Thread by @Hiddenheritage

The massive Buddha statue found at Kauwa Dol seen in 1870.

The same Buddha statue seen today. At the Kauwa Dol heritage site, #Jehanabad, #Bihar. According to some accounts, this 8+ ft high statue may be the largest ever unearthed in India. While being unsure if this is the largest, I agree that it is quite a find!

@ReshmiDG Thanks for the heads-up abt this site. Kauwa Dol's heritage is incredible.

Cricket at Kauwa Dol, #Jehanabad, #Bihar - with an ancient Ganesha carved in stone as the square leg umpire.

These pics - showing a huge carved column - show the heritage Kauwa Dol has lost. By the size and carving, the column may have once been part of a large temple. It now stands next to a drain in a village with cattle and pigs next to it. #Jehanabad, #Bihar

More Ganeshas in Kauwa Dol, #Jehanabad, #Bihar. Carved into a rock that now finds itself by the roadside. If that rock were to be dug out, would we find more carvings?

A carving of Mahisasura-mardini on a stone in Kauwa Dol, #Jehanabad, #Bihar. Such carvings are everywhere on a hill complex here, spread so wide that you can walk right past a carved stone and miss it.

Getting up close with the Kauwa Dol iconography - an armed male figure and a female figure next to a seated Buddha. #Jehanabad, #Bihar.

Is that a representation of Bhairava in the middle, with his vehicle, a dog, on the left? At Kauwa Dol, #Jehanabad, #Bihar.

A chaumukhi Shivlinga at Kauwa Dol - perhaps the oldest I have set eyes on. #Jehanabad, #Bihar. The style of carving used to crate these faces reminded me a bit of the #Bayon temple in the Angkor complex.

Up close with the iconography of Kauwa Dol, #Jehanabad, #Bihar. A Shiv Linga, a Lajja Gauri (depicting fertility) and a Shiva-Parvati.

Iconography and exterior of the 3rd century BCE Barabar Caves, #Jehanabad, #Bihar. Perhaps the oldest cave site of India, the Barabar caves have even found a place in popular literature incl EM Forster's 'A Passage to India'.

Inside the 3rd century BCE #Barabar caves: An inscription naming 'Piyadasi' (Ashoka), polished granite walls that reflect light two millennia after they were shaped & horses drawn on walls. #Jehanabad, #Bihar. The caves have amazing acoustics - sound reverberates in these walls.

Glimpses of the Kesariya Stupa, East #Champaran/ #Motihari dist, #Bihar. The largest stupa in India, excavated as recently as 1998. An Ashoka-era site though the current structure is said to date to the Gupta period,

The iconic Ashokan pillar at Kolhua (Vaishali) next to a stupa. Managed to see it yesterday, having longed to set eyes on the site for years.

An isolated and beautiful location, inscriptions competing with graffiti - the 3rd century BCE Nagarjuni caves, #Jehenabad, #Bihar. Amazing polished walls and a space within where sound reverberates.