Sowmiya Ashok on what Keeladi tells us about India’s past – and present: Southasia Review of Books #41

In The Dig: Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past , the Chennai-based journalist Sowmiya Ashok begins with an archaeological excavation in a village outside Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu and unfolds a much larger story about history, identity, and the struggle over who gets to narrate India’s past. Since its discovery in 2014, Keeladi has become one of India’s most contested archaeological…