ASI resumes excavation of 90-acre mound near Drona Sagar in Kashipur, to continue till March; site linked to the Mahabharata and Xuanzang's 'Govishan'

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has resumed excavation this week at the 90-acre mound near Drona Sagar in Kashipur, and the work is expected to continue till March. Local belief holds that Guru Dronacharya taught the Pandavas here in the Mahabharata era and that the Pandavas built Drona Sagar as his guru dakshina. Historians identify the site with 'Govishan', recorded in the travelogue of the sixth-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang; Alexander Cunningham made the same identification and found the remains of a huge building at Bhim-Gaja, the highest part of the mound. The ASI has excavated here in 1939-40, 1965-66 and 1970-71, finding remains of a temple from the Gupta period to the early medieval period. Recent digging has found brick structures and a circular feature. According to Mohan Joshi, superintending archaeologist of the ASI's Dehradun circle, the aim this time is to gather scientific evidence about earlier finds and to dig deeper to understand activity in different periods. (Source: The Indian Express, Jansatta)