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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bandula" data-source="post: 1496809" data-attributes="member: 2655">Invaluable artefacts unearthed at AbhayagiriyaFrom The Island 25th Feb 2008<img src="http://www.island.lk/2008/02/25/abhaya.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />by Percy KuruneruAnuradhapura CorrSeveral rare artefacts have been unearthed from the Anuradhapura historical Abhayagiri stupa site. They were found stored in two caskets.A marble statue of the Buddha flanked by Maithree and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattas was of immense archaeological value, Anuradhapura Abhayagiri Expansion Programme’s Archeological Director Prof T. G. Kulatunge told The Island.A conch shell decorated with intricate carvings and ancient bronze Roman coins had also been found, he said. The objects had been found during the conservation process. Several loose bricks of the stupa had led the archaeologists to the caskets containing artefacts belonging to 8th and 9th Centuries AD, Prof Kulathunge said.The coins are believed to belong to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. All the artefacts had been deposited inside the stupa’s foundation. "This indicates the stupa had been repaired and rehabilitated during the last few centuries of the Anuradhapura period," he said. Scholars believe the artefacts have the hallmarks of the Indian Mahayana tradition. "It is the first time that an embossed marble statue has been found in Sri Lanka. Earlier some of them had been found in India. The findings substantiate the Abhayagiri Monastery’s links to Mahayana centres in ancient India," Prof. Kulathunge said.</blockquote>

Verification: Hath warak paha keeyada? (hatha wadikireema paha)

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