Speaking Archaeologically™

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...

Divyansh Thakur is a Research Wing Member at Speaking Archaeologically since October 2017 This post is an account of the author's one day trip to Garli, and, is not, by any means the result of a scientific expedition. It is, thus, rid of the jargon, profundity and, as Mark Twain would say, the 'impressive incomprehensibility' of scientific works and, in turn, gives an anecdote of what should be realistically called a picnic. For months, the thought of heading out and exploring the cobbled streets of this small hamlet in Kangra had been pestering me—for a place, so close to home seemed elusively distant. The remedy to it came in form of three battered up scooters, and in companions who did not yet understand the intricacies of Archaeology or the meaning of it. They were all lured in by the irresistible charm of a DSLR camera. I guess we were all a bunch of yokels back home, the object of our desires being fancy little devices, which were, prior to contemporary age, ...

When we hear the name Shaniwar Wada the first thing that comes to our mind is the movie Bajirao Mastani and the majestic structure it portrayed, but sadly, it's not what we imagine it to be except some ruins that stand witness to a glorious past. A fire in 1827 that lasted for 15 days destroyed the fort. Before going to the fort I read a little about it and thus I was prepared to see fort in a hopeless condition, but really it wasn't so.  The entrance to the fort was the Dilli Darwaza,  which was intact and relatively in a very good shape, the huge iron door which was built to stand almost anything did what it was meant to do and survived the fire. As soon as I entered the huge iron gate, the inside of the gate the situation changed and the sorry state of the monument was revealed, with the fresco almost fading and the wall plaster falling off. There was a ticket booth or two, I can't seem to remember considering ...

               The Forest Research Institute (FRI) provides for a delightful visit on a sultry afternoon of June. FRI is a premier institute of forestry research in India, located in Dehradun, Uttrakhand. It was founded in 1876 as British Imperial Forest School and later re established in 1908 as the Imperial Forest Research Institute. Styled in the Greeko Roman architecture, the building was inaugurated in 1929 by Viceroy Willingdon and now stands as a National Heriatge Site. The Institute is one of its kind and has six museums within its circumference.  Upon entering the premises, one encounters various housing complexes of the IFS officers as well the students of the university of FRI. The greenscape provided a wave of relief from the summer heat of Dehra. The task of covering the museums soon began. M1 : PATHOLOGY MUSEUM This section dealt with the effects of various rot and fungus on  the trees as well as the diseases ...

Nanded is a heavenly town in state of Maharashtra, India. It is 650 kms east of Mumbai by road: approximately an 11 hour drive and 250km from Hyderabad, Telangana. Sachkhand Express is a special superfast train which starts from Amritsar, Punjab and reaches Nanded in 34 hours 10 minutes roughly. Nanded is connected to all major airports in India, like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Delhi to name a few. Medieval Miniature Painting showing Guru Gobind Singh, Himachal State Museum, Shimla Sri Hazur Sahib is the principle Sikh shrine, and a part of five Takhts (throne). It marks the site where Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji (The last Sikh Guru) had his camp in 1708 and left for his heavenly abode (Parlok Gaman). It was here in first week of September in 1708, when Guru Ji baptized Bairagi Sadhu Madho Das to Sikhism and named him Banda Singh Bahadur (Gurudwara Banda Singh Ji marks this event). “The Eternal Father willed and I raised the Panth. All my Sikhs are hereby ordered to accep...

Being a volunteer at Speaking Archaeology always comes with its perks (and responsibilities, if I may add). So, be it a vacation with family, camping with friends or casual outings, each location is nothing short of a historical site. If you get down to it, you might be lucky enough to catch up on the his tory.   A trip to Jim Corbett sounds like a fun filled, adventurous outing. History is not something you e xpect to fin d there. Except that the area contains one of the most auspicious sites, so much so that it is a nationally protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India . The site being discussed is the "Temp le Sacred to Sita "- Sitavani. Getting up for an early morning safari in the National Park, I had slight ide a about a temple we might visit. However, getting out from my daze I realised that the temple might have a historical relevance. And I was not disappointed here at all. T he temple turned out to be an archaeological site! H...

Bust of Ghalib, along with a wine chalice and a reconstructed verse journal Delhi has plenty of monuments that are underrated or simply overlooked by the public. Last week I happened to be at one such site in Old Delhi: Mirza Ghalib ki Haveli, located in the Gali Qasim Jan, Ballimaran. The building which was taken under its wing by ASI, hosted Ghalib for a large part of his later life, after he moved from Agra. On hearing about the monument, the first thing that caught my attention was the preserved artefacts belonging to Ghalib and his family, his clothing and his daily utilities in particular. The thought of getting a good look at these artefacts was enough to get me hunting down the Haveli. I had a lofty image of the Haveli in my mind but on reaching there, I was startled to see a small two room house that housed the entire museum. The artefacts were in a relatively poor condition, but powerful enough to transport one back to the late Mughal era, just like the Hav...

Having had more than 2 months off of SA, it was time to get back to work. And, what better way of doing it than working on a topic that relates to you and your region, and with a partner you are more than happy to work with(yes, I do mean Rakshanda Thakur!). So, we started to work with a rather uncharacteristic way, before time. Most of the early work involved discussions that were more familiar situations on not talking about actual work.  Time went by, it was the final day before submission. We had read all that we could, went to museums and handloom stores, met with people, interviewed them,  shared our findings, so it was finally time to ask Shriya to repeat the briefing she gave us at the start of the task! Finally, after the much needed push from her began the writing part.   Work was divided as it usually is by this stage in a task, it was time to translate our knowledge into words. With a partner who is as comfortable and familiar with a topi...

An aerial view of Dagshai  My visit to the small hill town of Dagshai, began in the unlikeliest of scenarios, when a close acquaintance, an alumni of APS Dagshai, a noted school of the army cantonment, was paying me a visit in Chandigarh.  The Catholic Cemetery blanketed in moss and ferns A mere 60kms separate the two cities, and the road up until the mountaintop offers an unparalleled experience for avid travelers like myself. By late afternoon we arrived in Dagshai, with the sun kissed town looking as radiant as the shy afternoon sun itself. The Heritage Museum  The road treads past the memorial of Maj. Uday Singh at the very entrances of the town, alongside the wall which bore the insignia of every regiment of the Indian Army that had been posted at Dagshai, followed by campus of APS entirely built by during the British occupation if the region. The style of architecture was predominantly Tudorbethan and Neo- Gothic, whi...