2,500 years in layers: Purana Qila prepares history walk for G20 guests

“Owing to its location by the Yamuna river, the Purana Qila has been an important site for trade and industrial activity in all periods, be it the Mauryan, Shunga, Kushana, Rajput or Mughal eras. In the last excavation, we also found terracotta, beads, figurines and coins belonging to these dynasties,” said Vasant Swarnkar, director, conservation, ASI, and also its spokesperson, adding that it is the only place in Delhi which has cultural deposits of the last 2,500 years in its various layers. Another such site in the country that showcases continuity of culture through the centuries is Dholavira in Gujarat, but the terrain there is vastly different, he said.

Excavation underway at Purana Qila premises. (Express Photo)

ASI officials say the exposure of these trenches, which were excavated in 2013-2015 and 2017-2018, and their preservation is being taken up for the benefit of visitors and academicians. “The extensive work is being carried out at the behest of Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy to explore Indian culture as mentioned in ancient literary texts,” Swarnkar said.

According to sources, the idea is to showcase to the world that Delhi is older than it is believed to be; that there were at least six other empires in Delhi before the Mughals came in, something that has been archaeologically proven at Purana Qila.

Swarnkar told The Indian Express that the aim is to complete the project in the next three months so that delegates visiting during the G20 Summit in September can be taken there as part of their visit.

The 40×15 metre trench area will be covered with a shed, and walkways and pathways will be created to ensure visitors get to see all the layers of history, starting from the pre-Mauryan period to the surface level, which denotes the Mughal period. The present citadel at Purana Qila is believed to have been built under Sher Shah Suri before his death in 1545.

Swarnkar said, “The latest excavations at Purana Qila, identified as the ancient settlement of Indraprastha, were conducted in 2013-14 and 2017-18, long after B B Lal excavations of 1969-73.”

The first two rounds of excavations — in 1954-55 and 1969-72 — by the then ASI director, B B Lal, had unearthed traces of painted grey ware (PGW) under the mound. At the time, Lal had embarked on a mission to excavate various sites mentioned in the Mahabharata text and claimed to find such traces as a common feature at all those sites.

On the basis of PGW, which archaeologically belongs to the 12th-6th century BC, Lal had claimed that Purana Qila is the Pandava kingdom of Indraprastha, estimating 900 BC as the period of the war recounted in the epic.

In fact, the ASI is conducting another round of excavations at the Purana Qila mounds to conclusively reach the oldest possible layer of civilisational trace. The third season of excavation is also being led by Swarnkar who headed the earlier two rounds as ASI Delhi Circle’s Superintending Archaeologist. At the verge of closure of the previous excavation season, evidence of layers predating Mauryan period was found.