Why Keeladi Is Shaking Up India’s History and Politics | LME 80

What if everything we know about the Indian civilization so far was just half the story?

What if the South didn't inherit a civilization like many historians have claimed so far?

What if it built its own?

A civilization just as old, just as advanced.

12 kilometers from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, underneath the fields of Keeladi, archaeologists have uncovered ruins that could make us look at India's past in a completely different way.

They've found evidence of complex writings, complex craft work and even urban settlements.

And they've also found evidence to back Sangam era, a period believed to be the golden era of Tamil literature.

So what exactly was found in Keeladi?

And why have these trenches in the Waigai River Valley become the centre of a political and cultural storm?

And why was its lead archaeologist, Amarnath Ramakrishna, asked to revise his final report on Keeladi and when he refused, transferred yet again?

Let me explain.

I was telling Pooja that she should go to Keeladi during the weekend on Monday and let's do a let me explain on the ground.

What is your thought?

What is your thought about that?

Many of you wrote saying you want us to travel to Keeladi for a ground report.

And here we are on the ground at the trenches to bring you the story behind the soil.

The Key Lady story isn't just about what was found, but it's also about what is buried, what is silenced and what else has to be heard.

Here at Let Me Explain, we go where the story takes us, even if it means standing in the trenches and asking the difficult questions.

If you believe in journalism that's grounded and committed to telling the full story, then do become a subscriber of the News Minute and News Laundry.

Do support me and my team to continue digging for stories.

This is where it all began.

In 1976, a school teacher here in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu found parts of red and black pottery.

This was on a private property of someone who had coconut groves here.

He then reported this to the archaeological department.

Later in 2014, a lorry driver by the name Maharaja stumbled upon ancient artefacts.

This is when the super interning archaeologist K. Amarnath Ramakrishna took keen interest.

In March 2015, the ASI approved Keeladi as a formal excavation site.

It wasn't just any other dig.

It turned out to be one of the most important archaeological sites in South India.

What they found here wasn't just a fort or a palace or a temple.

It was a full-fledged urban settlement.

The Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department confirmed that this was both a habitation and an industrial site.

Where I'm standing right now is the industrial side of Keelari and there were water channels that made sure that there was proper flow of water between different parts of this site.

This is what a water channel looked like.

What you can also see embedded here in the ground are tiles that have fallen down, but some of which have been tested, restored and kept in the museum.

They've also found that there were brick structures and all of them were held together with pure clay as the binding.

Now this is a ring well made out of clay and these were used by residents of Kildi according to archaeologists to extract groundwater.

Now on the surface we can see this about a meter but this of course upon digging will go further inside.

Connected to this is a water channel and that's what you can see on your screen.

Water channels like these took water from here all the way to a tank

at the end of this channel where water was stored.

All of these are signs that this was a highly organized urban civilization.

In the industrial site, they have found evidence for ceramic industry, textile industry, as well as bead making and iron industries.

Now the artifacts that have been recovered from here have been tested and kept in the museum.

Over 13,000 artifacts so far have been recovered from this site alone.

To the west of the industrial site were the living quarters.

Now they say that they found evidence that there were huts that were residences of people who lived here.

The trench that I'm standing at was excavated after 10 rounds of digging and this concluded in the month of May 2025.

The excavators here say that they have dug six layers of soil.

Now what they found here is extremely fascinating.

The flooring is completely ramped up with fine clay.

And as you can see on your screen, they have clay pots that are still there embedded in the walls, which were used as storage pots.

Now those three marks that you can see, holes are where they used bamboo beams.

They filled up bamboos with riverine sand to make sure that they don't get impacted by termites and they had the strength to keep up a roof.

Now let me show you how advanced the water system was.

We found interconnected pots that were used as pipes.

There were several such pipes that were used to carry fresh water as well as sewage water.

There were also pots that were used for sewage collection.

Now between levels of 4 and 5, what you can see is how they made floors.

This is coloured fine clay that has been compacted to give an even feel to it.

Now some of these pieces have designs like these.

These are made from rice grains.

Some others are parts of pipes like you can see.

This shows that they had a very advanced water system.

Then there has been an attempt made to piece together parts of a vessel.

Now these are the parts they have found so far and they've been glued together.

Now let's get into what was not there.

Signs of religious worship.

And that's striking.

And remember, this is after 10 rounds of excavation and digging.

Yes, there have been some inscriptions, some graffiti that shows sun, but what is strikingly missing are temples and any kind of idols.

So from this so far, the findings can indicate that this was a literate town and it was urban and it was based on water systems, writing, planning, but not on religion.

Until Keeladi, the dominant belief was that Tamil Nadu urbanized in 3rd century BCE.

But the findings here push that timeline back, way, way back.

In fact, the carbon samples that were sent to a lab in Florida pushes this all the way even to 580 BCE.

Now, according to the Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, the culture deposits span from the 6th century BCE to 1st century CE.

Now what does this mean?

The timeline coincides with that of Sangam era.

Now this was a phase that was known only to ancient Tamil literature so far.

But with Kilidi's findings, now there is archaeological backing for Sangam era and this changes everything because it means that Kilidi's urbanization is just as important as the second phase of urbanization of the Gangetic Plains.

In his report, Amarnath Ramakrishna has stated that Keladi may even date back to the 8th century BCE.

In 2019, Indology scholar R. Balakrishnan published Journey of a Civilization, Indus to Waikai.

In this, he drew linguistic and archaeological similarities between Harappa and Tamil Nadu.

He pointed to something really fascinating.

Some of the symbols found in Iron Age sites across South India have striking similarities, almost similar to symbols of the Indus Valley.

Archaeologists in Tamil Nadu say if large-scale digs continue not just in Tamil Nadu but across the South, there will be clearer answers to how old these civilizations were.

But Amarnath has maintained that the debate whether this was Harappan or pre-Harappan is completely pointless.

Instead, he's insisted that this is an excellent site that reveals the second urbanization of the Indian subcontinent.

In an interview with journalist Soumya Ashok, he said, We always talk about the North Indian second urbanization.

We should try to study South Indian urbanization too.

Now let me take you through some of the other compelling findings here at Kirdi.

Or maybe we can ask those who excavated it to explain what we have here.

We found several industries here in Kirdi, one being ceramic industries.

For ceramic industries, we found pots and jars of different forms, that is, shapes.

We found tools that were used to manufacture these pots.

We found burnishing tools as well as the dab that is used to shape the vessel.

So blackened wire is the pottery we commonly found during the Iron Age and early historical period.

So it was fired using inverted firing technique.

The reduction firing gives black colour while there is no oxygen.

It is stuffed with organic materials like husk and straw.

So when it is heated it will become dark black colour inside and on the outside due to oxidation it becomes red colour.

So it is a unique kind of technique they were using.

And most of the potteries with the graffitis and Tamil Brahmi's were found on these fine variety of blackened adverts.

And what about the markings on that?

Is that graffiti?

What have you found about it so far?

We have found a lot of graffities on blackened wells.

For example, we have a fish symbol, ladders and much more symbols we have found on these blackened wells.

Then we found iron smelting furnaces to which we found iron slags and blowpipes that is attached to the furnace.

So it also confirms iron smelting existed in Kerala during the Sangam era.

Then we have textile industry.

For textile, we found dyeing vats.

In terms of artifacts, we found spindle holes, bone points that is used in weaving, as well as loom weight that we have also found that here.

Then for bead manufacturing industry, we found many number of unfinished beads here.

Glass lands were also found here.

So again, these all the artifacts confirms these many industries existed in Killary.

Yeah, actually, we have the strong evidence of trade activity, like beads, cornelian beads, panchumar coins, roman coins, etc.

In that aspect, we earn a number of cornelian beads, reminiscence stones, like cornelian, agate, bended agate, amethyst.

So, such beads are not locally available.

It's imported from northern part somewhere else.

But the cornelian beads are imported from the Afghanistan region, through Kampat, Gujarat.

From there, through the sea trade only,

we got it.

What are the other signs that you found here that there was trade in Keeladi?

Signs?

Coins.

If we talk about ceramic means, this is important from the Roman context.

So, you're saying that there was trade between Keeladi and Rome as well.

So, not just parts of India, but outside.

These are the strong evidence.

So, during the course of our excavation, we have another more than 50 coins, out of which five are silver Panchamara coins.

In the Panchamara coins, you can see the symbols of sun, moon, bull, animal figurine and geometric patterns.

It confirms that the Keeladi inhabitants are the trading community.

Right.

So, trading community.

While all this is fascinating, keelidhi excavation has found problems right from the beginning.

In 2016, when the ASI sought funding for a third season, the union government stalled the approval.

By 2017, Amarnath was abruptly transferred to Assam, a move that many see as politically motivated.

Amarnath's replacement, PS Sriraman, oversaw the third season.

After excavating just 500 square metres, he submitted a report

that there were no significant findings and no connection between Keeladi and Indus Valley civilization.

This didn't sit right with many people.

A PIL was filed and the Madras High Court asked the Tamil Nadu government if it wants to take co-op.

And the Tamil Nadu government in 2018 did just that.

Since then, the excavation has moved rather fast.

In 2023, Amarnath submitted a detailed 982-page report to the ASI.

In 2025, the ASI asked him to revise it.

They said the periodization needed better nomenclature, that more documentation was required and that the dating lacked justification.

But Amarnath refused.

He stood by his report.

He said that it met all the required standards for archaeological methodology.

He said the stratigraphy, AMS dating and visual documentation were complete.

In September 2024, he was transferred from Chennai to New Delhi and then he was transferred again within three months.

And now Amarnath was transferred yet again in June 2025, this time from Delhi to Noida.

So that's three transfers in just nine months.

But the disagreement was not just about paperwork.

Because Key Lady had started to challenge a much larger narrative that ancient Indian civilization and culture were rooted in Vedic Sanskrit traditions.

Now, what does all this mean?

It shows that the roots of the Indian identity could be more complex, more diverse and more southern than we've been told.

It shows that history could still be buried and we need more excavation and not less.

Because only if we dig deeper will we find stories that were never meant to be erased.

Because Keeladi isn't just an archaeological site, it's a mirror.

It's showing India a version of itself that's been ignored for far too long.

Now, before I sign off, I want to remind all of you that ground reports like these cannot happen without your support.

It is because of our subscribers who don't just fund our journalism, but also make it happen that we can come on the ground and make these episodes.

I want to also thank one particular subscriber from Madurai who stood by us at every step.

But remember that our journalism is in public interest.

And if you think that this is the direction that journalism should take, then do become a subscriber right away.