Speaking Archaeologically™

Down Chawri Bazar roads, into the Bulbulikhana one goes, if they want to find this place. There are scant bulbuls here now, but a regular bustle of people, on by-lanes which grow ever thin as you proceed down them.    A gate next to a tea shop announces, Razia Sultana ki majar , (The Grave of Razia Sultana), but there is none to be found! Good old uncles direct you to even darker alleys, with workshops, sewage, and cramped buildings rising five floors high. A bustle existed there, the sights and smells of fruits, tea, tyres, meat, rickshaws, which are slowly replaced by sewage, machinery, and stagnant water.  This continues till you break away from all that, and arrive at a small mosque, with an ASI stone to give it its name - Sultan Razia’s Tomb. One of the rulers of the newly established Delhi Sultanate, reigning from 1236-40 CE, Razia has been termed the first female monarch of the subcontinent. Constant infighting among her nobles, some of which refused to accept her...

So far you have read posts on Site visits, Site covers, Restoration Projects, Interesting Workshops, Stone Tools, History, Sculptures and what not. So tell me, what not? What's the one thing that SA hasn't associated itself with, yet? What else have you not read about here? We've covered architecture, artifacts and paintings but what's new this time? Till date, Speaking Archaeologically has been providing you with the artworks of the old masters but this time it is the artistic insight of the young minds. On a Sunshiny Sunday Morning of March 24th, SA organized an Illustration competition under the name of " Skhédíos 2019 " and just a few days before that, I thought that I must also participate because how difficult could it be? I've drawn site plans before and I've enjoyed it. But believe me, putting those aesthetic sculptures down on paper is just as difficult as sculpting one, if not more. All the 11 young artists and me, were asked to choose t...

“The study of the past is the main portal through which culture is acquired.”  ―  Joseph Epstein Harman Singh is a CArch+Workshop Member at Speaking Archaeologically Tourism is one of the most important and effective components of the economy of any country. The employment and marketing opportunities are innumerable and the inflow of money is copious. There are umpteen tourist attractions in India and one of the best examples of this is the State of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is considered an important tourist destination in India because of its rich cultural heritage and diverse scenic beauty. An amalgamation of the desert of Thar and the hills of the Aravalli Range, Rajasthan is notable for its floral and faunal variety. To add to this, the variety in handicrafts, music, dance and sheer vividity of attire is a true treat for a traveller. Last year, I got a chance to visit the Rajasthani cities of Jaipur, Ajmer and Udaipur. The whole state is of extreme significance to t...

                                                     Quite admittedly , my meeting with Adham Khan was long overdue and any self respecting lover of Delhi’s ruins would look at me with great distaste at this point. But even then, the sheer excess of history just oozing out of this particular section of the city is almost nauseating. Even those that knowingly choose to ignore it can do so for only so long. I, as luck would have it, lived just 10 minutes away.  So after a short detour to the Mughal general  Azim Khan’s much neglected tomb , I headed for the  ancient suburbs of Mehrauli. Qutub Minar all this while, was towering over everything around it and watchfully guiding lost tourists and curious travelers like me.  Behind the Qutub complex, on a road towards the Mehruali bus Depot , it's quite easy to beli...

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 ...

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...

The view from Daandi The temple at Daandi is placed inside the dense forests of Kotkhai and Balsan tehsils of district Shimla . It can easily be reached by vehicle from Shimla and is approximately  60 k.m. from the main city. The forest belt of Daandi with adjoining villages of Kotkhai This temple has been constructed amidst the deep forests and can be reached by vehicle. The main temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is built in a ground. The main temple is made up of stone and cement as it was reconstructed in late 1970’s. Earlier it was made up of stone and wood. According to the locals the temple has its origin since early 1900’s. On festivals like Nag Panchami , Shivratri , Dusshera and beginning on the Monsoon season which according to Hindu religion is dedicated to Lord Shiva the temple is lit up with diyas and lights . The Daandi Temple of Lord Shiva About 50 meters from   Daandi  in the adjoining forest is a shrine built ...