Finding Forgotten Cities

Title: Finding Forgotten Cities – How the Indus Civilization Was Discovered

Author: Nayanjot Lahiri

Publisher: Hachette India, 2011 (First published 2005)

ISBN: 978-93-5009-260-6

Pages: 436

Even a school child in India today knows about the first stirrings of his or her own civilization thousands of years on the shores of the Indus River. But how do we learn about the cultural and architectural details of ancient societies? Archeology is not a glamorous course of study for students of any generation, but more books of this genre is sure to kindle interest in many young minds to find out about the past societies, their achievements and how much we have borrowed (inherited, would be a better word) from them. Nayanjot Lahiri tells us about the exciting tale of how the Indus Civilization was discovered through painstaking work from a few dedicated men toiling on a shoestring budget and the culmination of it all in a scholarly article by Sir John Marshall in a prominent London weekly in September 1924. The book covers the background of archeological research in India, the major players it spawned, great cultural changes put forward by a visionary viceroy, Lord Curzon, and how major work came to be put on the shoulders of capable Indian scholars by the turn of the 20^th century. Being a professor of Archeology in the History Department of the University of Delhi and having made a thorough research on the annals of the Archeological Survey of India, the book exudes an air of authority about the conscientious work that went behind the discovery of India’s ancient civilization. Coincidentally, this book seems to be a sequel to the immediately earlier work reviewed in this blog – Charles Allen’s Ashoka – the Search for India’s Lost Emperor.

The first part of the book establishes the background of Marshall’s arrival in India and the decisive part played by Lord Curzon, viceroy, between 1895 and 1905. Curzon is vilified by Indian historians for his shrewd policies calculated to sow dissension among Indians, like his partition of Bengal on virtually communal lines. But he was a liberator of archeology from the clutches of bureaucrats who were bent on axing its funding whenever a financial trouble reared its head. In fact, Curzon was so fond of India so as to declare that “the sacredness of India haunts me like a passion” and had high opinions about Indian monuments so as to remark that they were “the most beautiful and perfect collection of monuments in the world”. So, when he re-established the post of Director General, he desired a young and energetic scholar on the post. Curzon overlooked the claim of Vincent Smith, who was a renowned author of a historical book on Ashoka on the ground that he was not sufficiently knowledgeable in archeology. John Marshall was very young – 25 years old, to be precise – but had a distinguished academic track record by his splendid work in excavating remnants of Cretan civilization in Greece. Probably Curzon wanted a pliant official who would bend to the overbearing diktats of the viceroy. The agenda and activities of the survey were charted by the viceroy himself and Marshall initially had nothing better to do than carrying out his master’s instructions to the letter. Curzon’s incursions didn’t end in suggestions. When Marshall decided to do an excavation in Bahrain, in the hope of turning up some artifacts linked to maritime trade, the viceroy vetoed the move at the last minute, causing much embarrassment and resentment to him. The chiding included a stark reminder that the Survey’s funds are not to be spent on idiosyncratic projects on foreign shores. Even after retirement, Curzon intervened on the Survey’s behalf. The book presents a benevolent picture of him as far as archeology is concerned.

Harappa garnered the attention of scholars from 1830 onwards, when Charles Masson visited the site and noted its mounds. In 1852 Alexander Cunningham made some diggings in his capacity as the director general of the Survey. Marshall came to know about seals obtained from the site that were kept in London’s British museum. In the early years, Marshall was not interested in Harappa and the archeological work there was undertaken by his assistants and only for namesake. While this lukewarm state of things was existing there, a tragic episode was being unfurled towards the east in Rajasthan. Lahiri devotes three chapters to narrate the life story of an unfortunate Italian scholar Luigi Pio Tessitori, who came to excavate the site at Kalibangan in Bikaner state. Tessitori’s work is the first comprehensive description of an Indus site. However, he hesitated to publish the results when he was confused by the seals obtained from the digs. Instead, he continued to gather opinion from experts. He then suddenly died in an attack of Spanish Influenza in 1919 while sailing to India from Italy. The information on the Kalibangan seals also died with him.

Lahiri describes the story of the discovery, or rather, the recognition that what was obtained from Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had been the relics of a single overarching civilization that flourished along the river valleys of Indus and her tributaries. Antiquities like terracotta seals, pottery, clay bangles and toys were regularly found from those places, but it took unusually long – of course, with hindsight – to deduce the similarity, the common thread that joins the finds. The excavations of these sites were held under Indians, Harappa by Daya Ram Sahni and Mohenjo-Daro by Rakheldas Banerji who were among the first generation native scholars incubated under the careful wings of the Survey. It seems that archeology also was not free from the pathetic work culture of the government. We came to understand that these two scions of Indian archeology were ignorant of the works of each other, and as a result, it fell upon their English Boss, Sir John Marshall to work out the spirit that underlay the findings of his juniors. Even then, the deduction was not truly independent. Madho Sarup Vats, another Indian official who was deputed for excavation at Mohenjo-Daro in place of an ailing Banerji first thought of a connection between what he was digging up in Sindh with that of Harappa,  a couple of hundreds of miles distant in the Punjab. Lahiri illustrates a classic tale of how the credit is appropriated to the boss, in a department strictly following rules of hierarchy. Marshall is no doubt a good scholar, but his first hand information on the Indian cities was rather limited. He completely delegated the field trials to his subordinates. In fact, the author wonders at the lack of the impulse seen among archeology professionals – that of setting foot on the place of an important find, just for the pleasure of it. When Marshall declared to the world of the Survey’s findings of civilization that remained in the dark till 1924, the simple fact was that he had not visited the places in the near past, and the material were summoned to Shimla, where Marshall’s office was situated.

One of the points to be argued in favor of the book is that it describes the damages done to ancient monuments by ordinary people and scholars alike. Normally foreign authors miss this point and heaps scorn on the former, being the ignorant subjects of a colony. But Lahiri describes the damages done by scholars too, especially that of Alexander Cunningham, a former director general of the survey at Sanchi when he drove a shaft through the remains of a stupa there.

As a curious aside, the book also brings to light the incongruent character of R D Banerji, who was pivotal in the development of the story. We come to know of an insubordinate person who was a constant thorn in the flesh of his superiors, particularly when financial transactions were involved. Lahiri paints him with a cloud of suspicion by giving occasion for doubt while listing out instances when the authorities turned against him for his trumped up transportation expenses, exaggerated prices while buying archeological curiosities from private vendors and also, while failing to provide proper accounts for the expenditure. Banerji also tried to appear that he had recognized the link between Indus cities while personally excavating in Sindh. This is described as recognition in retrospect. In addition to this he jumped to conclusions regarding the racial characteristics of the people who authored the city in the ancient past. His conclusion that they were Dravidians were not based on any evidence and Lahiri admonishes him for confusing a concept based on language with that of race. Altogether, R D Banerji is portrayed in a non-flattering light and may be the author was trying to expose an ugly face of archeology that hitherto stayed in darkness.

The book is embellished with a good section on Notes and further reading. Also, the index is really nice for a book of this sort. The book includes some photographs and illustrations, but a few more of these would do no harm to the feel of the book.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star