Excavations at Bharadvāja Āśrama:

English 220 (Throughout Color Illustrations) Preface I am sure the reader would like to know - in fact, he/she has every right to Why is this Report on the excavations at Bharadvaja Asrama and exploration at Chitrakilta being published in 2011 whereas the field-work was carried out at the former site as far back as 1978 and 1983, and that at the latter in 1981? The sordid story, in brief, is as follows. A project called' Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites' was taken up jointly by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, under my overall direction in 1975 and continued up to 1986. Under it three key-sites associated with the Ramayana story, viz. Ayodhya, Sririgaverapura and Bharadvaja Asrama, were excavated, while minor trenching was done at Rahet (believed, according to local tradition, to be ancient Nandigrama) and surface-exploration was carried out at Chitrakuta. An extensive report, accompanied by a large number of illustrations, on the unique water-supply tank discovered at Sririgaverapura was prepared in 1991. It saw the light of the day in 1993. In its Preface, I had expressed a hope in these "The volume on Bharadvaja Asrama may be press-ready by the end of 1992. If all goes well, it is hoped that the remaining volumes in the series will be out by the time the country celebrates the Golden Jubilee of its Independence in August 1997." But instead of 'all goes well', everything went wrong. The logistic support provided to me for the writing of the report on the Sringaverapura was withdrawn by the Survey and I was left high and dry. I kept on writing letter after letter to each successive Director General for over fifteen long years but all these - I am sorry to say - fell on dea