How the ASI discovered the ancient site of Keeladi

No archaeological site has been as contested as Keeladi in Tamil Nadu, home to a Sangam-era urban settlement

- Sowmiya Ashok

Photos of artefacts excavated at Keeladi.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

In spring 2014, six months into the expedition, the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) team knocked on V. Balusubramaniam (Balu)'s door in the village of Silaiman. V. Vedachalam, the epigraphist who had advised Amarnath (Ramakrishna of ASI) to climb the hill in Madurai, had facilitated this visit. Balu and Vedachalam had spent much of their youth cycling around the area in search of old artefacts.

Sparks flew instantly between old and new friends. The men discovered they had more in common than a passion for ferreting out black-and-red ware pottery from the ground. Amarnath's mother and Balu's sister-in-law had been colleagues in the Tamil department in a women's college in Palani. Phone calls were made to renew old friendships as everyone settled into Balu's living room to catch up.

Balu was a freelance explorer in his own right. In the late 70s, Balu, a history teacher with a 'get to know the history of your own village' approach, urged his students to leave their classrooms and explore the village. The students set off in search of old items and returned with a coin from Chola King Rajaraja I's reign, a few beads, and terracotta figurines from the 12-13 century CE, and even a skull that had once lived in Balu’s living room.