(Laser lights flash on pre-historic metropolis of Moenjo-daro)
In the
year 1922, Late Mr.P.D.Banerji, archaeologist in charge of the
western circle of the Archeology department of Government of India,
began investigations at a site, where he expected to find the remains
of a Buddhist establishment in a somewhat forbidding and out of the
way corner of the Sindh in the Indus valley. The place was about 425
Km north of the port city of Karachi. He actually commenced to dig
around the remains of the stupa in 1923, whose mud brick core stood
at a height of about seventy feet from the surrounding plains. His
expectations were realised when he had discovered some thirty cells
ranged on the four sides of the quadrangular courtyard and evidence
of their date was forthcoming in the shape of some coins of the
Kushan (1st or 2nd century CE) period found in
one of the cells, which was identified as belonging to King Vasudeva.
Not being satisfied with this, he penetrated deeper down and in the
trench, which was sunk at the foot of the mound, he came upon a seal
which at once brought to his mind the well known seals of Harappa,
which had pictographic writing. In his further diggings he found two
more seals but even then, the prehistoric character of his finds was
not fully apparent to him.
Sir
John Marshall, the Director-General of Archaeology in India, then
perceived a striking resemblance between the finds made at this site
with already discovered pre-historic site at Harappa and came to
conclusion that both ruins belong to an unknown civilization which
has been found for the first time. He immediately published the
results in the Illustrated London News and the world came to know
about an ancient civilization in India that was at least 4000 year
old. Subsequent excavations revealed a large metropolis, now
popularly known as Mohenjo-daro or Moenjo-daro (Mound of death.)
After India's partition, the historic site went to Pakistan and is
now looked after Pakistan's archeology department. The site is under
UNESCO’s World Heritage List and is considered to be of
‘outstanding universal value.'
Unfortunately,
the foundations of the site are threatened by saline action due to a
rise of the water table of the Indus River. This was the subject of a
UNESCO international campaign in the 1970s, which partially mitigated
the attack on the prehistoric mud-brick buildings. A UNESCO
website
says and I quote:
“This
huge cultural heritage site, became increasingly threatened with
decay by exposure to harsh climatic conditions, floods from the Indus
River, deterioration due to salts rising from the high water-table,
and water-logging. In 1974, after an appeal from the Pakistani
Government, UNESCO launched the International Safeguarding Campaign
for Moenjodaro. It lasted until 1997 and mobilized around US $ 23
million for large scale conservation measures which aimed at
protecting the site from flooding, control of the ground-water table,
implementation of national capacity building activities and for the
installation of a conservation and monitoring laboratory.
After
the closure of the UNESCO International Safeguarding Campaign for
Mohenjodaro in 1997, the UNESCO Division for Cultural Heritage and
World Heritage Centre reinitiated their collaboration and developed a
post campaign strategy in 2004, which identified further areas of
interventions such as: management structure, conservation and
stabilization, training and capacity building, site and tourism
development. To date, the majority of activities have focused on and
greatly improved the overall management, conservation and
stabilization of the walls and structures and reinforced national
training and capacities of site managers and workers. ”
This
report very well highlights the fragile state of the ruins and unless
continuous efforts are made, people of Indian subcontinent, may loose
their biggest cultural heritage forever. Dr Asma Ibrahim, a leading
Pakistani archaeologist, says that the way things are going, this
heritage site will completely disappear in 20 years due to decay.
Unfortunately, Pakistan's politicians appear to be quite unaware of
the fragile state of the ruins, as they launched a two week festival
to commemorate Pakistan's cultural heritage at the ancient ruined
city of Moenjo- daro on last Saturday, 1st
February 2014. Pakistan Peoples Party organised a lavish opening
ceremony, spearheaded by Pakistan Peoples Party patron in chief,
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
(Wooden scafolding platforms being made for the festival)
The
organizers had claimed that the festival wanted to show to the
world, rich Sindhi culture and conserve the heritage of Sindh.
However the opening ceremony was dominated by laser shows, fashion
shows, and music from Pop singer Ainee Khalid, that was a far cry
from the culture of traditional Sindh. This was done evev when,
State of Pakistan has on its statute book, a number of legislation
for protecting such archaeological treasures, including the
Antiquities Act of 1975. As per law, a detailed impact assessment,
whenever such activities are undertaken at protected heritage sites,
is called far. It appears that no such assessment was undertaken by
the organisers. The festival therefore is a bad omen for Moenjo-daro
without any doubt.
Two of
the most famous objects excavated from Moenjo-daro, The 10.8-cm
bronze statue, of a 'Dancing Girl,' made in 2500 BC, and that of a
priest king, are on display at the National Museum in New Delhi.
These are considered as the two most famous artefacts from
Moenjo-daro. According to Pakistani officials, these were
transported by British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler to Delhi in
1946 for an exhibition. After the Partition, Pakistan had sought the
return of both these relics. However as I see it, there are two
reasons for which India is unlikely to respond favourably to the
request.
India
may not be under any obligation to return the artefacts. In the first
place, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, taking the artefacts to Delhi could be
hardly called as moving looted property from Sindh to Delhi as both
these places then were parts of the same country or nation. Secondly
since it has been established that the artefacts had moved only in
1946, which is much before the 1970 UNESCO convention period, the
year after which it is obligatory for the holding state to return the
artifacts, India is unlikely to return these two artefacts to
Pakistan.
Leaving
that controversey aside, let us hope that Pakistan Government acts
and shifts this festival to a venue, which is some distance away from
Moenjo-daro and saves Moenjo-daro, greatest cultural heritage of the
Indian subcontinent.
(Image source The express Tribune)
Images may be copyrighted
3rd
February 2014
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