UP gold hunt: The peg they all hung their lies on comes off
There is a new find in the ongoing treasure hunt in Daundia Khera village of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh. Hold on: there are no mounds of the prophesied gold, no turquoise vaults and no secret chambers. The surprising discovery is overground and is strategically located at the axis of events in the gold-digging gyre.
A report of the Geographical Survey of India, which was flashed by the warring factions to establish their versions of the ongoing excavation, has itself come into question. According to a news report in a leading daily, experts from the geophysics division of GSI's Lucknow centre have said the GSI report which became the basis for the ASI excavation was tampered with. The experts at the Lucknow centre who prepared the report told the newspaper that they neither mentioned gold nor recommended an excavation.
A report of the Geographical Survey of India, which was flashed by the warring factions to establish their versions of the ongoing excavation, has itself come into question. According to a news report in a leading daily, experts from the geophysics division of GSI's Lucknow centre have said the GSI report which became the basis for the ASI excavation was tampered with. The experts at the Lucknow centre who prepared the report told the newspaper that they neither mentioned gold nor recommended an excavation.
The jaw-dropping discovery hits at the very root of all claims made in Daundia Khera. The gold-dreaming seer, Shobhan Sarkar, who claimed that the local 19th century king, Rao Ram Baksh Singh, appeared to him and told him about 1,000 tonnes of gold buried near a 180-year-old Shiva temple built on the remains of the kings erstwhile palace, flashed the GSI report to the visiting mediapersons. His official spokesperson, one Swami Om Baba, had several cyclostyled copies of the report to silence critics and urge them to hold their breath until the ASI men unravelled the bedazzling mounds of gold.
Then the ASI itself which showed speed, secrecy and sincerity of an Army expedition in undertaking the excavation at the site flashed the same GSI report to silence people talking about an alleged dream. The serious-about-business ASI men said they were digging for artefacts and were sorely disappointed when they actually found them. One trench closed, they'd be open up another soon.
The Union Culture Minister, Chandresh Kumar Katoch, who said the ASI was digging for weapons used by sepoys in the 1857 mutiny, of which she wanted to make a museum, also spoke about the GSI report which led to the excavation at the site.
The team of experts at the GSI's Lucknow centre who prepared the report have something else to say now. They said their report mentioned the presence of conductive material: a conductive material could well be a mixture of clay and brine (high concentrated salt water) which is quite common along riverbanks.
Not intending to complicate matters more, let's try to put some things straight. The seer said he dreamt gold and the GSI report confirmed it; the ASI said 'seer, who?' and added it dug because the GSI report indicated presence of gold; the ASI also said it did not dig for gold but for artefacts; the culture minister said the GSI report led to excavation at the site.
Remember that famous 'horse-shoe nail' poem we read in school? A quick recap for those who forgot: For want of a nail, the shoe was lost/For want of a shoe, the horse was lost/For want of a horse, the rider was lost/For want of a rider, the message was lost/For want of a message, the battle was lost/For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost/And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
It now seems the horseshoe in Daundia Khera had no nail either.
Then the ASI itself which showed speed, secrecy and sincerity of an Army expedition in undertaking the excavation at the site flashed the same GSI report to silence people talking about an alleged dream. The serious-about-business ASI men said they were digging for artefacts and were sorely disappointed when they actually found them. One trench closed, they'd be open up another soon.
The Union Culture Minister, Chandresh Kumar Katoch, who said the ASI was digging for weapons used by sepoys in the 1857 mutiny, of which she wanted to make a museum, also spoke about the GSI report which led to the excavation at the site.
The team of experts at the GSI's Lucknow centre who prepared the report have something else to say now. They said their report mentioned the presence of conductive material: a conductive material could well be a mixture of clay and brine (high concentrated salt water) which is quite common along riverbanks.
Not intending to complicate matters more, let's try to put some things straight. The seer said he dreamt gold and the GSI report confirmed it; the ASI said 'seer, who?' and added it dug because the GSI report indicated presence of gold; the ASI also said it did not dig for gold but for artefacts; the culture minister said the GSI report led to excavation at the site.
Remember that famous 'horse-shoe nail' poem we read in school? A quick recap for those who forgot: For want of a nail, the shoe was lost/For want of a shoe, the horse was lost/For want of a horse, the rider was lost/For want of a rider, the message was lost/For want of a message, the battle was lost/For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost/And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
It now seems the horseshoe in Daundia Khera had no nail either.
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