New Delhi: A section of a trench excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India at the prestigious Balirajgarh mound in Bihar’s Madhubani has collapsed due to heavy rain, ThePrint has learnt.
Madhubani recorded heavy rainfall in the past month, but the excavation continued without protective sheds resulting in the trench being disturbed and two millennia-old antiquities lost due to ASI’s negligence.
In the last four months of excavation, the excavators unearthed several human figurines, beads, sling balls, animal figurines, and a ring well. However, due to the rain, the Kushana period ring well has been destroyed.
INTACH’s Bihar chapter wrote to the Director General of ASI regarding the immediate suspension of archaeological excavation work at Balirajgarh in the Madhubani district of Bihar to safeguard antiquities. ThePrint has a copy of the letter.
“Work has frequently been disrupted over the last month due to intermittent rainfall. Due to the apathy of the Excavation Director, the excavation continued even during the rains without the provision of any protective sheds. Consequently, not only have the trenches suffered damage, but numerous rare antiquities have also been destroyed,” reads the letter by INTACH’s Bihar chapter Co-convenor Shiv Kumar Mishra, who also visited the site on 5 July.
Balirajgarh is touted as Bihar’s strongest claim to proving ancient Mithila was once a major political and administrative centre. It’s why for decades, archaeologists, museologists and historians have demanded an excavation. It also resulted in a PIL in the High Court, several letters to the director general of ASI and officials of the culture ministry. Even politicians, going as far back as Lalit Narayan Mishra to now Nitish Kumar and Sanjay Jha have pushed for it. Jha personally took the matter to union culture minister Gajendra Shekhawat recently.
ASI usually excavates sites after the monsoon ends, continuing until the peak summer season starts. However, at Balirajgarh, excavation is still going on during the rainy season due to the late approval for the project from ASI headquarters.
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ASI’s apathy
Mishra said that the work should have been suspended throughout the rainy season, and the excavation should have been carried out later under the guidance of experienced archaeologists.
The 176-acre Balirajgarh mound is being dug for the fourth time in the last seven decades. In March this year, fresh excavation began in a bid to answer a question that has long haunted the history of ancient Mithila—was this fortified settlement the administrative nerve centre of the Iron Age Videha kingdom, mentioned in mythology and early texts?
“Due to negligence, antiquities that were safely preserved underground prior to the excavation are now being destroyed. Rather than allowing such destruction, it would be better to avoid damaging the archaeological site; the work should be suspended for the duration of the monsoon and resumed later,” reads the letter.
Mishra argued that the Excavation Director’s apathy clearly indicates a lack of interest in the archaeological work, suggesting that the task is being carried out half-heartedly under pressure from headquarters.
Mishra requested the DG, ASI to hand over the excavation work to the Patna Excavation Branch. Currently, Superintending Archaeologist Hari Om Sharan at ASI’s Patna circle is the director of the excavation.
However, ASI officials said the site was documented and photographed before the destruction happened.
“Excavation has been affected due to continuous rain at the site. But we have documented all the details from the trenches,” said an official, on the condition of anonymity.
This is not the first instance of carelessness. In May, some individuals trespassed into the mound and tampered with the trenches and meddled with valuable antiquities kept in the pottery yard.
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A 10-year excavation
On 4 July, JDU president and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Jha posted on his social media that the culture ministry is thinking about the excavating Balirajgarh for 10 continuous years.
“I spoke with the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Culture today. He informed me that the Ministry is taking further action to conduct continuous excavations at Balirajgarh over the next 10 years, open an ASI office there, and construct a museum,” wrote Jha.
Jha met culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in May to request the same.
ThePrint had earlier reported from Madhubani that Balirajgarh’s excavation has been always politically significant.
“Media reports suggest that the excavation at Balirajgarh is being conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India solely under political pressure. The same has happened in the past as well. It appears that the archaeologists from our survey department have shown no interest in the excavation of Balirajgarh, which is deeply regrettable,” reads the INTACH letter.
According to Mishra, between 1962 and 2013, the excavation work at Balirajgarh has been carried out merely as a formality on several occasions.
“To date, not a single excavation report has been published. Furthermore, the antiquities recovered from previous excavations have not been preserved in an organised manner. There is a need to establish a site museum for this purpose,” said Mishra.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)