The Lost Monk

The Andaman and Nicobar islands of India consists of 572 islands of which 37 are inhabited. In Bagan Lal Indreji's letter to Alexandar Darwan in 1876, both being renowned archaeologist of their time, he mentioned a statue of a monk as high as the mountains itself on one the islands. Though an extremely significant find, it was never made known to the public. Possible reasons being that it is a holy relic to the neighbouring locals and also Islands inhabited by indigenous people were made strictly prohibited by the Indian government. Manjhunat Kariawala, an archaeologist from Maharashtra along with 5 others - Sarah Canegham, Bruce Bamler, Amita Singh, Chrispian Morajkar and Anjali Phartare, have been seeking permission to explore these co-ordinates mentioned in the letter for years now. They finally got a permit in July of 2022. Accompanied by 2 locals and 2 guard escorts they set out to explore. No information was shared except for this photo that was circulated amongst a small community of indian archaeologist. Though this is very risky, and I could face consequences, as I'm not allowed to do this, I will share this photo with you. Buy me a beer when we meet. Cheers!!