Pune:
A six-foot idol of Lord Hanuman, believed to be over 250 years old, was discovered in the bed of the Mutha river near Sangam Bridge late on Wednesday evening.
Workers engaged by the Pune Municipal Corporation to clean the river bed under its Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal (JNNURM) project chanced upon the idol. The width of the idol is 3.5 feet.
Social worker Sameer Nikam and history researcher Mandar Lawate rushed to the spot and examined the idol.
Two workers, Mahesh Aswale and Savar Navakar, were cleaning the river bed when they came across the idol, while operating excavators. It was about 10 feet under water.
The Sangam area is surrounded by old temples situated on the ghats of the Mutha river.
Lawate said there are six huge idols of Lord Hanuman in the city like the one in Nana Peth and the one in the Someshwar temple in Pashan.
"But this idol is more beautiful. It has a bell at its tail and there is a conch. The face faces the right and it has a beautiful dagger at its waist, which means it was worshipped by warriors. Such idols of Maruti are found in forts and one is located at Ganeshkhind, at the Chatuhshrungi temple hill," he said.
There are many temples of Hanuman and the deity is revered in various talims across the city.
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