Unnao gold rush: ASI’s reputation hangs by a sadhu’s dream

Arun George, firstpost.com, Oct 18, 2013: Daundia Khera, despite its rather dramatic and bloody history, sounds like a nice place to visit if you read about it on the Unnao district website. 

It lies on the high bank of the Morahi river and seems to have a green, sedate look about it. It acquired the rather violent name of Sangrampur after ‘one Abhai Chand’, from the Bais Rajput clan drove out the Bhars of Daundia Khere after a fierce battle and chose to rename the site of his victory. The home of the great Bais clan of Rajputs, it remained so until Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh decided to participate in the freedom struggle of 1857 and was sent to the gallows. 

However, it turns out that the esteemed Raja had secrets that he hadn’t gambled on a sadhu dreaming about. Shobhan Sarkar, a sexagenarian ascetic who had been confined to his hermitage in Shohbhan village so far, had a dream in which visited a treasure trove that Singh had buried under his fort. 

“It was taken as a joke and nobody was serious. Shobhan Sarkar was worried when he heard the government was contemplating taking custody of the gold in various temples. He then asked me to inform the government that nearly 1,000 tonnes of gold is lying in Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh’s fort,” said Swami Om, a disciple of Sarkar, was quoted as saying in an Indian Express report. 

While his own disciples didn’t take it seriously, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Charan Das Mahant did, and not only visited the site but also met the ascetic. After the minister came, the Geological Survey of India and the Archaeological Survey of India followed. Today after a puja by the ascetic’s followers, the most watched treasure hunt in recent times has begun. 

The Archaeological Survey of India, comes under the Ministry of Culture which may explain its alacrity in jumping into a project that you don’t have to be an archaeologist to know in all likelihood is a dud. 

But then the body tasked with preserving the country’s culture and history, hasn’t always stuck to a scientific temper while pursuing history. Despite being told by the Parliament not to, the ASI at one time embarked on a quest for the river Saraswati across several states. There was no scientific evidence that the river existed. 

However, it is also important to realise that having a scientific temper hasn’t been rewarding for officials working in the ASI. Two senior officials were suspended in 2007 after they said in an affidavit in the Supreme Court that there was no historical or scientific proof about the existence of Ram Sethu as a man-made bridge. 

When it comes to maintenance of the existing historical monuments as well, the CAG in a recent report has pointed that the ASI doesn’t have a database for the antiquities in its possession and most of its artifacts haven’t been seen in museums where people are meant to see them. 

It may be this ability to make antiquities vanish that resulted in some people demanding that the erstwhile Raja’s gold be handed over to them. These people have claimed to be the Raja’s descendants. A PIL in the Supreme Court has also sought that it shouldn’t be the ASI but the Army that digs for the mythical gold so that it doesn’t go missing. 

The UP government has already staked its claim to the mythical treasure and already has the dreamer sadhu’s permission to take it, given the good they can do with it. While BJP’s Narendra Modi chose to mock it at his Chennai rally, the Congress’s Renuka Chowdhury defended it saying that traces of a non-conducting metal had been discovered beneath the fort. 

The ASI meanwhile will dig for over a month, foot by foot with only some surface relics and a sadhu’s dream to guide them on. 

Whether they will find a treasure trove or a mine of one of the many non-conducting metals will only be revealed in due course of time. 

Both the sadhu and ASI’s reputations rest on what happens. If the sadhu fails he can blame it on not seeing his dream carefully enough, unfortunately the nation’s archaeological institution will not be able to get off as easily.

How a sadhu’s dream has the ASI digging for gold in UP: All you need to know
The Archaeological Survey of India has begun excavating a site in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh looking, incredibly, for hundreds of tonnes of gold a sadhu dreamt about.  Here is everything you need to know about the site, the dream and the dig. 

* It all started some time last month, when an ascetic named Shobhan Sarkar reported that he had a dream about hundreds of tonnes of gold, apparently a treasure dating back to the era of the local king Raja Bux Singh, being buried under the fort built by the king in Unnao district, Uttar Pradesh. The dream was powerful enough that he managed to convince Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Charandas Mahant of its veracity, the latter then directing the Archaeological Survey of India and the Geological Survey of India to conduct a survey of the site. The local district magistrate of Unnao was given a proposal too, by the gram sabha, seeking permission for the dig. Incredibly, the ASI decided to start excavating the site to search for any “relics” apart from the treasure. 
* The excavation started on Friday, after a puja performed by Sarkar and then a group of priests chanting Vedic mantras near the excavation site.  Sarkar’s followers were reportedly present around the site in large numbers.
* Meanwhile, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking that the court monitor the digging. The petition, which will be taken up for hearing next week, was filed by advocate ML Sharma who submitted that court monitoring is required because valuable resources might “vanish”. 
* That’s not all. The Akhilesh Yadav-run state government sent an emissary to meet the sadhu at his ashram in Buxar in Unnao earlier this week. The UP government sent Sunil Yadav, an adviser in the Dairy Development department (a minister of state position), who also incidentally belongs to Unnao, according to a report in The Indian Express. The report quoted Yadav as having sought the sadhu’s support for ensuring that the lion’s share of the treasure, if found, is handed over to the state government. “I met Shobhan Sarkar Thursday. I told him that UP should be given preference and adequate funds should be provided for the development of the state. The sadhu agreed and said the treasure is so huge that it can be used to develop the whole state,” Yadav told The Indian Express. He even claimed the sadhu gave him a list of places elsewhere in the state where gold may be buried. “everything will be conveyed to the CM for further action,” Yadav is reported to have said. Other leaders including Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal were also reported to have staked the UP government’s claim on the gold, if it is ever found. 
* The Unnao administration and police have set up elaborate security measures and barricades to ensure nobody enters the site of the dig. 
Archaeologists said they would dig very slowly to ensure that any relics are not disturbed. At two to three feet during an eight-hour shift using shovels and spades, the excavation will take about five weeks, they told The Hindustan Times. 
* Meanwhile, Daundiya Kheda village, the site of the action, has become a mini tourist hub with about a thousand visitors daily and a slew of camera crews and journalists covering the dig.