Speaking Archaeologically™

On a drive to Dharamshala via Gaggal, you would hardly recognise that your vehicle passed a place, where, once a Buddhist stupa existed. The site in the village of Chaitru was accidentally discovered, when the same road was being laid from Pathankot to Dharamshala in the early 1900s. The cutting of a mound for the construction of the road yielded a head of the Buddha (now in the possession of Lahore Museum, Pakistan) along with the remains of brick and pebble structures, red and micaceous redware pottery sherds and few terracotta and copper objects of Kushana Period(2nd to 3rd century CE). Image 1: The not so noticeable notice boards at the entrance which mention the name of site on a fading rusted board. The site locally known as Bhima ka Tila (or Bhima's Mound), is believed to be formed, when Bhima, one of the five Pandavas , dusted his feet here. The site, until the Archaeological Survey of India took over, hosted the annual village fair, which also featured wrestli...

Hold it right there! Save your breath. Don't expect me Allahabad juxtaposed with Prayagraj  to call it Prayagraj. The blue of a city I share part of my maternal heritage from never responded to that name. Devprayag if you must absolutely insist but it hasn't been that in several centuries. There's not much of Devprayag left, though, to be fair.  Like I said, it's not a city anymore, it's  a blur-a place where past gasps out of the present like a drowning man gasps for air, beating helplessly at the surface of water.  Allahabad (anglicised version of Illahabad) was originally named after the secular religion Mughal Emperor wished to propagate and was named after the  eponymous Illahabad Fort No matter how much you try to saffronise it, Allahabad  is secular, just like the Mughal Emperor,  w ho decided to call it that but its fate is not too different than that of the unorthodox great-grandson, who was a "pestilent infidel" in the eyes o...

“The past is a foreign country and art is the passport to it.” - Anonymous If my life could be a testament to anything it would probably be to the fact that staying up post three scrolling through Instagram while sipping on your second cup of espresso can land you in the most unexpected of places; sometimes ,even the right places. Now don’t get me wrong , I don’t mean to recommend such unhealthy behavior to anyone reading this but that is how I came across ‘Speaking Archaeologically’s’   Instagram handle some three months ago. Needless to say i t wasn't long before I fell in love with history all over again  and decided this organisation was something I wanted to be a part of . What followed that was me applying the famed and oft used three fold Bollywood strategy to get anything you want in life, which in this case included religiously stalking the Instagram page for recruitment posters or declarations, working hard to prove I’m worthy by sending in submissions and final...

SA Travel Diaries : Ashokan Inscription, Kalsi by Gauri Singh The site of Ashoka's Inscription at Kalsi Kalsi is a valley town surrounded by lesser Himalayan mountains from 3 sides and Doon plains on one side, on the confluence of River Yamuna and Tons. It lies about 60 kms from capital city of Dehradun on the road to Chakrata via Herbertpur on the h ighway of Jaunsar region, Dehradun district of state Uttarakhand. The valley is the first plain town when one descends from the Himalayas and is therefore also an economic hub of the Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Region. Situated at an altitude of 780 meter above the sea level and on the banks of 2 rivers, the place experiences a moderate climate in summers and has scenic surroundings. The alluvial soil drained down by the rivers makes this place one of the most fertile region in the surrounding Pachwa-Doon plains. The place is especially known for The Rock Edict of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka and is one of the most o...

Sirat Gohar is a Citizen Archaeology Member at Speaking Archaeologically When we speak of archaeological tourism, no site in Pakistan perhaps surpasses the potential that Taxila has. It attracts tourists from all walks of life, and its rich historical and cultural background makes it famous in the chronicles of history and the travelogues of foreign travellers right from the ancient times. View of Taxila city from Ban Faqiran Stupa Even today, the whole valley is dotted with the signs of the past. Apart from the three Ancient Cities: of Bhir-mound , Sirkap and Sirsukh , Taxila has also been the religious epicentre of the Indian subcontinent, housing ruins of Hindu Temples, Islamic places of worship and Buddhist monasteries. Of these, the Buddhist monasteries can easily be called the oldest, dating back to the second century CE, synchronous with the reign of Kanishka. More than twenty Stupas and Monastic buildings of Kushan period have been excavated so far in Taxil...

The Kangra Fort My first trip to Mcleodganj and Dharamshala, Kangra was so unplanned that I hardly knew anything about the places except for the fact that it was one of the most serene hill stations of country. En route , on the outskirts of Dharamshala, I noticed on a hill, some huge walls and buildings which seemed quite old in structure. An exclusive route leading to it had a signboard of ‘The Kangra Fort, 4 km’. Three days later, we were driving to the place. Gauri Singh is a Member of Citizen Archaeology Wing since June 2016 We first arrived at the Kangra Fort Museum and Art Gallery. It was a small place but a treasure house of a forgotten period in the Indian history. The erstwhile Royal Family of Kangra has dedicated their Museum to honour Maharaja Sansar Chand, their ancestor whose reign was known as the Golden Age of Kangra. Maharaja Sansar Chand inherited the throne of Kangra, when he was just 10 years old. By the age of 21, he had defeated the Mughals...