‘State should play pivotal role in Keeladi excavation’

The first two phases of the excavation at Keeladi site in Sivaganga district near Madurai have been completed. The Centre, after a delay, had allocated Rs 40 lakh for the third phase.

Recently, the Union Minister of State (Tourism and Culture) - Mahesh Sharma, had announced that the project would be completed within 5 years, much to the dismay of historians and researchers, who were hoping that a much more detailed study would alter the history of South Indian civilisation as we know it today. 

“The research should be carried out without any time frame and without any fund limitations from the Centre. It should be at the discretion, and conviction of the archaeologist Superintending Archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who was removed from the project and he should be reinstated since knowledge, approach and treatment are highly subjective and unique among archaeologists, if at all there was no bias involved in the excavation as claimed by the Centre. It is an integral part among the civilisations in India, and a proof for its multiplicity. It is not to be limited to Tamil Nadu. A significant marker here is that the findings will establish how ancient our civilisations are,” said Prof Ula Balasubramanian, an academician, told DTNEXT.

“A thorough research in the excavation will alter the fabric of the ancient history of India, which is reliant on Vedic culture. The antiquity of the findings will add credence to the prevalence of a highly literate and scientific civilisation outside Vedic culture. The deviations will also force the history to be re-written as the findings will be compulsive. The previous excavations in the State were not pursued by serious research as they did not bear any Vedic culture markers in them,” said Stalin Rajangam, a writer and research scholar. 

The excavation has unearthed as many as 1,580 artefacts including an ivory comb, a first find in State.