RIFLE RANGE BOY: Watch this space...

Something is brewing in a small village called Keezhadi in the Sivagangai district near Madurai. As early as 2015, the Archaeological Society of India has been excavating ancient artefacts just about 15 metres from the surface. The team leader, Amarnath Ramakrishna, had prepared a 279-page report on his findings. He reported that his team's discoveries could alter the civilisational history of India. Amarnath was instructed to modify his report, and he was subsequently transferred abruptly within a short period. The State Archaeological Department then took over further exploration of the area.

Since the State took over the management of this area, the surrounding regions have experienced a remarkable transformation. An impressive museum has been built to showcase the finds, which include terracotta figurines, pots, and coins. The interesting aspect of the pots is that they are inscribed with Tamil-Brahmi lettering. Carbon dating has determined that the inscriptions on the vessels could be as old as 580 BCE.

The intriguing aspect is that artefacts discovered in Harappa, which also featured Brahmi script, were dated to 500 BCE only. This creates significant confusion in the timeline of Indian civilisation. The puzzling thing about the layout of the buildings found in Keezhadi is that it resembles that of Harappa. Similarly, there is a conspicuous absence of structures that could indicate places of worship or royalty.

In our history lessons, we learned that the first urban settlements with advanced townships, organised housing, irrigation, sanitation, and urban living began in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Afterwards, the people migrated, and the Aryan Migration theory was proposed.

In the 21st century, the Aryan Migration theory was challenged. Later, mitochondrial DNA studies of populations around that region suggest the 'Out of India' migration pattern. With this new idea, are historians suggesting that urban living actually started in the southern part of the continent? Or were there many pockets of civilisation across the land called Bharat? What is the significance of both the Indus civilisation and the Keezhadi findings, both of which contain Brahmi script? The Harappan scripts were previously reported as undecipherable.

The whole subject is highly politicised. The State government, whose entire existence is carved under the ideology that the southern part of the Indian subcontinent is culturally and ethnically different from the rest of India, has a vested interest in that whole exercise. The Central government, from the North, on the other hand, is contended to be at the heart of the cradle of Indian civilisation.

Historians largely agree that further studies are needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn from their latest findings in Keezhadi.