The state of Maharashtra houses some of the finest archeological sites in India; the town Mansar situated in the Ramtek Tehsil of district Nagpur is one of them. Geographical location wise this small town is located at 45 km northwest of Nagpur, and 5km away from Ramtek, and 841 km away from Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. The town is located at an average height of 471 meter from the sea level. Geographical border wise Manser is surrounded by Parseoni Taluka at the west, Nagpur Taluka at the south, Kamptee Taluka at southwest, and Mouda Taluka at south eastern side.
Mansar - Demography
According to Census in the year 2001, Mansar had a population of 6458 only. Literacy rate of the place is quite satisfactory like 75%; male literacy stands at 76% and female literacy rate stands at 69%, respectively. The ratio of male and females here are 50:50. In Mansar, the local language is Marathi and other most used languages are Hindi and English. The postal code of Mansar is 441406 and the nearest post office of the town is Mansar post office. The nearby cities of the Mansar town are Ramtek, Kamthi, Nagpur, and Savner. It is one of the eight scared places situated near Ramtek. The place is considered sacred for the location of “Hidimba Tekri” and for the temple of Hidimba on a nearby hillock. Perhaps Manser would have been remained as a sacred place only but some amazing discoveries took place here that enhanced the significance of this small town.Mansar-Archeological findings
The hillock and the nearby “Tekri” area were tagged as one of the most significant archeological site; initially, in the year 1972, a statue of Lord Shiva in vamana form was found. Made with red sand stone on Vakataka style of art, historians anticipated that that the idol was formed during 5th century AD. The idol of Lord Shiva of Manser is now carefully preserved in National Museum of Delhi and open for public view.Afterward under the sponsorship and supervision of Bodhisatva Nagarjun Smarak Samstha Va Anusandhan Kendra, Nagpur and under the direction of archeologists A.K.Charma and Jagat Pati Joshi a major excavation work was initiated which ultimately produced an awesome discovery of historical importance. During 1997-1998, total 5 ancient structures were discovered from the rate of Hidimba Tekri, Mansar and these five structures were designated by Archeological Society of India as MNS 1, MNS 2, MNS 3, MNS 4 and MNS 5, respectively.
After close observation and archeological analysis concerned archeologists have explained that MN2 was probably a huge palatial complex and named as Vakataka Palace Complex of Pravarapura, and this palace complex was perhaps one of the slices of the capital city of Vakataka King Pravarasena II, who reigned during 1st half of the 5th century. MNS 3, 4, 5 were used to be the shrines of some royal family members.
In MNS 3 a tall human figure sculpture was found in crouching position. Apart from these excavations other ancient relics were also explored from that “Hidimba Tekri” area. Along with old ruins of destroyed city and structures, several sculptured figures, ancient coins, different artifacts, tools etc. were also found and it is decrypted that the place had a rich history of its own. A big natural water reservoir was found around these 5 old structures and it has been anticipated by archeologists that before 1600 years a large population used to live there at normal and regular course.
