The finding made him curious to discover more ancient remains in the area by interacting with locals.
While walking on Mahim's Bhagoji Kheer Road, archaeology student Rajesh Poojari spotted something unusual. The Amba Mata temple on the footpath had a pillar capital adorned with keechaka – the mythical load-bearers in temples – rather than a deity's idol.
The finding made him curious to discover more ancient remains in the area by interacting with locals. Poojari started the research along with his friend Anurag Shinde three years ago. Since the, the duo has located several ancient artefacts in the area. After a gap of one year, the duo will soon start the remaining research after monsoon this year.
According to Poojari who found many artefacts around the Senapati Bapat Marg area, the ancient remains belong to the Shilahara-Yadava style, dating around 13th century. But, many of the artefacts are considered to be idols of goddess by the local public.
Speaking about the findings, Poojari, said, "After finding the pillar capital at Amba Mata temple, my friend and I returned to search for more ancient remains. While talking, we got to know that a few years ago, a resident's grandfather had found architectural fragments near an unused road. One of the sundari fragments is currently at a nearby petrol pump, another one is inside a compound that is undergoing redevelopment and the third one, keechakas fragment, is kept inside the Amba Mata temple."
Poojari had also written a letter to the secretary of the redevelopment project to conserve the artefacts. "We will soon start exploring more areas in Mahim to search for more artefacts. The exploration will start after monsoon.
This time, we will concentrate more on Mahim fort as it is one of the heritage structure. We are likely to find more ancient remains surrounding the fort area. We will also conduct research work in Mahim market, since there are many old temples in the market. Besides exploring these places, we will research more on the fragments that we already discovered in the temples and other areas," said Rajesh.
According to researchers, there is not much awareness on conservation of ancient artefacts among public. "People don't want to speak about fragments they found. Many of the artefacts that we found were stone sculptures but people kept them like deities and started offering prayers regularly. People who discover anything from the excavation method should report it to the archaeology department. This will help us conserve ancient remains," said Poojari.
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