archaeologist

A Day with the Archaeologist

If anyone loves a career to be in ruins, that is an archaeologist.

  

At Smitha's office (ASI, Bijapur)

I was on a visit to Bijapur, where my student Smitha S Kumar works as an archaeologist. During my five days of stay there, we roamed around the archaeological sites of Bijapur, Hampi and Badami. But the best was kept for the last - That was when Smitha took me for what is called a “village to village survey”.

As an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India, Smitha’s responsibilities include visits to remote villages in the area, to seek possibilities of hidden history. Not a search for spectacular monuments or startling discoveries, these surveys are quests to find out how the magnificent findings of the area relate to the surroundings and society of the bygone days. Monuments speak of the culture or religion of a ruler or a dynasty. But the archaeologist’s burden is also to find more on the social life of the times. One possibility of exploration is the village to village survey.

Smitha points out to Monesh the village from her map

With a target of around 20 villages to be surveyed every month, Smitha sets out with a topographical map of a segment of the land. A village is identified. The map, which itself is a bit old, may give but little clue on what to expect. Online resources such as Google Map can be of better help. So, we are off to the village of Atharga. With a local guide Monesh who doubles up as her pilot on his motor bike, Smitha sets off. Sangeet ( who assists Smitha with photo documentation)  and I follow on another bike.

Monish, collecting information from the village folk

 Monesh is irreplaceable! He has a knack of finding directions, interacting with locals in their language, and getting ideas across as and when needed. 

Bijapur’s history and archaeology has the Adil Shahi dynasty (15^th and 16^th centuries) as its central focus. A period known for its architectural marvels such as the Golgumbaz, the reign is no less significant for the contributions given to the administration and welfare of the masses. If this is true, can there be evidences even now? Do the villages have anything to say or show on this, left to be discovered or identified? That is the quest of the archaeologist.

At a structure that can possibly be a bastion of the Adil Shahi period

Usual questions and queries direct Smitha to a spot. Nothing impressive there: just a mound, which appears as nothing more than piled up remains of a wall or something. But, says Smitha, this can be, in all possibility, the ruins of a bastion. Almost all villages had a fortification around them, with bastions at their corners. Nothing to be finalized or established, Smitha’s role here is just to record and report. She takes bearings of the location on her GPS, and establishes directions and landmarks. All entries are made into her file, for a systematic documentation later.

As the GPS comes to help...

Information from a village gentleman

The elderly person who offered information directed Smitha to another location. A temple, which is supposed to be very old. Usually the villagers are friendly and helpful, as I gather. But some are wary. For, there is the natural fear that if a place that is part of some private property is noted as an archaeological finding, the present owner will stand to lose it. So, the archaeologist has to use tact and patience to get all possible information. She has to be part of them, give them the needed reassurance that this survey is just for purposes of documentation.

By the time we reach the temple, some children are with us. They are everywhere, says Smitha. Very often, they are of immense help. Keen to assist and offer information, their sincerity often helps the surveyor to find more. At the temple, they rush to get the keys to enter the backyard. They offer suggestions on what can be expected.

The boys got us the keys!

We enter the temple. Nothing extraordinary to the common eye. But Smitha points me to the roof. “See the interlaced arches on the dome. That is definitely an Adil Shahi architecture.”

Interlaced arches inside the temple dome

I recollect what I had seen at the great monuments of Bijapur. So that means, this local temple dates back to the 16^th century? Glad that I witness a small yet significant finding that may go into the records of Indian archaeology.

Smitha and Sangeet at the bawdi

We hit the road once again. Back home? Not yet. As we travel back, Smitha signals us to stop, in the middle of nowhere. See the difference in vegetation?- She asks us. Yes, there is a lush growth and more abundance of greenery at the point she indicated. “Every possibility for a bawdi ..."  
I wonder. She had taken me to bawdies the other day. They are water bodies – wells or tanks – of the Adil Shahi period. Structures that assured people with provision of enough water for the home and the farm. Even in a bawdi, you can see features of the Adil Shahi architecture. Usually, elaborate, ornamental structures and carvings surround them. But what is it here in a village? Smitha explains: every village will have a number of bawdies, carefully constructed and properly maintained. Here, if you observe the vegetation, we may wisely guess the presence of a baudi. She was right. There was a wide and deep well with clear water at that point. Now used by local farmers to draw water using electric pumps. How can we trace its history?

Looking around, the archeaologist’s eyes gleam. She points us to two pieces of cut stone lying around. They have a square hole near one end. These are water-lifting mechanisms. Clearly a feature of the Adil Shahi period.

He was happy we visited his land

The land belongs to a farmer, who lives nearby. He is not at all worried about the discovery. His wife joins him, and they offer us water. Staying back for tea?- they ask us. But we know it won’t be good to trouble them for that. 

Woes of a villager, shared to the archaeologist!

We move on. Yet another farm. The owner shares his agony about the disinterestedness from the part of the government. Smitha, for him, is a representative of the Government, and so he has the right to tell her of his woes, he feels! And he is happy to help the madamsaab with answers to her questions on the types of crops in his land, and features of topography.

More bawdies to be discovered. Some appear to be of a more recent construction, and some defy dating. But Smitha is not worried. At least, listen to the sparrows chirping from inside, she asks us. For, that is a feature beyond recorded history: every bawdi will be rich with nests of sparrows, unless and until the modern day man decides to provoke them beyond tolerance.

The day’s work over for us, but not for Smitha. She takes us for lunch to her favorite wayside shack. Even while eating, one can sense her mind wandering… on the findings of the day, and on the discoveries that wait. Yes, that is just one day of the archaeologist… a day when she plays many roles: a historian, a geologist, an agriculturalist, a geographer … and a human being with concern and care.

Smitha S Kumar, Assistant Archeologist at ASI Bijapur, is an alumna of CMS College, Kottayam, where she was the blogger’s student for her undergraduation in English Language and Literature. Later, she did her post graduation at the University of Kerala. Currently she pursues her Ph D in Archaeology at the University of Baroda, on the topic "The Role of Buddhism in the Development of Urban Centres in Maldives Islands".