Latest news with #MemoirsoftheArchaeologicalSurveyofIndia
Time of India
30-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
‘All excavation reports need proper vetting and editing before publication'
Chennai: A week after a controversy broke out over its seeking corrections to the draft report on the Keeladi excavations, especially the dating of the settlement's first period to between the 8th century BCE and the 5th century BCE, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Thursday said, "All reports need proper vetting, editing, proofreading, and designing before they are sent for publication. " "That the ASI is uninterested in the publication of the Keeladi report is a figment of imagination, which aims purposefully to paint the department in bad colours," it further said in a statement. Archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who excavated the Keeladi site that proved the existence of an urban centre during the Sangam Age, classified the site's age into three different periods: the pre-early historic period (from the 8th century BCE to the 5th century BCE), the mature early historic period (from the 5th century BCE to the end of the 1st century BCE), and the post-early historic period (from the end of the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE). More than two years after the submission of the 982-page report, ASI's director (exploration & excavation), Hemasagar A Naik, asked Ramakrishna to make "corrections" in his draft report on the Keeladi excavations "to make it more authentic" as per the suggestions of two experts who were not named. Naik said Keeladi could at best be dated to around 300 BCE. Ramakrishna defended his findings, saying the final report has "all documentary evidence and chronological sequence". Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo In response to the adverse reactions to its demand, ASI said: "In a set process, after the submission of the reports by the excavators, those are then sent to various subject experts, who are requested to vet the reports for publication. Various alterations, as suggested by the subject experts, are carried out by the excavators and resubmitted finally for publication. These are then published as Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India (MASI). " "The same procedure was adopted in the case of the Keeladi report, wherein the report was sent for vetting to experts. Accordingly, the excavator of the Keeladi has been communicated the suggestions of the experts for making necessary corrections in the draft report submitted by him, but he did not carry out the correction to date," it said. "The story being circulated in a part of the media is misleading, untrue, and is absolutely and vehemently denied. The Director General and the ASI officials understand the importance of an excavated site, but all reports need proper vetting, editing, proofreading, and designing before they are sent for publication," the release said. It also called the notion that the ASI is uninterested in the publication of the Keeladi report "a figment of imagination which aims purposefully to paint the department in bad colours". "The letter from the director (Excavations & Explorations) is a routine matter which the Director (EE) regularly writes to the excavators for carrying out changes in the report or otherwise," the release said. Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, who raised the issue on various platforms, called the release a joke.
The Hindu
29-05-2025
- General
- The Hindu
ASI dismisses claim of disinterest in publishing Keeladi report as ‘figment of imagination'
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Thursday (May 29, 2025) dismissed as a 'figment of imagination' the allegation that it is disinterested in publishing the report on the Keeladi excavation. It called such claims misleading and an attempt to malign the department. Recently, the ASI had asked archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishna, who unearthed an ancient civilisation in Keeladi in Sivaganga district, to resubmit his report about the excavation after making necessary corrections for taking further action. However, Mr. Ramakrishna defended his conclusions and refused to revise the findings. In a statement released through the Press Information Bureau, the ASI said it regularly publishes reports on excavated sites and places great emphasis on this aspect, since much time, energy, and money are invested in every excavation. Without publication, the basic purpose of the excavation remains unfulfilled. After the submission of reports by excavators, they are sent to subject experts for vetting. Various alterations, as suggested by the subject experts, are carried out by the excavators and resubmitted finally for publication. The reports are eventually published as Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India (MASI). 'The same procedure was adopted in case of the Keeladi report, wherein the report was sent for vetting to experts. Accordingly, the excavator of Keeladi was communicated the suggestions of the experts for making necessary corrections in the draft report submitted by him, but he did not carry out the corrections till date,' the ASI said. 'The story being circulated in a part of the media is misleading and untrue. The Director General and the ASI officials understand the importance of an excavated site, but all reports need proper vetting, editing, proofreading, and designing before being sent for publication. That the ASI is uninterested in publication of the Keeladi report is a figment of imagination, which aims purposefully to paint the department in bad colours,' it added.
Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Delhiwale: Last Mughal's wives
Delhi is a megapolis of graves. Entire neighbourhoods (including certain super-fancy hotels!) are raised on graveyards. In parts of the city, even ordinary houses are built around graves. Only a minuscule number of these centuries-old graves are privileged with elaborate tombs, belonging to saints and emperors. Most other graves lie in anonymity, their identities lost to time. Exceptions exist, and a few of such lonesome graves belong to figures with notable status. Like the handful of graves that lie in the forgettable passage separating the all-marble Chausath Khamba monument from poet Ghalib's marble tomb, in central Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. Heritage walking tours step out from the former, and step into the latter, without bothering about the seemingly random graves littering the intervening space. Almost nobody is aware that these are actually the graves of the last Mughal emperor's wives. Following the failed uprising of 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled by the British to distant Rangoon. Only one of his wives, Begum Zeenat Mahal, was permitted to accompany the unfortunate emperor. Like Zafar, she too died in that far-off land. But the emperor's other wives remained in a turbulent Delhi, fated to be buried in Nizamuddin Basti. This detail appears fleetingly in a tiny passage in Maulavi Zafar Hasan's book Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India. An ASI official, he had sourced this precious information from Stephen Carr's book Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi. Today, these graves bear no inscriptions, but per the aforementioned authors, they mark the resting places of Zafar's wives Begum Ashraf Mahal, Begum Akhtar Mahal, and Begum Taj Mahal. Explaining the logic of their burial in this area, Ratish Nanda of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, who authored a two-volume catalogue of more than a thousand Delhi monuments, explains that Chausath Khamba happens to be close to the dargah of mystic Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the shrine venerated by the Mughals all through their rule. Each of the 18 rulers maintained a connection with this Sufi terrain; either through pilgrimage, architecture or by making the ground their final resting place. (In fact, just before being arrested by the British, Zafar handed over the sacred relics that were in possession of the Mughal emperors to Hazrat Nizamuddin's shrine.) Consequently, Zafar's wives—plus some of his daughters—found their posthumous homes within these sacrosanct acres (Zafar's younger brother Mirza Jahangir was luckier, being buried inside the premises of the aforementioned shrine). This evening, a band of friends are huddled inside the Chausath Khamba monument. On becoming aware of the significance of the stones outside, they sombrely stand around the graves, offering their regards to the forgotten women of the Mughal royalty. See photo.
