Funds crunch to hit archaeological excavations in Maharashtra

Ironic as it may sound, the state Directorate of Archaeology and Museums will be unable to fulfil its core mandate this year—that of conducting excavations in an archaeologically rich and diverse state like Maharashtra. The reason? A funds crunch.

A senior official from the state Department of Culture told DNA that inadequate funds would lead to the directorate not taking up any fresh excavation projects in this fiscal. "We had sought a budget of around Rs 107 crore, but have managed to get just Rs 24 crore for this financial year," he admitted, adding that the directorate did not have a separate budget head for excavations.

This means that the department, which is also tasked with maintaining its 13 museums with around 40,000 antiquities spread out across Maharashtra and protecting the 371 monuments under its ambit, will have to compromise its plans for conducting excavations.

The directorate planned to excavate locations like at Hatnur, a Chalcolithic-era site in Aurangabad. In March, it was forced to call off ongoing scientific clearances at the 12th Century Sakaleshwar temple in the pilgrimage centre of Ambejogai at Beed after it ran out of funds. Called the 'Barakhambi temple,' the complex is estimated to date back to the Yadava period with some elements of the Kalyani Chalukyas.

"We will be unable to conduct excavations on shoestring budgets. The department spent around Rs 25 lakh in each of the two seasons that we conducted excavations at Nagardhan (the capital of the Vakataka dynasty near Nagpur). Instead, we will focus on conservation of the petroglyphs in the Konkan," said a field-level archaeologist.

The state budget has announced an outlay of Rs 24 crore to protect the around 400 late stone age era rock engravings (petroglyphs) in Ratnagiri. The directorate plans to extend its search for these around 10,000-year-old Mesolithic era rock reliefs to in neighbouring Sindhudurg this year. "We will focus on completing the excavation report for Nagardhan and ongoing works on conservation of forts in the Pune and Nashik divisions," an archaeologist said.

An official also stressed on the need to conduct archaeological explorations at sites like the Shivana river in Aurangabad district. "The Satavahana era Pitalkhora rock-cut Buddhist caves are located nearby. The river flows till Paithan and merges into the Jaikwadi dam. There are references in the caves to a perfume maker from Paithan making out an endowment. This shows the relation between Pitalkhora and Paithan. Explorations on the banks of the river will detect more archaeological evidence," the archaeologist explained.

In 2015, the department had conducted excavations at Ter in Osmanabad, which was a mercantile centre and part of India's ancient trade with Rome. Archaeologists found burnt pieces of rice and moong dal that were cooked together, indicating khichdi was eaten way back in 1st century AD.

Ter, called 'Tagar' in ancient times, is mentioned in the works of the Chinese traveller Hsuan-Tsang and was populated from 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD through the pre-Satavahana, Satavahana, later-Satavahana and Vakataka period. It attained the pinnacle of its glory during Satavahana rule. It is said Ter gradually became inhabitable due to drought during the Rashtrakuta era.

The directorate has 371 monuments in its ambit, including 153 temples, 49 forts, 20 caves and 149 other features, but has just around 80 watchmen for their protection. Some state protected monuments in Mumbai include the forts at Bandra, Dharavi, Mahim and Worli, August Kranti Maidan, Banganga, Gateway of India, St George fort, the Dean's bungalow in the JJ School of Arts.