Like other parts of the country, our State is rich in its archaeological wealth scattered across the entire state. This is an ancient region though it was constituted into a modern type of State only in 1846 under the Dogra rule. Prior to that and for thousands of years it was known to historians as the Kingdom of Kashmir. Kandahar in present day Afghanistan to the west, Yarkand and Kashghar to the north and north east and the Satluj to the south formed the boundaries of this vast kingdom at a given point of time. Obviously, such a vast and powerful kingdom raised and left behind lofty and magnificent monuments in the form of palaces, forts, ramparts, retreats, parks, canals, dams, pathways and a myriad of other monuments many of which became victims to vagaries of weather or wanton whims of human beings. Their preservation is a difficult task in terms of money and skill. But whatever can be redeemed should be preserved for the posterity. Archaeological Survey of India is a big organization of the Union Government with a branch in our State. It takes care of preservation of these monuments. We are happy to know that the State Government has constituted eight member State level Coordination Committee to examine the issues related to Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) monuments in the State with Administrative Secretary, Department of Culture as its chairman. The Committee will coordinate the task of excavating, preserving and profiling archaeological monuments in the State undertaken by the branch of ASI and the State Archaeological Department. We hope that the committee will be able to lay down a roadmap for smooth working of the teams concerned on preserving rich and historic monuments in the State.
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