💝SEVENTY-YEAR-OLD Gopi, a daily wage worker in Pattanam, located in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, is proud of himself. He believes he has lent a hand to a seminal project that involved discovering the region’s past.
🥀When the Pattanam excavations started, Gopi was one of the many manual labourers hired to participate in the grand excavation project undertaken by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR). Initially, he was a bit suspicious about the project, which was widely discussed by local villagers.
💞“It was a bit difficult to understand why they have been digging the ground; what is there so important about broken pieces of pots, coins and things like that? Later, I understood that it was such an important process of discovering our own past,” says Gopi.
ღHe was told that the excavation aimed to understand the life and systems of the region’s ancestors, who lived here centuries ago. However, he is unaware of the ongoing controversies surrounding the Pattanam excavation project. He disagrees with any attempt to communalise the excavation. “If somebody claims this is against the interests of the Hindu community, I totally disagree. This is for everyone. Learning about people who lived here centuries ago is important to all of us,” says Gopi, who has only elementary education and works under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The excavations at Pattanam, conducted by the KCHR, were halted in 2015 after (ASI) suspended its excavation license. Hindutva organisations alleged that the project, led by PJ Cherian, aimed to fabricate evidence supporting the claim that St. Thomas, one of Jesus Christ’s apostles, arrived in the region. According to popular belief, St. Thomas reached the ancient town of Muziris (present-day Kodungalloor) in AD 52, bringing Christianity to India. Right-wing groups🍎 often challenge this claim, citing a lack of archaeological evidence. They have also targeted Cherian, questioning his Christian identity.
ꦍFrom 2007 to 2015, the KCHR conducted nine seasons of excavations at Pattanam, located four km east of the Arabian Sea coast. The site revealed artefacts dating back to 500 BCE, spanning the Iron Age, early historic, medieval and modern periods. The Early Historic period (third century BCE to fifth century CE) seems to be the most active phase of the site.
ꦍCurrently, KCHR archaeologists are studying the artefacts, excavated from the location. The trenches are covered for now, following the suspension of the excavation licence and the excavation site is not visible. The project office, a renovated house, displays posters and photographs of the excavation. A museum for the artefacts is also in the making.
Located about 25 km from Kochi, Pattanam is a typical Kerala landscape—an ordinary, lush green semi-urban settlement with modern houses and dwellings.
🍎Located about 25 km from Kochi, Pattanam is a typical Kerala landscape—an ordinary, lush green semi-urban settlement with modern houses and dwellings. Surrounded by water bodies, it reveals no hint of the hidden treasures and mysteries buried beneath. The KCHR acquired eight acres from individual owners, making it the focus of excavations for nearly a decade.
ꦯGlass beads, fragments of broken pottery, pieces of copper and iron and ceramic shards might not seem appealing to the average onlooker. However, these pale, unassuming artefacts uncovered through excavation embody the life and times of an ancient port that dates back 2,000 years.
♒The site yielded a large number of Roman amphorae, indicating extensive trade relations. These storage jars were primarily used for transporting goods like wine and oil. Evidence of a planned urban settlement was also found, including brick flooring, drainage systems and toilet structures. This suggests that Pattanam was not merely a trading post but a well-organised urban centre. The artefacts reflect a blend of Indian and non-Indian cultures, highlighting Pattanam’s role as a multicultural hub during its peak.
🌺According to Cherian, the former Director of KCHR who led the Pattanam excavations, it is entirely possible that Pattanam was, or was part of, the legendary port site known as Muziris. Numerous written records reference this port city, called Muciri Pattinam in the Indian subcontinent and Port Muziris by those in western regions. “If Pattanam was Muziris or Muciri Pattinam, it was part of a broader network of relationships, as no port functioned in isolation.
𝓡In his findings, published on multiple platforms, Cherian observes that Pattanam had direct or indirect ties to around 40 other port sites, spanning from South China to Gibraltar, representing an immense level of connectivity. Possibly for the first time in history, individuals from diverse cultures across Asia, Africa, and Europe travelled between these ports. “Within this network, Pattanam appears to have been a key link,” suggests Cherian.
💯However, the explorations and excavations of KCHR could not go on for long. The excavation itself came to a halt in September 2015 after the ASI suspended KCHR’s license. This decision was prompted by a complaint from Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which alleged that the project was part of a “collective conspiracy and propaganda to assert that Pattanam was the ancient Muziris.”
“The evidence indicating connections with the ancient Roman Empire and an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean region caused displeasure to the Sangh Parivar. The roots of Islamꦬ and Christianity that came to ancient India through trade relations are public knowledge, but right-wing groups were worried about the popular perception of St. Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus, being established through excavation and research. In fact, it was too early to draw any conclusions about St. Thomas’ presence in Kerala. We speak history based on facts and evidence, not on beliefs and emotions, but they started building a narrative against the excavations at Pattanam,” says Thomas Issac, the former finance minister of Kerala.
🍷However, the ASI cited different reasons for cancelling the licence for excavation, ranging from the wrong methodology being applied to financial irregularities. The excavation resumed after Cherian obtained a stay on the order issued by ASI cancelling the Council’s licence and continued for a while.
The chronology of the site spans three millennia, from circa 1000 BCE, the Early Historic, the Medieval and the Modern cultural periods.
𒀰In 2016, the Union Government cancelled the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of KCHR, citing that the organisation had not been involved in charity activities. Soon after, Cherian left KCHR and started his own organisation—PAMA (Paternal and Maternal Ancestry) Institute for the Advancement of Trans-disciplinary Archaeological Sciences. He managed to obtain a licence for excavation and resumed work at Pattanam. However, he could not continue the project for more than a year as his licence was cancelled again by ASI in 2021.
The campaign against the excavations at Pattanam, headed by Cherian under PAMA, intensified with a flood of conspiracy theories frequently carried in right-wing media outlets, such as Janmabhumi in Malayalam, an alleged mouthpiece of Hindutva politics👍. On September 21, 2021, Janmabhumi reported that “the demand to investigate the mysterious connections behind the Pattanam excavation led by Dr PJ Cherian was growing stronger.”
According to Janmabhumi, “there was a demand to investigate the connections of some people leading the excavations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the banned organisation LTTEꦑ.” The right-wing newspaper also alleged that Cherian’s connection with a priest in Tamil Nadu was dubious. According to Janmabhumi, the Catholic priest had connections with LTTE. The newspaper further raised the allegation that the Pattanam excavation was an attempt “to create fake history to promote the Tamil separatist argument in South India.”
🦩However, Cherian, while talking to Outlook, stated that he does not want to respond to any of these allegations or reopen a closed chapter. Though Cherian bought a piece of land at Pattanam under PAMA and tried to continue the excavation, he could not because of the revoked licence and constant resistance from Parivar organisations.
The excavation at Pattanam was reportedly taken over by ASI after the licence for KCHR had been revoked. The ASI is said to continue the project, but the officials are unwilling to share information with the media. “We have been submitting reports to the government. We cannot share information with the media,” says Vijayakumar, the officer in charge of excavations at Pattanam. He also refused to give access to the Outlook🍷 team to the site or allow them to take photographs.
𝓀The eight seasons of excavations by the KCHR have unearthed a large volume and an array of Indian and non-Indian artefacts belonging to different cultures and cultural periods. The chronology of the Pattanam site spans three millennia, from circa 1000 BCE, with evidence of habitation across the Iron Age, the Early Historic, the Medieval and the Modern cultural periods. Based on the material discovered, archaeologists assume that Pattanam was the centre of the ancient Muziris port that existed 2000 years ago.
🌳According to Rajan Gurukkal, a prominent historian and the former Vice Chancellor of the state’s Mahatma Gandhi University, Pattanam has uncovered a diverse range of organic and inorganic archaeological artefacts, including wood, plant fibres, spices, vegetables, nuts, beads, bead materials, uncut gemstones and objects made of copper, bronze and iron. Other finds include baked bricks, roof tiles and ceramic fragments, including early Roman pottery.
Shahina K.K. at Pattanam
(This appeared in the print as 'The Disagreeables')
