Archaeological Survey of India to conduct excavation at Qutub Minar

Govt orders Archaeological Survey of India to conduct excavation at Qutub Minar complex: Reports

Vishnu Stambh? "Let's find out" says Ministry of Culture.

After the Gyanvapi Mosque survey, a controversy erupted over Delhi’s Qutub Minar. Idols of Hindu deities were found and claims were made that the monument was built by Raja Vikramaditya, a Hindu emperor.

Govind Mohan, Secretary, the Ministry of Culture, issued directives to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct excavation and iconography on the site.

A couple of days back, a former officer of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Dharamveer Sharma claimed that Qutub Minar in Delhi was not built by Mughals, it was initially built by emperor Vikramaditya.

The Ministry of Culture has also asked the ASI to submit its excavation report. Excavation can be started in the south of the minaret at a distance of 15 meters from the mosque. The Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Govind Mohan, took the decisions during a site visit with officials on Saturday, May 21.

Govind Mohan visited the site with three historians, four ASI officers and researchers. The ASI officials informed the secretary that the excavation work at Qutub Minar complex had not been done since 1991.

Dharamveer Sharma is one of India’s most well-known archaeologists. He has served three times as Superintending Archaeologist at ASI’s Delhi division. According to another report in Jagran, he worked actively on Qutub Minar conservation and visited the Minaret several times. He claimed to have observed Devanagari script inside the minaret.

Sharma explained that the tower was used as a constellation observatory. The Minaret has 27 binocular sites to compute 27 constellations. He further stated that Surya Stambh is mentioned on the third floor of the Minaret.

Several Hindu groups staged protests, chanted the Hanuman Chalisa and demanded the renaming of Qutub Minar to Vishnu Stambh after a 1200-year-old Lord Narsingha idol, Lord Ganesha and Lord Krishna idols were found inside Qutub Minar.