Constructing Ancient India: Colonial Archaeology, the ASI, and the Reconfiguration of Historical Identity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n04.004Keywords:
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Alexander Cunningham, Colonial Perspectives, Colonial Archaeology, Ancient India, Identity Construction, ImperialismAbstract
This study examines the colonial perspectives embedded in the founding and early operations of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) during the nineteenth-century British Raj. The establishment of the ASI in 1861 was closely linked to the archaeological vision of its first director, Alexander Cunningham, who combined the philological traditions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (ASB) with imperial practices of geographical surveying to document India’s material past. The study argues that the ASI’s early activities disproportionately focused on identifying Buddhist sites based on Chinese pilgrims’ travel accounts, thereby privileging a particular material narrative of Indian history. Although these efforts contributed significantly to the institutional foundations of modern Indian archaeology, they were shaped by the ideological imperatives of colonial governance. The findings suggest that the ASI constructed a colonial representation of ancient India by equating the “ancient” with “Buddhist,” marginalizing the continuity of Hindu traditions. This framework depicted India as a stagnant civilization that reached its peak under Buddhism and subsequently declined, implying that historical transformation required external intervention. Ultimately, the study contends that the ASI’s early archaeological discourse functioned as an instrument of imperial representation, reframing India’s identity from “eternal” to “malleable” in order to legitimize Western influence and colonial rule.
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