U.S, Feb. 16 -- On a mildly cold morning in February 1838, Captain Thomas Seymour Burt, serving with the Royal Bengal Engineers of the East India Company, stood speechless before a set of multiple temples deep in the forests of Central India. The Plymouth-born engineer was on a surveying expedition in the flat-topped hills of the Central Indian plateau, between the towns of Eran and Saugar (Sagar), during a devastating famine.

Provoked by his Palki (palanquin) bearers to see the hidden ruins, the 33-year-old British officer ventured into the impenetrable jungle. The distant calls of birds echoed through the forests, and the earthy scent of moss hung in the air. Surrounded by dense foliage and inhabited by wildlife, Burt came upon several...