4. HASTINAPURA: PAST AND PRESENT

Literary Background

Vividhatirthakalpa mentions the name of king Hasti or Hastin of Paurava dynasty as the founder of the city of Hastinapura on the bank of Bhagirathi. Kuru, son of Samvarana, was an eloquent king of Hastinapura, after whose name the dynasty came to be known as Kaurava and the kingdom as Kurukshetra (the place of Kurus). Kuru’s sons Dhrutarastra and Pandu are associated with the story of Mahabharata whose sons, Kauravas and Pandavas, fought the battle of Kurukshetra for 18 days.

The Markandeyapurana and the Bhagavata Purana refer to the Gajavayas, who were connected with Hastinapura, the Kuru capital. This city is also called ‘Gajahvaya’ in the Bhagavata Purana. During the reign of Nichaksu, son of Adhisima Krsna, this city is said to have been carried away by the river Ganges, and the king is said to have transferred his residence to Kausambi, near Allahabad.

Rsabha, the first Tirthankara, was inhabitant of Hastinapura. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, often visited the city. The Harivamsa and Bhagavata Purana support this fact. There are three memorials called Nissis located about three kilometres to the north of the site and are said to be associated with three Jaina Tirthankaras—Santinatha, Kunthunatha and Aranatha. A number of Jaina temples belonging to Digambara and Svetambara sects are now present at Hastinapura.

The Site and its surrounding

Hastinapura (29⁰ 09^’ N: 78⁰ 03^’ E), the ancient capital of the Kurus or Kaurava, is traditionally identified with an old town in Mawana tehsil of district Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The site comprising a series of high mounds rises about 18m above the ground level and spreads a kilometre from north to south and half-a-kilometre from east to west. It has been divided into two halves, northern (called ulta khera) and southern by a wide rain gully, now used as a footpath connecting the village, shrines and temples present on the site. The river Ganga flows eight kilometres to the east of the site. A tributary of Ganga (now dried) locally called Budhia Ganga (old Ganga) was flowing very near to the site. Now the riverbed has been converted into cultivated lands and a small bridge, locally called budhia Ganga pulia about 200m away from the site, is the testimony of its existence. There is a canal running parallel to the site on the western side. On the side of the eastern boundary wall a metal road has been laid that connects the Pandveswar Mahadeva temple.

A number of Jain temple complexes surround the site from north-northeastern side. A village has been built up on the northwestern side. Perhaps these encroachments have prompted the ASI to replace the barbed wire fencing with a permanent concrete boundary wall. There is a Pirbaba’s shrine present on top of the southern side of northern mound near a ruin of medieval fortification wall made of Lakhori bricks. The southern half has been occupied by a shrine of Arya Samaj, a medieval tomb of Goddess Kali and Pandveswar Mahadeva temple on the southern end of the mound. There are many more modern shrines and associated buildings present further down south.

How to reach Hastinapura

The site of Hastinapura can be reached by bus; bus service is available at the Mawana bus-stand of Meerut. It is a little above 35km from Meerut. Meerut is connected by both road and railways and is accessible from New Delhi and from Hapur stations.

Archaeological Background

The site of Hastinapura came to prominence after B.B. Lal’s visit in October 1949. The motive behind this visit was to trace the footsteps of Vedic Aryans, who according to the literary evidences migrated from the Saraswati valley in southern Punjab and northern Rajasthan towards the Ganga valley. Lal believed if this is true then the remains of their settlements ought to be there. With a mission in hand, Lal visited a slew of 32 sites related to the epic Mahabharata as mentioned in the literatures or known from the local traditions. He noticed a grey pottery painted in black pigment (subsequently known as Painted Grey ware) at all these sites and envisaged that the mystery of Dark Age might lie in this pottery. Having this idea in the mind, Lal excavated the site of Hastinapura for two seasons in 1950-51 and 1951-52. The excavations revealed five successive cultural periods (I to V) with break between each period. The periods are given below.

·         Period I – Ochre-coloured Pottery culture (OCP)

·         Period II – Painted Grey ware culture (PGW)

·         Period III – Northern Black Polished ware culture (NBPW)

·         Period IV – Sunga/ Kushana culture

·         Period V – Medieval culture

Hastianpura is well-known for its most distinctive Painted Grey Ware culture. The culture has derived its appellation from a typical ceramic called Painted Grey ware. The colour of the ware varies from ashy to dark grey. It is made of very fine and well-levigated clay, turned on fast wheel and baked under a reduced condition at a high temperature. The vessels, which comprise mostly bowls and dishes with straight or convex sides and sagger-base, have painted designs usually in black pigment but sometimes in chocolate or reddish-brown instead. In a few cases two colours—reddish-brown and cream—have been used simultaneously. The common motifs are simple band round the rim on both inside and outside, groups of vertical and oblique or crisscross lines on outside, rows of dots or dashes or dots alternating with simple lines, chain of short spirals on outer surface, concentric arcs and circles, sigmas and swastikas on either surface.

As far as the PGW and Mahabharata relation is concerned, at the present conjecture it can be said that most of the Mahabharata related sites, such as Hastinapur, Ahichchatra, Kampil, Mathura, Kurukshetra, Indraprastha, etc., have yielded evidences of PGW culture. The date of the Mahabharata battle also falls within the bracket of PGW period. Since the epic Mahabharata was time to time appended with a large number of verses (known in three forms from early to late, Jay Samhita, Bharata and Mahabharata) for at least 1100 years, authenticity of all the events of the epic in the present form could not be established.

What makes the site important?     

1.  Hastinapura excavation not only added two new cultures to the Indian Archaeology, viz. Ochre Coloured Pottery (OCP) and Painted Grey ware (PGW), but also bridged the gap between the end of Harappan period and beginning of the early historic period, popularly known as “Dark Age” in Indian history.

2.  The excavations for the first time brought to light the stratigraphic/chronological positions and nature of above-mentioned cultures in the Indian Archaeology.

3.  The site is also very important on geoarchaeological perspective; it records a number of palaeofloods of River Ganges intermittently between the cultures.

4.  The site is almost well-preserved and protected by a boundary wall.

5.  It is deep rooted in the public sentiment for its mythological connotation and is considered as a sacred place for Hindus and Jain. The seventh day after the full moon in April (Vaishakh Krishnapaksh Saptami) is celebrated locally as Draupadi Saptami. On this day, married Hindu women gather at the Draupadi well present here. After the ablution they proceed to the Karna ghat on the bank of Budhia Ganga for worshiping and sprinkle barley on the way to the ghat.

 Present condition of the site

1.  A large part of the mound in north and north-western side has been occupied by the people. The villagers utilize the site for their daily cores, like collecting firewood, preparing and storing the cow-dung cakes (Kanda), dumping garbage and digging yellow silt, etc.

2. The site is covered with big trees; the penetration of roots and their subsequent decomposition must be destroying the underlying structures and strata.

3.  The cover of dry leaves does not allow growing grass or shrubs on the surface which intensifies the pace of surface erosion.

4. Surface erosion is the biggest problem of the high rising mounds of this site. Perhaps the trenches extensively taken in the 1950s, one of which cut across the site in east-west direction, were not fully refilled. Eventually these cuttings are widened up and transformed into rain gullies triggering more soil erosion from the surroundings.

5.  Most of the medieval structures at the site have either collapsed or further ruined due to lack of proper care.

References

1. B.B. Lal, ‘Excavation at Hastinapura and other Explorations in the Upper Ganga and Satlu Basins 1950-52’, in Ancient India (BASI), No.10-11 (1954-55), pp.05-151.
2. Ashok Ghosh (Ed.), ‘An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology’, Vol. I-II (New Delhi, Munsiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1989), pp.164-166.
3. B.C. Law, ‘Historical Geography of Ancient India’, (New Delhi, Munsiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1984).
4. H.D. Sankalia, ‘Pre-and Protohistory of India and Pakistan’, (Poona, Deccan College Publication, 1974).
5. Bridget Allchin and Raymond Allchin, ‘The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan’, (New Delhi, Select book Service Syndicate, 1983).

Acknowledgement
Sincere thanks to Dr. Deepak Singh and Dr. Bhuvan Vikram for their valuable help.

???

Can we (archaeologists and historians) afford to lose such sites?

Can Indian Archaeology progress without such sites?

What will be the future of Archaeology in site-less India?

Think over it................

Pledge…

• Please ENSURE that all the ANTIQUITIES and DATA including the PHOTOGRAPHS are stored carefully by you or submitted to the Department/Museum to do so.
• Remember, you may be the last person who visited the site and your collected antiquities are the only tangible evidences of that site.
• Make sure that you do a bit in your capacity to save a site by reporting in the News Papers, writing to the local authorities and placing the matter in different forums/NGOs.

Request …

If you have a similar story, send it to this forum with a few photographs. I also request you to send your comments, grievances and suggestions to this forum which will be circulated widely. Remember that your comment will consolidate our plea.

Mail to…

gcshas2007@gmail.com

A panoramic view of the site has been given below with help of 50 photographs, some of which have been scanned from the Hastinapura report. For making it foolproof, current satellite images, site map of 1950s blended with satellite map and a collage of important structural evidences has been prepared to show the locations on the map. How the site has been changed and modified or occupied recently can be understood from the photographs and the satellite maps.

1.Location of the Site, Budhia Ganga and Ganga Rivers

2.Location of the Site, Budhia Ganga and Ganga Rivers

3.The Site between the Valley of Budhia Ganga and a Canal

4.View of the Site from South: north and south divisions

5.Blending of recent Satellite image and Site map of 1950s

6.View of the site from western side

7.Close up view of the site from west (looking east)

8.Structural evidences at different parts of Site

9.Bridge over the Budhia Ganga river

10.Declaration Board of ASI

11.Site from the north (looking south)

12.Across the road: view on the north of Site

13.Climbing the mound from the north

14.Medieval Structure: compare it with 33rd photograph of 1950s

15.Medieval structural remains on top of northern mound

16.Medieval brick wall on top of northern mound

17.Longest trench taken in 1950s

18.Remains of brick wall peeping out of the section

19.Rain gully dividing the northern mound

20.Northern mound across (south of) the rain gully

21.Pirbaba shrine on top of northern mound (extreme south)

22.View of the Pirbaba shrine from south (looking north)

23.Top of the Medieval fortification wall on the southern end of Northern mound

24.Climb down from the Pirbaba shrine

25.Looking North 1950s, Medieval Fortification wall in the front

26.Looking North 2012

27.Medieval Fortification Wall 2012

28.Mound on the eastern side of FF wall

29.Northern mound from the south west (looking east)

30.Looking NE 2012

31.Looking NE 1950s

32.Western side of the northern mound (looking north)

33.1.Looking East 1950s

33.Looking East 2012

34.Area marking of ASI

35.Draupadi well on the eastern side of northern mound (near Trench HST-4 of 1950s)

36.Arya Samaj Complex on the southern mound

37.Medieval brick wall at Arya Samaj premise

38.Late Medieval Tombs (temples) on the southern mound

39.Late Medieval Tombs (temples)-Close up

40.Gate at the extreme south of Site (to Pandveshwar temple)

41.Pandveshwar Temple

42.A sculptural pannel inside the Pandveshwar temple

43.Mahadeva, down south of Pandveshwar temple

44. View from the eastern side of site (looking west)

45.Road to Pandveshwar temple on the eastern side of Site

46.View from the eastern side of the site (looking west)

47.View from the eastern side of the site (looking west)

48.View of the Site from the top of Jain temple on the eastern side (looking southwest)