Deorkothar

Deorkothar, or Deur Kothar, in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, holds remains of very early Buddhist stupas. P.K. Mishra of the Archaeological Survey of India found it in 1982 with Ajit Singh, sarpanch of Barhat village, and in 1988 it became a monument of national importance. Excavations in 1999–2000 uncovered two of its four brick stupa mounds; Stupa 1 stands about 9 metres high, and there are traces of 30 stupas in stone or brick.

The site is known for inscriptions in early Brahmi, dated to around the 2nd century BCE, on a broken pillar. They list teacher-to-pupil lineages running back to the Buddha, one through his disciple Anuruddha, with only about a dozen generations between the founder and the monks who raised the pillar. Around the site, 63 rock shelters carry paintings from prehistoric and historic times, showing people, animals, horse riders, handprints, stupas and geometric designs, and microlithic tools have been found nearby.