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ASI to spend Rs 1 crore on excavations in Vadnagar

In the other 15 projects, the maximum amount of money that ASI is shelling out is 30 lakh for excavations at Uttar Pradesh's Barnawa in areas surrounding Hindon and Krishna rivers.

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A picture of a previous excavation site in Vadodara
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The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will spend a whopping 1 crore excavating the layouts of the Buddhist monastery at Gujarat's Vadnagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hometown. The excavation at the centrally-protected site, to be carried out by ASI's Excavation Branch V, Vadodara, is one of the 16 projects to have been given a nod by the Standing Committee of the Central Advisory Board of Archaeology (CABA) during its annual meeting, held in September this year.

In the other 15 projects, the maximum amount of money that ASI is shelling out is 30 lakh for excavations at Uttar Pradesh's Barnawa in areas surrounding Hindon and Krishna rivers. The project is undertaken by the Delhi-based Institute of Archaeology.

In the proposal, applicant Abhijit Ambekar, who is the superintending archaeologist of the Vadodara Branch of ASI, said ASI can study the layout of the ancient town during its different cultural phases and look for a Vishnu temple believed to be buried in the site by locals.

"Another objective is to study the present layout of the town and its market to find out whether it continued at the same place and changes in pattern if any. Vadnagar Nagarpalika is willing to give Darbargarh area where excavation can be carried out to examine the local belief of having a Vishnu temple there," said the proposal. The team will consist of an archaeologist, a draughtsman and a surveyor.

In the earlier seasons of excavations at Vadnagar, an ancient Buddhist monastery was found in 2015, while cells of a second one was detected at Ghaskol in excavations during 2016-17, which was reported by DNA earlier this year.

Apart from dealing with the proposals of projects from several branches of the ASI, the standing committee also considers proposals of excavations and of explorations from state departments, universities and research institutions. Among the proposals from state departments that have been approved, a project to excavate cultural remains at Maharashtra's Nagardhan locality proposed by the Maharashtra state department of archaeology and museums with a expenditure budget of 66 lakh is another with a huge amount.

The amount will be spent by the state department. Next to it is the excavation approved at Tamil Nadu's Sangam-era site of Keezhadi, where the Tam9il Nadu state department of archaeology will spend 50 lakh.

From the list of proposals for excavations put forward by universities, a proposal from Banaras Hindu University's department of archaeology to excavate and explore Masudpur in Haryana has been approved for funds of 20 lakh, under the condition that certain documents including a no objection certificate from the MEA, MHA and state government will be submitted. On the other hand, the Indian Archaeological Society's excavation and exploration proposal at the Indus-era site at Kunal has bagged a bod and funds of 20 lakh. This project has been spearheaded by BR Mani, who was additional director general at the ASI earlier. Among the proposals of explorations that were approved, Goa's National Institute of Oceanography CSIR's project to study the existence and reconstruction of an ancient port at North Goa has been approved for 24 lakh.

Earlier finds

In the earlier seasons of excavations at Vadnagar, an ancient Buddhist monastery was found in 2015, while cells of a second one was detected at Ghaskol in excavations during 2016-17, which was reported by DNA earlier this year.

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