The ancient site that has become a political flashpoint in India

The village of Kiladi in the southern state of Tamil Nadu discovered archaeological discoveries that sparked a political and historical battle.

The center of coconut groves, a series of 15 -foot deep trenches (4.5 m) reveals the ancient artifacts buried in layers of soil – fragments of medicinal utensils, and the effects of the long brick structures.

Experts from the Ministry of Tameel Nadu for Archeology estimate that it ranges 2000 to 2500 years old, with the oldest dating to about 580 BC. They say these results are challenging and reshaping the current accounts about early civilization in the Indian subcontinent.

With the presence of politicians, historians and expressions who are weighing, Keleadi went beyond the science of archeology, becoming a symbol of the pride of the state and identity among the competing historical accounts.

However, history lovers say it is still one of the most accessible discoveries in modern India – which provides a rare opportunity to deepen our understanding of the common past.

Kelaadi, a village 12 km (7 miles) from Madorai on the banks of the Vaigai River, was one of 100 brief sites for drilling through the archaeological scan of India (ASI), the Amarnath Ramakrishnan archaeologist in 2013.

He chose a 100 -acre site there because of his proximity to the old Madorai and the previous discovery of black and black pottery tools by a teacher in 1975.

Since 2014, 10 drilling rounds in keelaadi have unveiled more than 15,000 artifacts – burial jars, coins, beads, clay tubes and more – only four of 100 noticeable acres. A lot is now displayed in a nearby museum.

Ajay Kumar, who leads the government archaeology team in Kiladi, says the main discoveries are brick structures and water systems-evidence of an urban settlement of 2500 years.

“This was an educated urban society where people had separate spaces for housing, burial practices and industrial business,” says Kumar, noting that it is the first great, well -defined old urban settlement in southern India.

Since the discovery of the Endos Valley civilization in the early twentieth century, most of the efforts made to track the origins of civilization in the Indian subcontinent on the north and central India.

Therefore, Kelady raised excitement through Tamil Nadu and abroad.

William Daniel, a teacher from the neighboring state of Kerala, said that the discoveries made him feel proud of his heritage.

“It gives people from the south [of India] Something we must feel proud, that our civilization is old and important, such as those in the north [of India]He says.

The policy surrounding Keladi reflects the gap between the north and the deep south-which confirms how the present understanding is to struggle with the past.

The first major civilization in India – Valley of Sind – appeared in the northern and central regions between 3300 and 1300 BC. After its decline, the second urban stage, the Vedic period, rose in the gange plains, which lasts until the sixth century BC.

This stage witnessed major cities, strong kingdoms and the rise of Vedic culture – a basis for Hinduism. As a result, urbanization in ancient India is often seen as a northern phenomenon, with a dominant narration that the northern Aryan is “civilized” in the southern Drafidi.

This is particularly evident in the prevailing understanding of the spread of literacy.

The text of Ashokan Braham – located in the decrees of Morian King Ashoka rock in the north and central India, dates back to the third century BC – is the predecessor of most texts in South and Southeast Asia.

A long time ago, he saw Epigraphists such as iRavatham Mahadevan and Y Subbaayalu that the Tamil Braham’s scenario – the Tamil language that spoke in Tamil Nadu and was written in Braham’s text – was a fear of the text of Ashokan Braham.

But now, archaeologists from the Ministry of State of Tamil Nadu say that the excavations in Kiladi challenge this novel.

“We have found writing on the walls in the scenario of Tamil Brahmi, which dates back to the sixth century BC, which indicates that it is older than the scenario of Ashokan Braham. We believe that both texts have evolved independently, and may have come out of the Sind Valley scenario.”

Rajavelu, a former professor of marine archeology at the University of Tamil, agrees with Mr. Kumar and says that other drilling sites in the state have discovered writing on the walls in Brahmi Tamil’s text that dates back to the fifth and fourth century BC.

But some experts say that more research and evidence is needed to prove that it boycotted the ancient times of the text of Tamil Brahmi.

Another claim from the Ministry of Antiquities in the state that connects feathers is that writing on the walls on the artifacts in Kiladi is similar to those in the Sind Valley sites.

“Perhaps people from the Valley of the Sindh migrated to the south, which led to a period of urbanization in Kildadi at the same time that it was happening in the gang plains,” says Mr. Kumar.

But Ajit Kumar, a professor of archeology at the University of Nalanda in Bihar, says this will not be possible.

He says: “Given the state of primitive travel at that time, people from the Sind Valley were unable to migrate to the south in large numbers to create civilization,” he says. He believes that discoveries in Kelaadi can be likened to a small “settlement”.

While archaeologists discuss the results, politicians already draw links between Kiladi and Wadi Al -Sind – even some claim that the two were present at the same time or that the Sindh Valley was part of the civilization of southern India or Davidian.

The controversy over the transmission of the effects of ASI Mr. Ramakrishnan – who led the Kelaadi fossils – has increased the political tensions of the site.

In 2017, after two drilling rounds, ASI was transferred Mr. Ramakrishnan, citing a protocol. The Tamil Nadu government accused the Federal Agency of deliberately obstructing the excavation to undermine the pride of Tamil.

ASI’s request in 2023 for Mr. Ramakrishnan increased review of the Kelaadi report – noting that there is no scientific accuracy – in this controversy. He refused, and insisted on his findings, he followed the standard archaeological methods.

In June, Prime Minister Tamil Nadu MK Stalin called on the Federal government’s refusal to publish the report of Mr. Ramkrichnan’s “attack on the culture of Tamil and pride.” The Minister of State, Thugham Anaraso, accused the Pharaia Jatata party (the Bharatia Jatata Party)-the federal government led by deliberate information to erase the full history.

Indian Minister of Culture, Gajndra Singh, now explained that the report of Mr. Ramkrichnan has not been rejected by ASI, but he was “under review”, with the comments of experts that have not been completed yet.

Returning to the keelaadi museum, the children are explored during a school visit while construction continues abroad to create an outdoor museum at the excavation site.

Journalist Suima Ashok, author of a book coming from Kiladi, remembers the suspense on her first visit.

“Disclosure of history is a journey to better understand our common past,” she says.

“The divisions we see today are more than the present than history.”