The Colonial Archaeology of Taxila: A historiographical analysis

Like other major archaeological sites of South Asia, Taxila has now been one and a half century old. Various scholars since the mid-nineteenth century have worked in the area. Amongst them, Sir Alexander Cunningham and Sir John Marshall, both of whom served as Director Generals of the Archaeological Survey of India, stand conspicuous. This paper deals with their work and ideas, with a focus on Taxila, about history and archaeology in South Asian context along with assessing colonial thought in their works. The approach here is historiographical with a focus on socio-cultural and ethnic re/constructions by both these pioneering archaeologists. As we know that writers and researchers cannot be separated from the thought of the age they are living in, the intellectual contexts of the work of Cunningham and Marshall has also been elaborated.