NEW DELHI: Six months after undertaking excavation at the Purana Qila to find the mythical city of Indraprastha — the capital of the Pandavas in the epic Mahabharata —Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has claimed that the site does not have any significant discoveries.
Speaking about the work this season, ASI’s superintending archaeologist (Chandigarh Circle) Vasant Swarnkar said, “We were not exactly looking for Indraprastha. The excavation was aimed at finding out the date of the earliest settlement of Delhi. We have discovered that the settlement is 2,500 years old which dates back to the Gupta, Maurya, Rajput and Mughal era.”
The first two rounds of excavations — in 1954-55 and 1969-73 — by then ASI director, BB Lal, had unearthed traces of painted grey ware dating back to the 6th-12th century BC. The findings were associated with the Mahabharata period, estimating 900 BC as the period of the epic war and various objects and pottery signifying continuous habitation from Mauryan to Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Rajput, Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods.
The Qila, the ASI website mentions, was possibly built after razing to ground Humayun’s city Dinpannah. Humayun returned to the Qila after Sher Shah Suri’s death.
Currently, the fort located next to the Delhi Zoo has a daily light and sound show with the theme of ‘Seven cities of Delhi’ with Indraprastha as one of them.
“After this summer we will re start the excavation work in some site” said Swanker.