Telhara was the site of a
Buddhist monastery in ancient India. It has been mentioned as
Teladhaka in the writings of the Chinese traveller
Hiuen Tsang, who visited the place in the 7th century CE. It is mentioned in an inscription found at Nālandā which mentions a temple restored a man named Bālāditya, a Jyāvisa of Telāḍhaka who had emigrated from Kauśāmbī, in the eleventh year of
Mahipala Deva. It has been also mentioned in the
Ain-i-Akbari as Tiladah, and is shown as one of the 46 mahals (administrative units) of the Bihar
sarkar. Telhara was shown as a
pargana in the maps prepared by the
East India Company administration during 1842–45. The ruins of Telhara were mentioned in an 1872 letter by A. M. Broadley, the then Magistrate of Nalanda. Broadley noted that a large number of stone and metal images were often found during the digging of graves at the top of one of the mounds. Metal images found were melted down. The State Government of Bihar started a new archaeological excavation of the site in December 2009, and later by the Bihar Heritage Development Society in 2020-2022. The work unearthed ancient pottery, antiques, and the remains of a three-storeyed structure mentioned by Xuanzang. Evidence of prayer halls and residential cells in the monastery has been found. The excavation revealed the following chronological layers: •
Northern Black Polished Ware (circa 6th century BCE to 2nd Century BCE) •
Kushan (2nd Century BCE to 4th century CE) •
Gupta (4th to 6th century CE) •
Early Medieval (mid 6th century CE to 13th century CE ) •
Medieval (13th century CE to mid-18th century CE ) •
Colonial (18th century to mid-20th century CE) A number of sculptures from the site had been moved to museums during the
British Raj. The
Indian Museum in
Kolkata houses the
Maitreya and the twelve-armed
Avalokiteswar images from Telhara. A Pala sculpture from the site is present at the
Rietberg Museum in
Zurich. Telhara has a mosque, which is said to have been built with the materials carried from the ruins of the Buddhist monastery. A state Museum is being established to store the artifacts found. == Administration ==