08-19-2008, 11:27 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Fresh light on the Antiquity of Varanasi
(with special Reference to Excavations at Aktha and Sarai-Mohana)
Ashok Kumar Singh
Deptt. of A.l.H.C. & Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University.
Varanasi was one of the early Aryan settlements in the later Vedic
Literature. It was ruled by the Brahmdatta and it flourished along
with Kausambi and Hastinapura. Kasi, one of the sixteen Maha-
Janapadas, used to represent the kingdom of the same name with
Varanasi as capital. The city has played a vital role in the trade
of middle Ganga plain. The antiquity of the city and its continuous
history was not confirmed by any archaeological evidence till as
late as 1940 when Rajghat was accidentally discovered by a railway
contractor while digging in connection with the remodeling of the
present Kashi Railway Station. Rajghat was excavated between 1957-
58, and 1960-61 to 1966-67 by Department of AIHC & Archaeology,
Banaras Hindu University. It reveals uninterrupted sequence from pre-
NBP to Medieval period (800 B.C. - 1600 A.D.).
Recent excavations at Aktha (2002-2004) evidenced the date for the
earliest habitation to circa eleventh / twelfth centuries B. C.
(Jayaswal, 2002 : 128). This is a small satellite settlement and
situated 2 km south-east from Sarnath. The preliminary investigation
at Aktha suggests that it was one of the important settlements of
the Varanasi-Sarnath region and was inhabited much earlier than the
Sarnath.
Sarai Mohana, another satellite settlement of Varanasi, is situated
on the confluence of Varuna and Ganga, about 1/2 km north-east of
Rajghat. The earliest period of Sarai Mohana is a pre-iron culture
with Black-and-Red ware as the principal ceramic industry with
occasional paintings in white, black slipped ware and red ware. The
findings of Sarai Mohana were studied by the author (Singh & Singh,
2004 : 1-120). On account of the techno-typological similarities of
ceramic assemblage and antiquities of Period I of the other
chalcolithic and iron using cultures of the middle Ganga plains, a
time bracket of circa 1200 - 700 B. C. has been ascertained for the
earliest settlement at Sarai Mohana.
The ceramic industries and other antiquities of period-I of the
above named sites are well comparable with the chalcolithic and pre -
NBP cultures at Narhan I, Khairadih I, Agiabir I, Jhusi II, Raja-
Nala KaTila-I, Malhar-I, Lahuradewa-II, Imlidih Khurd II, Bhunadih-I
and Waina I. The carbon 14 dates of most of the above sites are now
available. The chronology proposed for Black-and-red ware broadly
agrees with the time span of 1300- 700 BC. A careful study and
comparison demonstrates that the antiquity of Varanasi may be fixed
between 1500-1300 B. C. which is earlier documented around 800 B. C.
at Rajghat.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
(with special Reference to Excavations at Aktha and Sarai-Mohana)
Ashok Kumar Singh
Deptt. of A.l.H.C. & Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University.
Varanasi was one of the early Aryan settlements in the later Vedic
Literature. It was ruled by the Brahmdatta and it flourished along
with Kausambi and Hastinapura. Kasi, one of the sixteen Maha-
Janapadas, used to represent the kingdom of the same name with
Varanasi as capital. The city has played a vital role in the trade
of middle Ganga plain. The antiquity of the city and its continuous
history was not confirmed by any archaeological evidence till as
late as 1940 when Rajghat was accidentally discovered by a railway
contractor while digging in connection with the remodeling of the
present Kashi Railway Station. Rajghat was excavated between 1957-
58, and 1960-61 to 1966-67 by Department of AIHC & Archaeology,
Banaras Hindu University. It reveals uninterrupted sequence from pre-
NBP to Medieval period (800 B.C. - 1600 A.D.).
Recent excavations at Aktha (2002-2004) evidenced the date for the
earliest habitation to circa eleventh / twelfth centuries B. C.
(Jayaswal, 2002 : 128). This is a small satellite settlement and
situated 2 km south-east from Sarnath. The preliminary investigation
at Aktha suggests that it was one of the important settlements of
the Varanasi-Sarnath region and was inhabited much earlier than the
Sarnath.
Sarai Mohana, another satellite settlement of Varanasi, is situated
on the confluence of Varuna and Ganga, about 1/2 km north-east of
Rajghat. The earliest period of Sarai Mohana is a pre-iron culture
with Black-and-Red ware as the principal ceramic industry with
occasional paintings in white, black slipped ware and red ware. The
findings of Sarai Mohana were studied by the author (Singh & Singh,
2004 : 1-120). On account of the techno-typological similarities of
ceramic assemblage and antiquities of Period I of the other
chalcolithic and iron using cultures of the middle Ganga plains, a
time bracket of circa 1200 - 700 B. C. has been ascertained for the
earliest settlement at Sarai Mohana.
The ceramic industries and other antiquities of period-I of the
above named sites are well comparable with the chalcolithic and pre -
NBP cultures at Narhan I, Khairadih I, Agiabir I, Jhusi II, Raja-
Nala KaTila-I, Malhar-I, Lahuradewa-II, Imlidih Khurd II, Bhunadih-I
and Waina I. The carbon 14 dates of most of the above sites are now
available. The chronology proposed for Black-and-red ware broadly
agrees with the time span of 1300- 700 BC. A careful study and
comparison demonstrates that the antiquity of Varanasi may be fixed
between 1500-1300 B. C. which is earlier documented around 800 B. C.
at Rajghat.
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