A 'panchmukhi shivling' was unearthed around six feet below the surface during the excavation of a pond in Sarai Piparia village of the Dataganj tehsil in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun on Tuesday. The marble relic emerged as a bulldozer dug into the earth.
Mahant Parmatma Das Maharaj of Papad Brahmadev Mandir claimed that the shivling was around 300 years old, according to a report by news agency PTI.
The five-faced shivling has reportedly become a major attraction for people from nearby villages -- prompting the administration to post police and revenue personnel at the location.
Environmentalist Shipra Pathak, who was associated with Narmada Bachao Abhiyan, was present at the site at the time of excavation.
She said that the digging was done to build a lotus pond on her 13-acre land, where a plant nursery -- Panch Tatva Paudhshala -- is also under development.
Describing the shivling’s emergence as a “divine sign”, Pathak -- who runs a foundation committed to distributing five lakh plants every year -- expressed reverence for the find. "One doesn't need blind faith for miracles -- true faith brings miracles naturally. Now that Lord Mahadev has manifested here, a grand and divine temple will be constructed at the site," she told PTI.
Dataganj sub-divisional magistrate Dharmendra Kumar Singh told the news agency that the archaeological department will be called to assess the historical significance and age of the shivling.
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