In the village of Kiladi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, archaeological finds have been uncovered that have sparked political and historical controversy.
Among the coconut groves, a series of trenches 4.5 meters deep revealed ancient artifacts buried in layers of soil - fragments of terracotta pots and traces of long-lost brick structures.
Experts from the Department of Archaeology of the state of Tamil Nadu estimate the age of the artifacts at 2-2.5 thousand years, with the oldest of them dating back to about 580 BC. In their opinion, these findings call into question and revise existing ideas about the early civilization in the Indian subcontinent.
Through the involvement of politicians, historians, and epigraphers, Kiladi has transcended archaeology to become a symbol of state pride and identity amid competing historical representations.
Nevertheless, history buffs believe it remains one of the most interesting and accessible discoveries of modern India, providing a rare opportunity to deepen understanding of humanity's shared past.
Excavations in the village of Kiladi
Kiladi, a village 12 kilometers from Madurai on the banks of the Vaigai River, was one of 100 sites selected for excavation by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan in 2013. He chose the 100-acre site because of its proximity to ancient Madurai and an earlier discovery of red-and-black pottery by a schoolteacher in 1975.
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Since 2014, 10 excavations at Kiladi have uncovered more than 15,000 artifacts - funerary urns, coins, beads, terracotta pipes and more - on just four of the 100 marked acres. Many of them are now on display at a nearby museum.
Ajay Kumar, who heads the state archaeological team in Kiladi, says the key finds are complex brick structures and water supply systems - evidence of a 2,500-year-old urban settlement.
"This was a literate urban society where people had separate spaces for living, burial and industrial work," Kumar says, noting that this is the first large, well-defined ancient urban settlement found in southern India.
Ancient civilization
Since the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization in the early 1900s, most attempts to trace the origins of civilization in the subcontinent have focused on north and central India. The findings at Kiladi have therefore caused a stir throughout Tamil Nadu and beyond.
William Daniel, a teacher from the neighboring state of Kerala, said the discoveries made him feel proud of his heritage. "It gives people from south India a reason to be proud that our civilization is as ancient and important as the civilization in north India," he said.
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The politics associated with Kiladi reflect the deep-rooted north-south divide, emphasizing that in order to understand the present, the past must be dealt with.
India's first major civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, emerged in the northern and central regions between 3300 and 1300 BC. After its decline, a second urban phase, the Vedic period, emerged on the Ganges plains, which lasted until the 6th century BC.
This period saw the emergence of large cities, powerful kingdoms and Vedic culture, the foundation of Hinduism. As a result, urbanization in ancient India is often seen as a northern phenomenon, with the dominant view being that the northern Aryans "civilized" the Dravidian south.
Ancient writing
This is particularly evident in the common understanding of literacy. The Ashokan Brahmi script found on the rock edicts of King
Maurya Ashoka in north-central India, dating from the 3rd century BC, is believed to be the predecessor of most of the scripts of South and Southeast Asia.
Epigraphists such as Iravatham Mahadevan and Y. Subbarayalu have long held the view that the Tamil Brahmi script - the Tamil language spoken in Tamil Nadu and recorded in Brahmi script - was an offshoot of the Ashokan Brahmi script.
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But now archaeologists from the Tamil Nadu state department say the excavations at Kiladi cast doubt on this theory. "We have discovered graffiti in Tamil Brahmi dating back to the 6th century BCE, indicating that it is older than Ashokan Brahmi. We believe that both scripts developed independently of each other and may have originated from the Indus Valley script," says Kumar." says Kumar.
Epigraphist S. Rajavelu, a former professor of maritime archaeology at Tamil University, agrees with Kumar and says that other excavations in the state have also uncovered graffiti in Tamil Brahmi dating back to the 5th and 4th centuries BC.
But some experts say more research and more evidence is needed to definitively prove the antiquity of Tamil Brahmi.
Another claim by the state archaeology department that has caused outrage is that the graffiti found on artifacts in Kiladi is similar to that found on sites in the Indus Valley.
Political disputes
"People from the Indus Valley may have migrated southward, leading to a period of urbanization that occurred in Kiladi at the same time as urbanization in the Ganges plains," says Kumar, adding that further excavations are needed to fully understand the extent of the settlement.
However, Ajit Kumar, a professor of archaeology at Nalanda University in Bihar, believes this was impossible. "Based on the primitive state of transport at that time, people from the Indus Valley would not have been able to migrate south in such large numbers to establish a civilization," he says. He believes the findings at Kiladi can be compared to a small "settlement."
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While archaeologists argue about the finds, politicians are already drawing parallels between Kiladi and the Indus Valley - some even argue that they existed at the same time or that the Indus Valley was part of an early South Indian, or Dravidian, civilization.
The controversy over the transfer of ASI archaeologist Ramakrishnan, who led the excavations at Kiladi, has heightened political tensions around the site.
In 2017, after two rounds of excavation, ASI transferred Ramakrishnan, citing protocol. The Tamil Nadu government accused the federal agency of deliberately obstructing the excavation to undermine Tamil pride.
ASI's request in 2023 for Ramakrishnan to revise his report on Kiladi, citing a lack of scientific rigor, intensified the controversy. He refused, insisting that his findings were consistent with standard archaeological methods.
In June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. К. Stalin called the federal government's refusal to release the Ramakrishnan report "an attack on Tamil culture and pride". Minister of State Tangam Tennarasu accused the federal government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of deliberately withholding information to erase the history of Tamil Nadu.
India's Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has now clarified that Ramakrishnan's report has not been rejected by ASI but is "under review" and expert reviews are yet to be finalized.
Legacy
Back at the Kiladi Museum, children explore the exhibits on a school field trip while outside, construction continues on the open-air museum at the excavation site.
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Journalist Sowmya Ashok, author of a forthcoming book on Kiladi, recalls the excitement she felt on her first visit.
"Discovering History is a journey to a better understanding of our shared past. Through small clues, such as carnelian beads from the northwest or Roman copper coins, Kiladi shows that our ancestors were much more connected than we realize," she says. "The divisions we see today are due more to the present than to history."