A phone call regarding a long-form article she had written eight years ago sparked the beginning of this book, Sowmiya Ashok recalls. A writer said that it had a story to tell, a potential to be a book. For the Chennai-based journalist, the news of the Keeladi excavation sparked her fascination with Harappan sites in Pakistan, and it was thrilling to learn that an excavation was underway right next to Madurai, a place closer to her home. She thought the quest “might answer questions like who we are.”
On December 21, this journey of discovery, in the form of a book, The Dig: Keeladi and The Politics of India’s Past, was launched by an eminent archaeologist V Vedachalam. An informative conversation filled with curiosity and humour, between writer Sowmiya and Shabbir Ahmed, senior news editor with The News Minute, was a walk through the process of creating the book. An evening with a coterie of book enthusiasts and well-wishers gathered at Ashvita’s — a small space reflecting coarseness and elegance — with splashes of paintings around. Something so intentionally raw about the room made it the perfect space for a discussion on archaeology and the old remnants.
Writing a book, for Sowmiya, was about preparations and frequent journeys. Her philosophy was to “show up everywhere”, be it an archeology conference, a talk of a script, meeting people, or visits to the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archeology or the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). She calls it the process of “trial and error”. The journalistic impulses nudged her to keep showing up.
As Shabbir pointed out, “Keeladi has become a political flash point.” He alluded to the political scenario — of biased interpretations and conflicting opinions — while Sowmiya was writing the book. But the book, he remarked, is far from the political narratives that we have heard over time. Sowmiya said, “I stuck to chronology. It’s a difficult story to tell, and there were a lot of narratives; everybody had a stake in the game. Anybody who ventured into this, who is not an archaeologist or an epigraphist, sometimes had reasons to say the things they were saying.”
As someone who believes that archaeology is so politicised in our country, she didn’t want to document this excavation site with political narratives. Sowmiya had a clear idea that she wanted to make the book about people who are working despite politics, despite the lack of funds. “I spoke to people as wide as I could go. The voices and diversity are what I wanted to capture,” she said. But she also shared that this made the story even more complicated, because our origins themselves were complicated.
These excavations trace back to the past, where one can see “more cultural exchanges and different parts of the subcontinent.” There were comparisons made with Harappan sites and the Indus Valley Civilization. She reasoned, “Ever since Independence, and we lost these big sites to Pakistan, there’s been a quest to find parallels of the Indian sites.”
Sowmiya’s work ethic echoes the words of Vedachalam, who said, “An archaeologist should remain balanced. Every site is the same for an archaeologist.” Her extensive research not only included conversations with archeologists and experts but also delved into literature. “I needed to understand what the literature was if I was writing about a site that relied so much on the references in the literature. This meant digging up the Sangam literature, and the poems that described the physical aspects of the old Tamil region.”
With layers of excavation, “some of the definitions of what constitutes urban” is also what Sowmiya writes in her book. What is a marker of “urban” doesn’t have a concrete answer — they aren’t just remnants of structures and materials, she emphasised. “More excavations lead to more understanding, and that’s what I have tried to say in the book as well,” she shared.
For her, the process of writing was both exciting and transformative. It was a space for her to understand her own origins, which she says, “is more complex than I thought”. Every day was a learning experience — be it lengthy conversations with experts or close interactions with the locals. Sowmiya recalled her long conversations with K Amarnath Ramakrishna, the then ASI’s superintending archaeologist, who initiated the excavation at Keeladi.
When asked about the people who are pushing the Archeology Department forward, Sowmiya said that, be it the Archeology Minister or the Commissioner of the Tamil Nadu State Department, there is a political push that stems from their personal passion for history and archaeology.
The launch concluded with a reading session, where she presented excerpts from the book. With a tone so light and hearty, words swollen with keen observations, and humour, Sowmiya led the audience to the excavation site. True storytelling indeed.