Scholars welcome Modi's Konark comments

Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's observation on the statues of the Konark Sun Temple to emphasize India's rich cultural past has evoked a lot of jubiliation amongst researchers and historians here.
Modi during his US visit on Tuesday said that the Black Pagoda has sculptures akin to present day modern fashionable women, indicating the use of dresses in those days.Modi said, "Konark ke Sun Temple mei 2,000 saal pehle uss samay ke kalakaro ne aaj ki modern fashionable girl, jo skirt pehenti hai, aur haath mei purse rakhti hai, unki murtiyan bhi banayi hui hai. Matlab us samay bhi ye cheeze maujood hongi".
"In our country women have been wearing 'ghagra' for ages and it looks like a skirt. There are sculptures of women wearing such clothes and holding something in their hands at Konark, though many stones have worn out making the figures indistinct. I am glad that Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned about it," said Anil Dey, who has written a book on the temple.
Historian Kailash Chandra Dash said though the age of Konark Temple was referred to be around 2,000 years by the prime minister, he nevertheless did the right thing in citing the 13th century monument as symbol of India's rich past. "The prime minister has said about the progressive women of India during the ancient period. I don't think there is anything wrong in it," Dash said.
There are however critics, who said the stone figures in the Konark Temple cannot definitely prove use of mini skirts by women in the past. "The 13th century sculptures are a mixture of artistic imagination and societal status, but they cannot be compared with contemporary attires," said Sanjay Acharya, head of the department of ancient Indian history, Utkal University.