Ancient site

The village of Keladi in the southern Tamil Nadu state of India has detected archaeological, which has given rise to a political and historical battle.

Between coconut trees, a range of 15 feet (4.5 m) deep trenches manifests ancient artifacts buried in soil layers – pieces of terracotta utensils, and marks of long lost brick structures.

Experts at the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology estimate that the artifacts are estimated at 2,000 to 2,500 years old, with the oldest dating in about 580 BC. They say that these findings challenge and re -prepare the existing narratives about the initial civilization in the Indian subcontinent.

With the weight of politicians, historians and appigners, Keladi went beyond archeology, becoming a symbol of state pride and identity amid competition of historical narratives.

Nevertheless, enthusiasts for history say that it is one of the most compelling and accessible discoveries of modern India – a rare opportunity provides a rare opportunity to deepen our understanding of a shared past.

Kailadi, a village from Madurai (7 mi) from Madurai on the banks of the Vaigai River, was one of the 100 sites shortlisted for excavation by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan in 2013.

He selected a 100 -acre site there due to proximity to the ancient Madurai and the first discovery of the ware of red and black pottery by a school teacher in 1975.

Since 2014, 10 excavations in Keladi have exposed more than 15,000 artifacts – buried urns, coins, beads, terracotta pipes and more – just four out of 100 marked acres. Many are now displayed in a nearby museum.

Leading the State Archaeological Team in Keladi, Ajay Kumar says that major search is elaborate brick structures and water systems-evidence of a 2,500 year old urban settlement.

“It was a literate, urban society where people had different places for residences, burial practices and industrial functions,” Mr. Kumar says that it is the first large, well-defined ancient urban settlement found in southern India.

Since the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization in the early 1900s, most efforts to detect the origin of civilization in the subcontinent have focused on northern and central India.

Therefore, Keladi found that there was an enthusiasm beyond Tamil Nadu and beyond it.

William Daniel, a teacher from neighboring Kerala, said the discoveries made him proud of his legacy.

“It gives people from the south [of India] To feel proud of this, that our civilization is ancient and important as one in the answer [of India],” He says.

The politics around Keladi reflects a deep-rooted north-south division-stating that there is a need to struggle with the past to understand the present.

India’s first major civilization – Indus Valley – Emerged in North and Central regions between 3300 and 1300 BC. After its decline, a second urban phase, Vedic period, increased in Gangetic plains, which lasts until the 6th century BC.

In this phase, a foundation was seen for Hinduism – the rise of major cities, powerful states and Vedic culture. As a result, urbanization in ancient India is often seen as a northern phenomenon, with a major legend that the northern Aryans “decent” the Dravidian South.

This is particularly clear in the understanding of the mainstream of the spread of literacy.

It is believed that Ashokan Brahmi Script – found on the rock edits of Maurya King Ashoka in northern and central India, dating back back in the third century BC – is the anterior to most scripts in South and Southeast Asia.

Epigerists like Iravatham Mahadevan and Y Subbarayalu have long been considered that Tamil Brahmi script – Tamil language was spoken in Tamil Nadu and written in Brahmi script – Ashokan was a part of the Brahmi script.

But now, archaeologists of the Tamil Nadu state department say that excavation in Keladi is challenging the story.

“We have found frescoes back to the Tamil Brahmi script in the 6th century BC, which shows that this Ashokan is older than the Brahmi script. We believe that both scripts developed independently and perhaps, emerged from the Indus Valley Script,” Sri Kumar says.

Former marine archeology professor at Tamil University agrees with Epigrafist K. Rajvellu, Mr. Kumar and says other excavation sites in the state have also dating back in the Tamil Brahmi script in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.

But some experts say that more research and evidence is required to prove the antiquity of the Tamil Brahmi script decisively.

Another claim of the State Department of Archaeology that has rubbed the wings is that the frescoes found on the artifacts in Keladi are the same found in the Indus Valley sites.

Says Mr. Kumar, “People of the Indus Valley can migrate south, which may lead to the period of urbanization in Keladi, at the same time it was happening in Gangetic plains,” Mr. Kumar says, saying that further excavations need to be fully resolved.

But Ajit Kumar, a professor of archeology at Nalanda University in Bihar, says this was not possible.

“Given the underdeveloped situation of the journey, the people of the Indus Valley will not be able to migrate to such a large number of south to establish civilization,” they say. He believes that the search in Keladi can be compared to a small “settlement”.

While archaeologists argue on findings, politicians are already having a relationship between Keladi and the Indus Valley – some also claim that the two were present at the same time or the Indus Valley was an early southern Indian, or Dravidian, part of the civilization.

Controversy over the transfer of ASI archaeologist Shri Ramakrishnan – who led the Keladi excavation – has intensified the political tensions of the site.

In 2017, after two excavation rounds, ASI shifted Sri Ramakrishnan citing the protocol. The Tamil Nadu government accused the federal agency of deliberately obstructing Digs to weaken Tamil pride.

The ASI’s request for Sri Ramakrishnan in 2023 has intensified the dispute – citing lack of scientific rigor – scientific rigor. He refused, emphasizing his findings and followed standard archaeological methods.

In June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin called for the refusal of the federal government to publish the report of Shri Ramakrishnan “Tamil culture and pride”. Minister of State, Thangam Thenarsu, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the federal government accused of deliberately suppressing the information to eradicate the Tamil history.

India’s Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has now made it clear that Shri Ramakrishnan’s report has not been rejected by ASI, but “under review” is yet to be finalized with a specialist response.

Back to the Keladi Museum, the children detect the performance during a school visit, while construction continues to build an open-air museum at the construction site.

Journalist Somia Ashok, the author of an upcoming book on Keladi, recall the thrill of his first visit.

She says, “To highlight our history is a journey to better understand our shared past. Through small clues – such as the coins of Northwest or Roman copper, Karlian beads – Kailadi revealed that our ancestors were more connected to our feeling,” she says.

“The partitions we see today take more shape than history.”