00:00In India and across the world, archaeology is no longer just about the past, it's where
00:06science and politics collide, challenging the very idea that they are separate domains.
00:13In the last few decades, the Archaeological Survey of India or ASI has found itself at
00:19the center of controversies, its excavations shaping not just academic debates but also
00:27courtroom battles and electoral narratives.
00:30Welcome to Deep Dive with Outlook, today we will discuss the politics of archaeology in
00:37India.
00:38In September 2024, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin publicly acknowledged the contributions
00:46of John Marshall, the British archaeologist who oversaw the discovery of the Indus Valley
00:52Civilization.
00:54He credited Marshall for linking the Indus Valley to Dravidian culture, countering narratives
01:00that seek to associate the civilization with Vedic Aryans.
01:04A month before Stalin's remarks, the Union Government-funded NCRT released a Class VI
01:12social science textbook referring to the Harappan civilization as the Sindhu-Saraswati civilization.
01:20On January 5th, while inaugurating an international conference in Chennai and laying the foundation
01:26stone for a statue of Marshall, he announced a $1 million prize for anyone who could decipher
01:35the Harappan script, a challenge that directly counters Hindutva efforts to claim the civilization
01:42as Vedic.
01:43The question of who the Indus Valley people were remains unresolved.
01:48Were they Dravidian?
01:49Were they Indo-Aryan?
01:50It depends on the narrative of the political party, whether it's Stalin espousing Dravidian
01:59greatness or the BJP preaching Sanatan dharma.
02:03The Indus Valley debate took a new turn after the partition of India in 1947.
02:09With Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro falling in Pakistan, Indian archaeologists shifted their focus
02:16to sites within India.
02:19This led to major discoveries in Lothal and Dholavira in Gujarat, Kalibangan in Rajasthan
02:26and Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s and 1960s.
02:32In 1964, archaeologist Bal Lal proposed renaming the Indus Valley civilization as the Indus-Saraswati
02:42or Sindhu-Saraswati civilization.
02:44This was based on the assumption that many Harappan sites had developed along the Saraswati
02:51river, a river mentioned in the Vedas but absent from contemporary geography.
02:57Since the NDA regime, the ASI and other government-backed organizations, including the Indian Space
03:05Research Organization, have been engaged in Saraswati research.
03:10The role of the ASI came under judicial scrutiny in one of India's most polarizing legal battles,
03:17the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
03:21The Allahabad High Court directed the ASI to survey the disputed site in Ayodhya, ensuring
03:28equal representation of both Hindu and Muslim communities in the ASI team.
03:34However, the Muslim side reportedly raised objections, alleging that the ASI team had
03:42an overwhelming Hindu presence, reflecting bias in the findings.
03:47Delhi-based lawyer Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Pasha points out that the ASI head was even
03:54replaced by the court, though he remained involved in the final report's preparation.
04:00In the end, the Supreme Court upheld the credibility of the ASI's findings, accepting
04:07that remnants of earlier religious structures lay beneath Babri Masjid.
04:13The Ayodhya case set a precedent since the Supreme Court verdict, civil suits demanding
04:19ASI surveys had been filed to prove that various mosques and dargahs were built over Hindu
04:26temples.
04:28One of the ongoing cases is the dispute over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi.
04:34Petitioners claim a Shiva temple once stood at the site and demanded its restoration.
04:41The court has ordered the ASI to conduct a scientific investigation to determine whether
04:47the mosque was built over a pre-existing Hindu structure.
04:52So is archaeology in India a pursuit of historical truth or a tool of ideological warfare?
04:59The way we interpret the past is determining how we build the future.
05:05And in India, that battle is far from over.
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