A set of Buddha footprints has been found during the excavation of a heritage site at Damroo Village in Baloda Bazaar-Bhatapara District, Chhattisgarh State. The find has led archaeologists to rate the village an important Buddhist site as more than a dozen votive stupas and other valuable artifacts have previously also been found there. According to the director of culture and archaeology in Chhattisgarh, Rakesh Chaturvedi, the footprints represent the first discovery of such significance in central India to date (The Times of India).
Buddha footprints. From vanishingtattoo.com
Sets of footprints are one of the early representations of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni. The toes are usually depicted as being of equal length, and the prints often bear distinguishing marks such as a Dhammachakka (wheel of Dhamma) in the center. Speaking to The Times of India, the Damroo site’s excavation director Dr. Bajpai explained that the recently excavated footprints were portable, and would have been carried by Buddhists for the purpose of worship. Representations of footprints are still revered at Buddhist temples in Bodh Gaya and Nagarjunikonda today.
Dr. Bajpai further described the excavated footprints as being made of locally available stone and carved on a circular base with a circumference of around 25 centimeters, embellished with 12 lotus petals. A Dhammachakka is depicted below the feet, which are further flanked by twin fish, being among the eight important auspicious symbols of Buddhism. According to Dr. Bajpai, the footprints could date to the Satvahana (230 BCE–c. 220 CE) or Gupta period (c. 320–550 CE).
The newly appointed minister of culture and tourism Dayaldas Baghel said that the site was exceptionally important from the archaeological and historical point of view, with the finds suggesting that the area was a major center of Hinayana Buddhism from the 1st–5th century (The Times of India). He hopes that once excavation work at Damroo is complete, the site will become an important tourist center for both the Buddhist world and India.
The site is surrounded by a circular mud fort (garh) dating back 2,000 years, which was discovered earlier than the footprints. Excavation began in 2013, and has yielded many artifacts ranging from the early historical period to the later Gupta period, including a large quantity of early Brahmi inscriptions on terracotta tablets. Both excavated sites are now high on the list of tourist destinations in Chhattisgarh State, and the state government is also planning to place Damroo on the Buddhist circuit in association with neighboring states Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.