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Archaeologists in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have unearthed a small vihara, an early type of Buddhist monastery. A team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) investigating several mounds in a hilly area found a Buddhist shrine in one of them and the vihara in another. According to Rajendra Dehuri, ASI deputy superintending archaeologist, the monastery includes six rooms that open onto a wide veranda. Also found at the site were sculptures of Gautama Buddha, as well as the Buddhist deities Avalokiteshvara and Tara. The structure appears to have been built between the eighth and eleventh centuries A.D.
