the earliest of these monuments; the latest perhaps
dates to13th century AD, as indicated by an Abbasid gold coin recovered
from an upper level of the site. Five ancient epigraphic records discovered
in the Mainamati area refer to two Ratna-traya shrines in devaparvata.
It may reasonably be inferred that the Kutila Mura establishment was one
of them. [M Harunur Rashid]
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