Keeladi | Excavating the past

A newly laid street runs by way of Keeladi, a village in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, that has now earned a big place on India’s political and cultural map. A gentle stream of holiday makers, notably college students, flock to the state-of-the-art museum established by the Tamil Nadu authorities which showcases the findings from the Keeladi excavation web site.

On the opposite aspect of the village, nestled amongst coconut groves, staff below the supervision of archaeologists proceed to excavate land as soon as believed to have been a thriving industrial hub. Sq.-shaped trenches reveal remnants of furnaces containing soot and ash, confirming that Keeladi was a centre for manufacturing beads constructed from quartz, carnelian, glass, agate, and different supplies. Carbon courting of charcoal found on the web site in February 2017 established that the settlement dates again to sixth century BCE. These excavations provide compelling proof that city civilisation existed in Tamil Nadu throughout the Sangam age. The findings additionally point out commerce and cultural change with the Indus Valley Civilisation.

For Tamil Nadu politicians, notably the leaders of the ruling DMK, the findings offered the much-needed grist for his or her political narrative. Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin in January this 12 months introduced a $1 million prize for specialists or organisations that reach deciphering the script of the Indus Valley Civilisation, stating that 60% of the graffiti marks present in Tamil Nadu had parallels to the symbols discovered on Indus seals.

Lengthy-standing divide

The findings additionally fuelled the long-standing Aryan-Dravidian divide, and a few expressed reservations about accepting the findings from Keeladi. This was adopted by the switch of archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who led the primary two phases of the excavation, to Assam in 2017. The third section was overseen by one other archaeologist, P.S. Sriraman, who reported that there was no continuity within the brick constructions. Excavations resumed solely after the intervention of the Madras Excessive Court docket. The Tamil Nadu State Division of Archaeology additionally took up the undertaking and, in its report, asserted that Keeladi was as soon as a web site of city civilisation, a declare that continues to be some extent of competition amongst archaeologists.

Those that dispute the declare of an city settlement level to websites reminiscent of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and others in Gujarat, which, they argue, “bear testimony to the existence of an city civilisation,” whereas Keeladi, they contend, is simply one other excavation web site with out enough proof to qualify as an city centre.

The return of the 982-page report by Amarnath Ramakrishna of the ASI, with directions to supply additional proof and rewrite it, stirred yet one more controversy. In Tamil Nadu, this transfer is perceived as indicative of the BJP-led NDA authorities’s bias in opposition to discoveries rising from the South.

The present dispensation on the Centre is seen as reluctant to just accept something projected as superior to the Indo-Aryan heritage. Given the Centre’s stance on Indian tradition, language, and faith, the ASI’s directive to Mr. Ramakrishna and his subsequent switch is considered with suspicion — even when there’s a real educational foundation for it.

Mr. Ramakrishna, quite than pursuing the matter by way of educational channels, has joined the refrain of Tamil Nadu politicians, although many consider the Centre’s motives are clear for all to see. Mr. Ramakrishna, from the start, has been sustaining that there was no proof for spiritual worship.

What stays undisputed is the necessity for in depth excavation in Keeladi and surrounding areas. Madurai and its neighbouring areas alongside the banks of the Vaigai are undeniably historical settlements. It’s essential to have excavations on the size of these at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro to substantiate the declare of a flourishing city civilisation in Tamil Nadu. The ASI has the accountability of enterprise this effort with the assist of the Tamil Nadu authorities.