A Trip to the Buddhist Archaeological Remains at Sanghol, Punjab by Trishla and Mayank

If you're looking for a perfect holiday destination or somewhere you would drive to hangout and grab some beers with your friends,Sanghol might not qualify to feature in your list. But if your archaeology seeds are yearning to sprout, Sanghol is water to you. Archaeology does something to you. It makes you excited about an ordinary place, excited enough to write a blog about it.

Sanghol, a small village in the Fatehgarh Sahib, district, around 40 kilometres from Chandigarh on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway is an archaeological haven. The village, in a series of excavations in 1968 and 1985 had yielded many sculptures, stone slabs and pillars dating back to the Kushans ( now housed at the

Sanghol site museum), and also played host for the First Planning Workshop and Site Visit of Speaking Archaeologically’s New Batch.

On the dawn of August 19, 2018 we set out, on what we as Batch 2018, assumed would be one great adventure trip. Something à la Indiana Jones, an idea that had first peaked our interest in archaeology and landed us at Speaking Archaeologically. But trust Speaking Archaeologically to burst your bubble of  the glamorous life of an archaeologist!

What everybody assumed would be one great road trip (though only an hour and a half’s drive away) coupled with some nice travel beats and gossip, within the first 10 minutes switched to a discussion about the site in question and some firsthand narrations from our seniors of their last year site visits.

The ideal geographical location of Sanghol, along the banks of the river Satluj and its connectivity with major towns of Madhyamika (modern day Majha), Trigarta and Malwa region, as well as with other towns of Ancient India through subsidiary routes, made it a meeting point of several cultures. Once a flourishing urban centre lying on the Silk Route, it functioned as an entrepot that contributed to the flow of artistic and cultural traits during the Kushan period. Much of its appeal today, however, lies in the stupa and monastery complex, unearthed during archaeological excavations here, which also reveal a six fold cultural sequence indicating that

it was inhabited from the Late Harappan till the Gupta period (6th century CE)

When we reached the Sanghol museum, it almost seemed like a cruel joke. The museum in question, a red painted, brick-walled, cylindrical two-storeyed structure was diametrically too small to house much archaeological data or so we thought as we looked around in disbelief as far the eye could see, convinced that we were at the wrong place while Shriya, our lady-in-command, had already made her way to the tickets counter getting all the formalities done before any of us had the time to snap back.

Once inside, we were entertained to Kushana sculptures, coping stones mounted on the railing pillars decorated with a series of arched windows containing Buddhist symbols like Dharmachakra (wheel of law), lotus, worship of the relic caskets, worship of Buddha’s bowl and other auspicious symbols, cross bars which once joined the two pillars decorated with lotus medallions, all in red sandstone dating back to the 1st-2nd century mostly belonging to the Mathura School of Art or rather an amalgamation of traits of both Mathura and Gandhara Schools with artistic inputs borrowed from the former and narrative concepts from the latter. An interesting artistic blend, that we also noticed in the railing decorations executed in Sikri sandstone at the rectangular frieze from the SGL5 stupa later on, bearing testament to the exquisite craftsmanship of the time.

                             Image 1: A railing pillar with sculpture of female  devotee with a garland (on the left) and Salabhanjika, holding a mirror ( on the right) Image 2: Railing pillar with sculpture of Salabhanjika plucking flowers from a sal tree.

Most of the artworks housed at the museum comprised of beautiful female figures,  the voluptuous Salabhanjikas and Yakshis often referred to as the “nayikas (heroines) of Buddhist art,” richly jeweled standing in a graceful and provocative attitude with ganas or attendants at their feet often looking into a mirror or holding the branch of a sal tree representing the artist’s idea of beauty and grace, a few Gandharva donor figures, Bharvahakas and Srivatsa symbols sculpted on railing pillars, all decorative elements of Buddhist art and architecture. We were divided into groups of two and asked to choose five sculptures each. We were totake pictures and pen down our observations pertaining to the material used, the visibly distinctive features;an interesting parallel considering we covered the Gandhara sculptures in our previous Workshop at the Sector 10 Museum in Chandigarh.

Members of Research Wing 2018 at work in the Sanghol Museum

The staircase in the centre led us into an even older period, the period of Indus Valley Civilisation. The display on the second level consists of Harappan fine potteries, terracotta beads, figurines, bangles and copper chisels.Adjacent to it we saw the Numismatics display which houses the Kushan coins from various rulers, although not in a very scientific manner like other displays in the museum.

Then we headed in search of a forsaken place,one of three significant mounds declared protected by the ASI, where excavations in 1965 had led to the discovery of a large stupa (SGL5) intersected by three concentric walls each with spoke like radial walls built by the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE on the pattern of the Dharmachakra (wheel of law). The lack of signboards meant our search entailed a lot of asking around and frantic change of routes owing to the fact that none of the villagers seemed to have any clue regarding the whereabouts of such a historic site and the only joy in our search in the unrelenting sun, were the Funnel cakes (Jalebis) offered to us and to all the other passersby by the God sent villagers, who happened to be celebrating that day.We finally came across a narrow sodden tract towards the right of a moderately busy market road. Walking down a mud trail that lead into the fields, carefully side stepping dried dung (much to the dismay of everyone who violated or ignored the “wear sturdy shoes”notification that day), we made our way to the site,where we met a caretaker,who handed us a pamphlet detailing the Buddhist vestiges of Sanghol. Although declared a protected monument, under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, it exists today as an extremely fragile structure poorly fenced, surrounded by agricultural plots with cracks running all around it and vegetation growing between them. One doesn’t need to closely inspect it to see the visible evidences of its deterioration. The supervisor at the site reported he had never seen anyone inspecting the monument, to check on its maintenance.

The Dharmachakra stupa at Sanghol

Our biggest handicap at the site however,was the lack of proper measuring tools that would’ve meant going home with just pictures. But, at Speaking Archaeologically we take challenges head-on. The dirty details of how we resourcefully tackled the issue are to be covered in the next blog (this one is already exhausting).

The Sanghol Museum’s official website reads and I quote, “ Sanghol Museum was set up by the Government,not only to preserve Punjab’ s Cultural treasures, but also to involve the public in the appreciation of the continuous cultural linkage that the land has maintained from the early ancient times and has witnessed large scale movements and amalgamation of people and their culture.”

But the observation at the site says otherwise, the museum did not maintain a proper catalogue, the numismatics section had coins glued to the glass and many of the items lacked a proper provenance. Needless to say, the State Government's attitude towards it is completely outrageous. The chroniclers of Buddhism and of the artistic developments of the years gone by that are these relics and antiquities, need to be better preserved and presented because after all, ill-preserved archaeology leads to historic amnesia and forgotten history (as we often say at Speaking Archaeologically) is forgotten culture.