GUWAHATI, June 8 ? The Director General?s office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will take up the proposal for declaring the Charaideo maidams of the State and Unokuti Tirtha of Tripura as world heritage sites with the appropriate authorities offer developing them into properly conserved archaeological sites.
Disclosing this, the outgoing superintending archaeologist of the ASI?s Guwahati Circle, Dr Syed Jamal Hasan, also told The Assam Tribune here yesterday that the ASI had no plan to send the human bones and skulls recovered in the excavated maidam (Maidam No 2 of the four maidams protected by the ASI) for DNA tests.
The suggestion to declare the ASI protected maidams and the Unokuti Tirtha as world heritage sites was made by the Guwahati Circle at a consultative meeting of the ASI at its New Delhi headquarters in February last. But the ASI Director General?s office showed keenness to develop the sites first of all. Following this, the Guwahati Circle submitted a proposal with an estimated cost Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh for each of the sites, for conservation. With the amount of estimated for the Charaideo maidams, a boundary wall around the four maidams protected by the ASI is sought to be built, besides the restoration of the excavated structure, Dr Hasan said, adding, the boundary wall will be a dwarf one with mild speed iron railings atop it.
The excavated maidam is being restored as per original and the items recovered from it will be displayed at the site itself, as per the ASI policy. The ASI has been displaying the excavated materials all over the country and abiding by this policy, the first archaeological site museum of the ASI in NE region was built at the Sri Suryapahar site in Goalpara district of the State, Dr Hasan said.
On the issue of excavating the other three ASI protected maidams, he said that as these structures were disturbed by unscrupulous elements during the British period, about two centuries back, there was no need to excavate those maidams. On the issue of DNA testing of the human bones and skulls excavated from Maidam No 2, Dr Hasan said that such tests were not required as the period of evidence of the items was of very recent origin, i.e. 18th century AD.
Supporting evidence like delux pottery, carved wooden objects, ivory objects and motiffs, copper and iron objects are there, besides the terracotta objects to suggest the period of the maidam, he said.
Meanwhile, the State Directorate of Archaeology felicitated Dr Hasan at a function at the Directorate campus here on June 6, for the commendable service he rendered to archaeological excavation and conservation in the State. Addressing the function, which was presided over by Dr JN Phukan, former head of the Department of History, Gauhati University (GU), Dr HN Dutta, Director, Archaeology, said that Dr Hasan?s role in exploring the archaeological treasure of NE region was that of a pathbreaker.
His works in Charaideo established the uniqueness of the maidams and helped the State in making a big stride towards occupying an honourable position in world heritage map, while his works related to the excavation near Daparbatia, Tezpur, could provide evidence of human habitation in the area around 2nd or 3rd century BC. For all these, Dr Hasan?s name will be written in golden letters in the history of humanity, said Dr Dutta.
In the function, which was also addressed by Dr Hasan, Dr Deepi Rekha Kauli, Deputy Director, State Archaeology, Smt Ranjana Sarma, Registering Officer and Sri Girish Baishya and Ajit Bora, Conservation Officers of State Archaeology and Smt Shikhamoni Konwar and Smt Sangeeta Gogoi, new Superintending Archaeologist of ASI, Guwahati, RD Singh was also offered a warm welcome.