Excavations at Sringaverapuram 1977-86 Volume- 1 (An Old and Rare Book)

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Foreword Sringaverapura, in District Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, was one of the ancient settlements subjected to excavation under a project entitled the 'Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites'. The excavations were jointly undertaken by Prof. B.B. Lal on behalf of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and Sarvashri K.V. Soundara Rajan and K.N. Dikshit of the Archaeological Survey of India. In the present volume, Prof. Lal has presented, besides the general sequence and other aspects of the site, details of a huge tank complex of early historical period unearthed there along with associated finds like pottery and antiquities. I am sure; the reader would find the report most useful and interesting because of its significant contents especially the grand structure of the tank and its technological aspects. It may, however, be stated that the views expressed in the report are not to be taken as the official views of the Archaeological Survey of India.

I am thankful to Prof. Lal for producing this scholarly report which could be published only with the combined efforts of my colleagues, B.M. Pande, Director, C. Dorje, Superintending Archaeologist, Arundhati Banerjee, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, J.C. Gupta, Production Officer, K.P. Padhy and A. Jha, Assistant Archaeologists in the Publication Section of the Survey.

Preface I have great pleasure in placing in the hands of the readers the first volume of reports on the excavations conducted by me, in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India represented by Shri K.V. Soundara Rajan and Shri K.N. Dikshit, at five sites, viz., Sringaverapura, Bharadvaja Asrama, Ayodhya, Nandigrama and Chitrakata, under the national project 'Archaeology of the It Ramayana Sites'. This volume deals with a 250-metre long brick tank which is a unique example of Indian hydraulic engineering 2000 years ago. In due course, a separate volume will be published dealing with the excavation in the habitation area at this very site, which has not only given evidence of the easternmost occurrence of the Ochre Colour Ware but has also yielded a very good sequence. Of cultures, with occasional breaks no doubt, right up to the recent times.

Meanwhile, it is proposed to take up Bharadvaja Asrama for the second volume in the series, because of the unusual significance of the site. A flat piece of land, opposite Anand Bhavan (the ancestral home of the Nehru family) at Allahabad, is locally known as Bharadvaja Asrama. It carries on it a municipal garden, and there is little to indicate that there could be something really ancient about it. Thus, while working on the project, I asked myself: 'If there is any truth in the local tradition, the place ought to yield archaeological remains as early as those of Ayodhya.' Consequently, excavations were taken up at the site and lo! Its earliest levels did throw up the early variety of the well known Northern Black Polished Ware, taking it back to circa seventh century B.C. and making it co-eval with the earliest levels of Ayodhya. All this clearly demonstrates that tradition need not be spurned as many people, including some scholars, are prone to do. Let adequate investigations be made before either rejecting or accepting any tradition.

The field-work under this project has taken twelve long years, viz. from 1975 to 1986, involving the aforementioned five sites. It has thrown up thousands of antiquities-coins, weights, beads, terracottas, copper and iron objects, and so on, besides truck-loads of pottery. All this material has to be patiently analysed and a comparative study made thereof. Those who have done the tedious job of report-writing know full well how time-consuming the job is. I would, therefore, urge upon my readers to bear with me. The volume on Bharadvaja Asrama may be press-ready by the end of 1992. If all goes well, it is hoped that the remaining volumes in the series will be out by the time the country celebrates the Golden Jubilee of its Independence in August 1997.

Although all the persons concerned will be duly thanked in the pages to follow, here I would like to express my special gratitude to Professor S. Nurul Hasan who not only inaugurated the project but also helped me at various stages thereafter. I am no less thankful to the successive Directors-General, viz. Shri M.N. Deshpande, Shri B.K. Thapar, Dr. (Mrs.) Debala Mitra, Dr. M.S. Nagarajarao, Shri J.P. Joshi and Shri M.C. Joshi, who gave me the necessary facilities from time to time.

Introduction It is just possible that someone might question the propriety of introducing here the Project `Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites', since the Sringaverapura Tank, which is the subject-matter of this volume, could as well have been described without bringing the Project in the picture. While this objection may be valid, it is equally likely that many readers might like to have at least an idea of the why and how of the Project in the course of which the discovery of this great tank was made. Hence this note on the Project. However, if any reader is not interested in the Project, he is advised to skip over this chapter and move straight on to Chapter II.

It is admitted on all hands that ancient Indian history not only abounds in lacunae but is also teeming with uncertainties about many things which are otherwise known. For instance, the identity of king Chandra mentioned in the famous Mehrauli iron-pillar inscription is still under debate. Or, while the, historicity of Gautam the Buddha has been accepted by all scholars, there is no unanimity about his date: most of them hold that he passed away in 487 or 483 B.C., but there are some others who prefer to place this event in the fourth century B.C.

When such is the state of affairs even about the historically acceptable personalities, what would be the position about those who fall in the realm of tradition or at best traditional history, as, for example, Krishna and Rama. The two Indian epics, viz. the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, give their exploits galore, but some historians feel hesitant to accept even their very existence. On the other hand, there are people-the masses and even amongst the intelligentsia-for whom they were historical figures, let alone the orthodox ones who would go to the extent of asserting that every little detail mentioned in these epics holds good to the very letter. They would even accept that an akshauhini sena (army) was deployed in the Mahabharata War: according to the specifications given in the texts, an akshauhini would include 21, 870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 horses and 1,09,350 infantry. For them it is. Also a fact the sri Rama, after his conquest of Lanka, returned to Ayodhya in an aeroplane (pushapaka vimana).

The reason for these extremely divergent views is not far to seek. It lies in two major factors. In the first place, both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are not contemporary with the events they seek to narrate. Secondly, there have been interpolations ad infinitum into these epics, which considerably reduce their dependability.

To elaborate the first factor. The history of India from the time of the Buddha onwards is so well known that there is no scope to place either Krishna or Rama after him, i.e. later than the 6th-5th centuries B.C. Thus, if these were historical figures they must antedate the sixth century B.C.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages