Dear Vidya,
Good points. It clearly states the expectations from
ASI.
Dear Sriraman,
It is true and nobody can deny that the efforts of ASI
put towards preservation is remarkable. Initiatives
like Interpretation center are need of the hour. When
we visited it during my last trip to india, I was
telling Ram that ASI deserves a special appreciation.
I appreciate your intentions to know the feedback from
public. I am putting the below comments as a person
interested in history and have some interactions with
ASI and State archeology department.
1. Completeness
I request ASI/State arch. dept. to do the work
completely. When an excavation or temple study is
started, please try to complete all aspects like
architecture, inscriptions, iconography, etc. We see
many temples which were partly researched and history
was written based on those partial findings. Some
examples we can quote from our field work experience
are Thiruvalanjuzhi and Udayaloor.
2. Controversies
Some of the conclusions arrived on recent excavations
created some controversies among the historians. For
example, Dr.Sathiyamurthy said there are some old
brahmi scripts inside the urn excavated from
Adhichanallur. But Dr.Sathiyabhama said those are not
letters at all. This surfaced out when Iravatham
Mahadevan raised some questions during the conference
held in Tamil university couple of months ago. In the
same conference, Dr.Nadana Kasinathan (former State
arch. dept director) said he was not allowed to see
that urn. Such controversies could have been avoided
if brahmi experts were consulted before publishing the
news.
3. Timeliness
As Vidya pointed out in her mail, it is very important
to give complete information at right time. Still a
fullstop is pending for many issues like dating of
Adhichanallur urn, scripts inside the urn, date of
temple excavated near pulikkugai, etc. Unless the
complete information is given as soon as the
excavation is completed, it is difficult to filter
history out of it.
4. Monuments
As Satish stated in a feedback to one of varalaaru.com
articles, very few monuments have explanations about
the historical importance of monuments. Only the
caution board mentioning the law sections under which
this monument is protected are no use for public. In
those very few monuments also, information provided
were proved to be wrong in later days. It is very
important to update them and give right information to
public. The best examples are the boards kept at the
entrance of Five rathas and Big temple.
5. Fund utilisation
We heard that some years ago, funds allocated to State
arch. dept. by tamilnadu government for publishing the
research articles were returned back to the government
without publishing anything and government reduced the
amount after that. If such funds were utilised
properly and atleast 1 book was brought out, history
lovers would have been happy. Hope the samething is
not happening with ASI.
6. Renovations
I dont know the reason why stucco is pasted over the
sculptures during renovations. It was very painful
when we saw Gangai konda cholapuram sculptures after
renovation by ASI. Entire vimanam and all sculptures
were covered with stucco and pink color paint. The
original beauty is lost. When we compared with old
photographs, the features also had changed a lot. Such
modified versions will definitely cause confusions
during the temple studies. Samething happened in
Kanchipuram Kailasanathar temple vimaanam and
Srinivasanallur Kurakkanathar temple also. In these 2
temples, only sculptures in ground floor are left as
it is. The temple Mahendravarmeswaram inside the
Kanchi kailasanathar complex is completely
restructured with stucco. Why such activities are
engaged?
7. Politics
I am not sure if this problem is easily resolvable. In
a way, what Satish said in his mail is true. Politics
is one of the obstacles in the path of ASI. It is not
by politicians. But because of the internal politics
between officers. In the past 3 years, we have
witnessed many events related to the coldwar between
ASI and State archeology department as well as within
ASI employees. I dont want to mention the names and
events elobarately since i am sure you are well aware
of such politics. But definitely this reduces the
productivity and a barrier to publish the findings.
8. Commission
Many people (we also used to) think that ASI employees
have less scope for putting money into their pockets
in illegal ways. But some recent incidents and
information from related people made us to think that
it is no lesser than a taluk office or road contractor
business. Sometimes ago, we were shocked hearing that
most of the officers in the hierarchy get a percentage
from the fund alloted for maintenance/renovation of
each monument. What is the point in blaming
politicians alone?
9. New undertakings
Heard that ASI has stopped undertaking new monuments.
I dont know the reason behind such decision. The
ultimate result will reflect on monuments only. If ASI
is not undertaking, who else will have interest to
save them? Many more monuments will be added to the
list of Malaiyadikkurichi, Thiruppattur Kailasanathar,
etc. Dr.Kalaikkovan is trying for past several years
to make this Kailasanathar temple as a protected
monument. But no luck so far. Fortunately, Pullamangai
was protected after the joint effort by Dr.Kalaikkovan
and Dr.Kudavoil Balu.
Hope you will take all these comments positively and
request you to let the group know how these points are
addressed by ASI.
