Pattanam Excavation: Controveries and More

A Critique of the Pattanam Excavation

The project undertaken by the Kerala Council of Historical Research of discovering the lost city of Muziris seems to have hit a major roadblock. The Peutingers Tables dates back to the 13th Century and there is nothing in the surviving parts of the ancient map to suggest that Muziris was an actual sea port on the Kerala coast of the Arabian Sea. The capital of the Chera kingdom was indeed Musiri and it became conventional to identify one with the other. Added to this, was the confusion caused by the Saint Thomas tradition. After the Passion of Our Lord, one of his Apostles Saint Thomas is said to have come over to India and there is also a reference to a Parthian king in the Acts of the Apostles. The Syrian Christians unlike the more prosperous and politically influential Latin Catholics, trace their origin to the Ministry of Saint Thomas who was martyred near Madras, St Thomas Mount to be precise. Pattanam excavation, according to Dr B S Harishankar was designed to give historical and archaeological veracity to the legend of Saint Thomas thereby legitimizing the political claims of the Syrian and Malabar Church. From the two volumes of the Excavation Report published so far there is little evidence to suggest an overtly religious justification for the excavation. In Indian, History is highly politicized because the long years of Marxist and Leftist domination over the commanding heights of historical discourse, scholars are highly suspicious of state supported and sponsored history. And in Kerala the intolerance of the Left has made it impossible for historians to work in an atmosphere of safety and security.

The voule under review is a scathing attack on the excavations undertaken and Dr Harishankar is of the firm opinion that the white scholars associated with the Muziris Heritage Project have a hidden agenda of promoting a christian history of Kerala. The untold millions spent on the quest for Muziris makes one extremely suspicious.Harishankar has been able to demonstrate that the excavations have not yielded anything of historical value and goes no to show that Pattanam could not even have been a Port during the early centuries AD. Of course, a few scholars seem to have an overt interest in the St Thomas tradition but that is not shared by all. The involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India led to the stoppage of the excavation on the ground that the professional practices employed during the Excavation were questionable and added to this is the rather curious fact that the Team Leader of the excavation was a historian trained in Modern Indian History.

DR Harishakar has completely demolished the claims set forth by the Pattanam Excavations and it will not be easy for them to refute the allegation made in this short but interesting book.