Ashoka Reflections- Feb 2023

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ASHOKA

REFLECTIONS

A S H O K A U N I V E R S I T Y ' S M O N T H L Y N E W S L E T T E R

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3

Nobel Laureate Prof. Harold E.

Varmus Visited Ashoka University

BIG NEWS

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Centre for Interdisciplinary

Archaeological Research

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In Focus

C O V E R S T O R Y

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research, launched in early 2021, is a unique

institutional initiative which brings archaeology and the sciences together in order to offer new

perspectives that will deepen the study of the Indian past. Its ‘birth’ was faculty-driven and evolved

over many months of a serious and sustained conversation between biology and history. As a

consequence of this cross-fertilization, it was decided that the Centre would host two components

which support each other: field-based work and the teaching of archaeology-based courses, along

with laboratories supporting teaching and research.

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Shedding Light on India's Neglected

Past: The Centre for Interdisciplinary

Archaeological Research at Work

C O V E R S T O R Y

There is a strong emphasis on teaching interdisciplinary courses ranging from ‘Archaeology and

Science’ to ‘Archaeology of Ancient Technologies’. The Centre also offers archaeological training to

undergraduate and graduate students as part of its teaching-cum-research projects. A field project

on the archaeological heritage of forests is underway under the aegis of the Centre, in the

Bandhavgarh National Park and Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, and the first results have been

published. The Centre also offers Ashoka fellowships (two of which are funded by an Ashoka

founder, Anupa Sahney) for ancient and mediaeval history/archaeology. Three scholars from

Kashmir, Kerala and New Delhi have joined as the inaugural fellows, and their research will add to

the visibility of the Centre across India.

Dr Kalyan Shekhar Chakraborty joined the Centre as a teaching faculty last semester and is a

specialist in biomolecular archaeology and archaeological geochemistry. They also have Dr Kritika

Garg (a DNA specialist) and Dr Akash Srinivas (a prehistorian) as postdoctoral fellows. The Centre's

vision to have scholars on board with a variety of skill sets, thus, is very much on track. They hope to

build on this in the medium term. They also hope that the Centre will motivate students to pursue

research that links science and archaeology.

Excerpts from an interview with Prof. Nayanjot Lahiri:

What is your assessment of the state of archaeological research in India at present? Are there

some loopholes in the way we as a country approach the study of our past?

For a nation with such an abundance of riches, it is unfortunate that with some honourable

exceptions, this field of archaeological research in India has not developed in Indian universities in

the manner that it has in many parts of the world. For instance, none of the universities in Delhi has

departments of archaeology in spite of the University Grants Commission giving approval in 1960 for

the opening of separate archaeology departments. Among the few universities that have been able

to sustain separate departments of archaeology are the Deccan College (a deemed university) of

Pune, Calcutta University, and Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda. Some other departments

have included archaeology within the ambit of ancient history as in the case of the Department of

Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology at the Banaras Hindu University. However, even in

those universities that offer a Master's program in archaeology, the history/archaeology

departments and the science departments there have functioned as separate silos, with no

meaningful cross-talk between them. Consequently, scientists and archaeologists/historians of the

same university rarely join hands to mutually enrich their own research and disciplines.

Can you elaborate on how Ashoka University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological

Research brings archaeology and the sciences together? To what degree does it help in gaining

a better understanding of our past?

The Centre proposes to host two components which will support each other: field-based work along

with teaching, and laboratories where courses will also be taught. The Centre has begun with field-

related explorations. The data that is generated from the field will be studied in various

laboratories. With regard to teaching, there is a specific emphasis on teaching interdisciplinary

courses at the Centre.

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C O V E R S T O R Y

This approach definitely provides an understanding of the deep past. In India, decipherable records

go back to the first millennium BCE. In contrast, the archaeological remains of the Indian

subcontinent go back more than a million years ago (as in the case of Attirampakkam in Tamil Nadu

and the Siwaliks ranges in the northwest). In fact, such data constitute our only source for that vast

span of ancient India from one million years ago till the second millennium BCE for exploring and

analysing prehistoric cultures, early food-producing societies, pastoralist groups, chalcolithic villages

and the Harappan Civilization. So, the study of the Indian past for more than 99% of that huge span

of time depends on archaeology. Once textual sources become available, while the material remains

no longer form the only category of available data, what is well recognized is that archaeology

continues to add dimensions even to the study of texts and epigraphs.

Gathering archaeological information for all periods of the human past requires a multipronged

approach covering a range of disciplines. Of these, it is scientific disciplines that have most

significantly contributed to the consolidation of archaeology and the expansion of its frontiers.

Archaeological science, in fact, because it is a meeting ground for collaboration has resulted in

generating richly detailed images of past lives. In India, such information has been recovered from

kitchen leftovers and teeth (human and animal) as in the case of the diet of Harappan people and

animals at Farmana in Haryana, to spore pollen distribution in Rajasthan’s salt lakes for

reconstructing changing patterns of monsoon rainfall that deeply affected livelihoods and

settlements.

Barring a few spotlight monuments, most, despite ASI’s tall claims, are in tatters and

undergoing perennial neglect. In a scenario such as this, what makes you hopeful about the

study and research of our past?

Like many nations with long histories, India is particularly rich in archaeological sites and

monuments. Apart from roughly 15,000 sites that are within the ambit of the legislative protection of

the Centre and the States, the records of the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities noted

some 500,000 unprotected sites. These are official statistics. The quantum of undocumented sites on

the ground far exceeds this number. The ASI is incapable of documenting these, and what gives me

hope is that universities and individual researchers have taken it upon themselves to do such

documentation.

What are some key areas that the Centre is currently working in? How far have we come and

what are some major stumbling blocks for the Centre in achieving its full potential?

The Centre began with an all-India project on forests and a locality-based project around Sonipat. It

has worked for two years on a project in the forests of the tiger reserve in Bandhavgarh (Madhya

Pradesh). Two publications have come out of it in Current Science and South Asian Studies. This work

will now be deepened through studies on diatoms and pollen records there. At the end of February

2023, with Dr Rakesh Tiwari (Director General [Retd.] of the ASI, the Centre will begin a survey its

locality-based project in the Sonipat district. Hopefully, it will give a sense that Ashoka University’s

surroundings and hinterland are historically significant, with remains going back to Harappan times.

We need more faculty and a dedicated space for the Centre. Some space has already been earmarked

for laboratories and teaching. It takes time to set these up but these should eventually get done.

Otherwise, the Research Office in every way has been amazingly enabling.

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WHY ASHOKA UNIVERSITY

IS THE RIGHT PLACE FOR

ARCHAEOLOGICAL

RESEARCH

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The education at Ashoka has a strong emphasis on foundational knowledge, academic research on pedagogy,

and hands-on experience with real-world challenges. The aim of the university is to help students think critically

about issues from multiple perspectives, communicate effectively and become leaders with a commitment to

public service.

Ashoka follows a unique model in which experts in a given discipline ask pertinent unanswered fundamental

questions and seek answers for the same with the help of colleagues from across the university with diverse

expertise and access to technology. Ashoka is an ideal place to train students in such a way that technology is

not seen as an end but a means to provide the right answers to academic questions and develop sustainable

solutions to societal problems.

Ashoka faculty constitute top quality researchers and educators with expertise ranging from natural and social

sciences to humanities and performing arts. The Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research was

conceptualized by Prof Nayanjot Lahiri and Prof Upinder Singh who specialize in archaeology and ancient history.

They were both awarded the prestigious Infosys Prize in recognition of their contribution to these areas. It was

conceptualized in association with Prof Alok Bhattacharya and Prof LS Shashidhara who are in the process of

establishing laboratories and protocols and in providing information derived by using science and technology-

based methods. Professors Bhattacharya and Shashidhara are well-known in their fields of research. Their

research accomplishments and contribution to education and science policy in India are recognized by the award

of SS Bhatnagar Prize by the Government of India (the highest science award in India) and Fellowship by Indian

Science Academies.

Dr Kalyan Shekhar Chakraborty has joined the Centre as a teaching faculty and there are also post-doctoral

fellows working there.

As a pioneering initiative that is aimed at transforming India’s higher

education landscape, Ashoka University houses several Centres of

Excellence that are doing incredible work in their niche domains

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