AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home town in north Gujarat is undergoing a fresh round of excavations for the season 2018-19 as Excavation Branch V of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expanded its scope of operations.Apart from expanding the ongoing work at Sharmishtha Lake in Vadnagar, where the experts had found a super structure, ASI has also decided to dig near the railway station. While a team is already working at nearby Taranga hill to uncover its culture and heritage, periphery of a lake at Gunja, about 5km from Vadnagar, is also being investigated.A team of the excavation branch, under the leadership of Dr Abhijit Ambekar, deputy superintending archaeologist, is currently establishing cultural sequence of Vadnagar. It is believed that the ancient town is one of the few spots in western region where one can find unbroken sequence that goes back to 2,100 years. The town where PM Modi grew up got in the limelight when the state archaeology department, under the leadership of Dr Y S Rawat, discovered a complete Buddhist monastery in Ghaskol area a decade ago.ASI had taken up the cultural sequencing in 2015 and had also resumed search for possible monasteries as 7th century Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang had reported 1,000 monks of Hinyana sect of Buddhism in ‘Onan To Pu Lo’ believed to be Anandpur, the old name of Vadnagar.“In the past three years, a number of encouraging discoveries have been made. While a major structure — measuring 50 metres x 25 metres, dating back to 5th century — has been found on the banks of Sharmishtha Lake, two cells of a possible monastery were also found from Ghaskol area. The walls and rampart of the city also gave a peek into unbroken sequence of many centuries. The excavations so far have given a detailed account of the town under different rules including Kshatrapa, Solanki, Sultanate and Maratha,” said a senior ASI official.Excavations have been taken up further north on eastern banks of the lake where an ancient structure has been found under 4 metre lake deposits. The brick structure is believed to be in two cultural phases of construction — Solanki and Kshatrapa. The structures made in chamber form have also revealed shell bangles, pottery and coins depicting Garuda on obverse.Along the track, a site has been chosen after beautification work by the state tourism department revealed a brick structure. Square built structures are being unearthed by a team.In the last season, ASI had found a major rectangular structure — believed to be a prayer or an assembly hall — estimated to be over 30 metres in length. The excavation has been resumed at the spot to fully expose the structure near Taran Dharan Mata temple which has revealed not one or two but five different phases of alterations — pointing at a long period during which it was occupied.ASI got interested in the spot as an ancient water tank is located in the village. Excavations have been taken up south of Daneshwar tank where a massive brick-built platform is being exposed. The platform has remains of temples scattered.

Stay updated with all the Ahmedabad Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.