Konark. 13th century CE. UNESCO.
Vikramkhol. Likely 2nd millennium bce. Neglected.
In the last two financial years, Konark Sun Temple received approximately ₹3.8 crore from the ASI budget.
Vikramkhol received ₹0.
Pause.
This is not about pitting monuments against each other.
Konark Sun Temple is globally recognised.
It deserves conservation.
But what about Vikramkhol Cave Inscription?
An early inscription site.
Discussed in epigraphic scholarship for over a century.
Potentially transformative for understanding early writing traditions in eastern India.
Zero allocation.
Not reduced allocation. Not delayed allocation. Zero.
So the question is not emotional. It is structural.
Is ASI conservation policy reactive to tourism pressure?
Or proactive toward archaeological significance?
If funding follows footfall,
who protects the pre-tourism past?
If inscriptions that reshape chronology receive nothing,
what exactly is our conservation priority?
UNESCO tag equals crores.
Epigraphic anomaly equals silence?
This is not accusation.
It is a budget line question.
Archaeology is not only about what tourists see.
It is about what history hides.
#UncropTheTruth
#GemsofASI
https://x.com/ASIGoI/status/1984223966974652912?s=20
The Vikramkhol rock shelter, about 12 km from Belpahar in Jharsuguda district, Odisha, lies within the Lakhanpur Reserve Forest. The site was first discovered in 1933. The Rock shelter is located near a seasonal stream which joins Ghoghor, a tributary of river of Mahanadi system.
GemsOfINDOLOGY