Srinagar: Two ancient sculptures, including about a 1200-year-old idol of Lord Vishnu, were found in Budgam district of central Kashmir, police said on Wednesday.
A police spokesman said residents of Gudsathoo village in Budgam on Tuesday informed police that they found a sculpture while digging land.
A police party rushed to the spot and took possession of the sculpture. A team of officers from the Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums was called for examination of the recovered sculpture at the district police headquarters, he said.
During the examination, it was revealed that the sculpture is of Lord Vishnu and dates back roughly to the 9th Century AD (about 1,200 years old), he said.
The spokesman said the sculpture is three-headed and has four arms with a lotus on the upper right hand. It is a mixture of Gandhara and Mathura School of Art, he added.
Similarly, another sculpture was recovered from the Khag area of Budgam by the police. It was also examined by the team of Department Archives, Archaeology and Museums who established that the sculpture is the fragment of Panch Mukh, the spokesman said.
Both these sculptures were handed over to Deputy Director, Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, Kashmir, Mushtaq Ahmad Beigh and his team by Senior Superintendent of Police, Budgam, Tahir Saleem Khan, he said.
