bhubaneswar an ancient miniature inscribed image of avalokitasvara padmapani a god of the buddhist pantheon was found at bageswarpur village under pipili block in puri district of odishateam members of the indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach odisha chapter found and documented this discovery the small statue an eroded figure of avalokitasvara is nearly 10 inches in height and has seven lines of inscriptions inscribed in the rearofficial sources said the image was found in the garbhagriha of the rameswar shiva temple of bageswarpur village it has been kept in the singhasan of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple along with other deities it has been worshipped as dhyani mahadeva since agesthe priest of the temple has kept it safely for years the presentday temple of rameswar mahadeva has an antiquity dating back to the eighth or ninth century ce when buddhism flourished in the region the temple has many intricate stone carvings on its outer walls some with buddhist iconographythe intach team took an estampage of the statue for deciphering the script intach member deepak kumar nayak who first recognised the small statuette said the inscription is in sanskrit with the nagari scriptit is actually a portion of vinaya pitaka which is the first of the three divisions of tripitaka the ancient buddhist sacred scriptures the inscription was deciphered as ye dharma hetu prabhab hetu teshantathagato hyabada teshascha yo nirodha ebam vadi mahashramanahtranslated it means tathagata has told about dharma deeds its cause and effects and how to negate them as mentioned by mahashramanas depending upon the script it can be dated somewhere close to 8th9th century ce a period when the bhaumakaras held sway over the region many of the rulers of this dynasty are known to have adopted buddhism he addedthe fourmember intach team comprising anil dhir biswajit mohanty deepak kumar nayak and bishnu mohan adhikari has been surveying the monuments of the daya and ratnachira river valleys since the last one year and have made many discoveriesearlier intach has completed a comprehensive survey of the heritage of the prachi and the mahanadi valleys tooaccording to anil dhir who is leading this exploration such inscribed stone images of avalokitasvara have been found in the ratnagiri and udayagiri sites too many of them terracotta tablets but this stone carved image is a rarity the present find is one where the inscription is clear and not eroded he addedintach has written to the odisha state museum to take an estampage of this inscription and keep a replica of the same in the lalitgiri museum