Speaking Archaeologically™

I am not sure where, on the priority list of the Indian régime, does heritage conservation lie, but it certainly does lie well below changing names and raising statues. Sitting atop a hillock, overlooking the lush green fields, lie the ruins of Rehlu fortress. Once an important outpost on the borders of the hill states of Kangra and Chamba, the once-imposing building and the small village below, hold stories of a vibrant past, but today, everything seems to have been forgotten beneath the sheets of the soil and spoils of the fort walls. The place had always been an object of fascination for me since I was a teenager, and was shrouded enough in wilderness to excite a bunch of adrenaline pumped teenagers, such as I was. Despite the fascination of many like me, though, it was never significant historically and probably will never be, but it was this place, in particular, that made me fall in love with ruins. Hence, this was the perfect setting for my first Member-run-Workshop at...

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...

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, ...

Gauri Singh is a Speaking Archaeologically Workshop and CArch Member Before visiting the Kangra Valley in July, I made a list of places I wanted to visit. When the name of Masroor came up, it sounded like some distant place in South India. To my surprise, it was located 3 hills away from Mcleodganj on a secluded hilltop. The entire complex was huge and carved out from a single block of sandstone. The entry, now, to the temple is from the rear. There was a small booth along the entrance stairs where we bought the tickets from. As I walked in, I noticed the temple first and then a huge tank of water right in front of the sandstone structure. Knowing it will take me a very long time to explore the temple I chose to go around the water tank first. I could see from the opposite side a complete reflection of the beautiful temple in green waters of the tank which was almost 50 meters wide. From distance a noticed my mother throwing bits of something in water. As I went closer...