Ancient idols of Lord Vishnu excavated in Bihar

Patna, July 17 (UNI) Two stone idols of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, dating back to about 11th Century A D, were excavated from a field at the remote Panchgachia village in Saharsa district.

Official reports today said when some villagers were digging the field for farming yesterday, they suddenly stumbled upon a four feet long 'Shiva linga'.

Soon an idol of Lord Vishnu, carved on a single black stone, measuring five feet by three feet, was also discovered from a nearby spot.

Two smaller figurines of Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi- also carved on the same stone were also recoered.

Meanwhile, several people started offering puja to all the deities and even decided to construct a mandir on the spot to install all the idols there permanently.

''How can we handover the deities to others and allow to keep them elsewhere when the gods and goddesses have themselves decided to come and stay amongst us in the village'', one of the elder residents of Panchgachia said.

However,local authorities informed the Archeological Survey of India(ASI) and asked them to despatch a team of experts to Panchgachia village, about 150 km from here.

UNI