Another important discovery was a small broken slab with an inscription in old Kannada characters assignable to 13th century AD.

Siri Fort

The excavation at Siri Fort, Delhi, revealed a semicircular bastion with a radius of 18 m. The plan of the fortification is oval, having bastions at the regular intervals. The wall was built of rubble stone laid in lime mortar. The foundation trench was dug up to 2.5 m. and it was found that the foundation wall was built of rubble stone set in mud mortar. The occupational level against the fort wall was available to the thickness of about 1 m. which was covered by debris of later period and may be dated with the robbing of the wall by Shershah Suri.

Fatehpur Sikri

As a result of excavation, conducted at Fatehpur Sikri, District Agra, UP, a human complex has been exposed. It is situated in the area between the Badshahi gate and Hakim's house. To the west of the hammam complex, another structure complex consisting of rooms and varandah has also been unearthed.

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C. CONSERVATION

Apart from the general upkeep, the Survey took up various special conservation works for the preservation and maintenance of monuments. A few important monuments are mentioned below :

Fortification walls of Tughluq fort, Purana Qila, Lalkot and at Humayun Tomp, Khane Khan's Tomp Arab ki Sarai, Qutab Minar and Jama Masjid in Delhi; Taj Mahal and Jami Masjid Asafud Daula in Uttar Pradesh; Vikramshila monasteries and Nalanda monastery in Bihar; Pattar Masjid, Pari Mahal and Tabo monastery in Jammu & Kashmir; Sheik Chillies Tomb, Nakodar Tomb and Bhatinda fort in Punjab; Arthuna Temple and monuments at Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan Dwarkadhish Temple Balakhan Ghazi Masjid and Sidi Sayyad Masjid in Gujarat; Lord Jagannath temple, Sun temple, Bhairav temple, Brahmeswara temple and Malleswara temple in Orissa; Dakhil Darwaja, Gumpti Gate Rameswara. Temple Hazardwari Palace, Imambara, Shamlal temple and Adina Masjid in West Bengal; Kharanghar Palace and Sibdol monuments in Assam ; Bhojpur Shiva temple, Khajuraho temples and monuments at Mandu in Madhya Pradesh; Churches and Augada fort at Goa, Raigad fort, Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Hemadpatti temple and Bibika maqbara in Maharashtra; Charminar, Golkanda fort, Siddeswra temple and Chandragiri Mahals in Andhra Pradesh ; Swayambhunatha temple in Pondicherry; Mukundeswara temple, Venkataramana temple and Brihadeswara temple in Tamilnadu; Mattan cherry palace, Rama Temple and Shiva Temple in Kerala; Hampi ruins, Tippu Sultan's Palace, Chikkagudi, Chennakesava temple and Daria Doulat Bagh in Karnataka.

Preservation Works Outside India

The work of preserving the biggest rock cut Buddha image 55 m high, along with its paintings at Bamiyan (Afghanistan) commenced in the year 1974, has been completed and the monument was handed over to Government of Afghanistan. The preservation works cover drainage arrangements at the hill surface, strengthening and supporting of the loose and over hanging portions of image through rock bolting, filleting, grouting of cracks cleaning and chemical treatment of paintings, strengthening stucco work etc.

Besides upkeep and maintenance of the existing lawns and gardens, new horticulture operations have been initiated in

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Chittorgarh complex, Hampi Complex and monuments at Champanir complex.

Chemical preservation works were continued to the monuments at Ajanta, Brihadeswara temple Tanjavur, Rani Sipri mosque at Ahmedabad and Arab ki Sarai in Delhi.

D. PRESERVATION OF ANTIQUITIES AND ART TREASURES

Considerable progress has been achieved in the phased programme for the implementation of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, specially in respect of registration of antiquities and introducing the system of issuing licence to the persons who intend to carry on business of selling or offering to sell antiquities. As more and more people have been coming forward to register their antiquities even after the expiry of the deadline, the Government decided to allow the Registering Officers, posted in different parts of India, to accept, until further orders, the applications for registration of antiquities belonging to the notified categories viz., (i) sculptures in stone, terracotta, metal, ivory, and bone, (ii) paintings (including miniatures and tankas) in all media, that is to say, paper, wood, cloth, skin, silk and the like; and (iii) manuscripts, where such manuscripts contain paintings, illustrations or illuminations. About two lakhs applications for registration of above three categories of antiquities have been received and the registration certificates for half the number have been issued. Quite a good number of persons in important cities have been issued licences for carrying on the business of selling or offering to sell antiquities.

In pursuance of the Antiquities and Art Treasures (Amendment ) Act, 1976 about twenty-five museums, mostly under the control of Universities and other educational institutions have been granted exemption from registration of antiquities. A notification in the Gazette of India. Extraordinary, enlisting such institutions was issued on 1 April, 1977. However, these institutions are expected to complete the documentation, including photo documentation, within a specified period. For the purpose of giving exemption, many such museums were inspected by the Officers of the Archaeological Survey of India. The University authorities have also been urged to prepare full inventory of the cultural property in the possession as, one of the measures arising out of the ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

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Steps are being taken to extend the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 to the State of Sikkim. The setting up of a new registration unit in Mizoram has also been taken up.

Some of the States have initiated measures to register antiqui- ties lying in temples in collaboration with the Departments res- ponsible for managing the affairs of temples in respective States.

As a facility to exporters and tourists, the Experts Advisory Committees for the Export of Non antiquities functioning at Bombay, Bangalore, Calcutta, Cochin, Madras, New Delhi, Srinagar and Varanasi have been issuing regularly the non antiquities certificates. These Committees also assist and advise the Customs and Police Departments in disposing of cases of thefts or illicit exports. The Director General examined a large number of such cases of illicit export of antiquities detected by the Customs. A Special Experts Advisory Committee for the export of obsolete arms has also been set up in New Delhi; this Committee meets once in a month for the issue of Certificates. Another Committee has also been set up for deciding cases arising out of the declaration of the works of art of Rabindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose and Amrita Sher Gill as art treasures for the purposes of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act , 1972. The Archaeological Survey of India has now taken a decision to set up an Experts Advisory Committee for the issue of non- antiquities certificates also at Jaipur.

Following the decision of the Government of India that all confiscated antiquities, when ripe for disposal, may be handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India for their eventual distribution to different museums and institutions, the Customs authorities at Bombay, Calcutta and New Delhi have so far handed over to the Survey more than 1000 antiquities and art objects. Of these, those handed over by the Customs at Bombay and New Delhi have already been distributed to different museums and institutions like the National Museum, New Delhi, Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay, Baroda Museum of Art & Picture Gallery, Vadodara, Crafts Museum, New Delhi, and the Nehru Science Centre, Bombay, and so on.

The Archaeological Survey of India in collaboration with the Indian Museum Calcutta and the Calcutta Customs organized an exhibition of confiscated antiquities, the first of its kind in India, in the Indian Museum, Calcutta during the first week of December, 1977. The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. P. C.

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Chunder, the Union Minister of Education, Social Welfare & Culture.

The Archaeological Survey of India organized in 1977 the Second Orientation Course for the Registering Officers, Customs and Police Officials at four different centres-Calcutta, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Vadodara.

Of the objects which were recently repatriated to India mention may be made of the sculptured pillars of second century BC from Amin, Haryana, which were smuggled out of India some time back. It may be recalled that an agreement was reached between the Government of India and the Norton Simon Foundation, California, USA regarding the repatriation of the Chola bronze figure of Nataraja from Sivapuram, Tamil Nadu. Earlier the stucco-head of Buddha, stolen from Nalanda, was also brought back from England. It may also be mentioned here that a representative of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation attended the first International Symposium on Thefts of Works of Art and Cultural Property, organized by the International Criminal Police Organization Interpole held at the Organization Headquarters in Paris from 14th to 16th June, 1977.

E. ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMS

The Fort Museum, Madras, Was started in 1948 as a museum devoted to the period of the East India Company's rule over South India. In pursuance of the directives of the Estimate Committee of the Parliament, a new gallery, highlighting the activities of the French in India, was added some time back. This year another new gallery exhibiting objects pertaining to the another contemporary power, the Odeyars of Mysore, was setup.

The work regarding the setting up of the two new museums-one at the Taj at Agra and the other near the excavated Harappan settlement at Lothal, Gujarat-is nearing completion.

About two hundred sculptures of the Hoyasala period were acquired for the Archaeological Museum, Halebid, Karnataka. A dozen portrait- paintings showing the Maharajas of Cochin were also purchased and these will be eventually exhibited when the Mattencheri Palace is converted into a period-museum.

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