Located on the left bank of the Yamuna, at a distance of about 50 kilometres south-west of Allahabad, Kausambi is decidedly one of the most important sites of early historical India.
Excavations carried out over here by the late Professor G.R. Sharma and his colleagues have brought to light many noteworthy structures and antiquities. However, some of the structures have wrongly been adjudged. For example, a fallen mass of bricks has been identified as a syena-chiti (eagle-shaped altar for sacrifice), or a medieval large-sized structure as the palace of the renowned king Udayana who in fact ruled around 500 BCE.
This booklet seeks to set right these misinterpretations, giving cogent reasons in each case. This has been done not to malign anybody but to make the truth reveal itself. Satyameva jayate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR B B Lal
An archaeologist of international repute, Professor B.B. Lal was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. His excavation at Kalibangan in Rajasthan has brought to light a prosperous city of the Harappan Civilization. The excavations at Hastinapura, Indraprastha, etc. have established that there was a kernel of truth in the Mahabharata, though the epic is full of interpolations. The excavations at Ayodhya, Sringaverapura, etc. have shown that the Ramayana too has a basis in history. In 1961, he conducted excavations in Egypt, which threw valuable light on Egyptian prehistory. He has published over 150 seminal research papers, variously in India, USA, UK, France, Italy, Egypt, Japan, etc. Amongst his recent books are: The Earliest Civilization of South Asia (1997); India 1947-97: New Light on the Indus Civilization (1998); The Sarasvati flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture (2002); The Homeland of the Aryans: Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna and Archaeology (2005); Rama: His Historicity, Mandir and Setu (2008); How Deep are the Roots of Indian Civilization? Archaeology Answers (2009). In 1982, Mithila Visvavidyalaya conferred on Professor Lal the title of Mahamahopadhyaya. In 1994, he was awarded D. Litt. (Honoris causa) by Institute of Archaeology, St. Petersburg, Russia. The same year he was elected President of World Archaeological Congress. In 2000, the President of India honored him with Padma Bhusana.
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