Kampilya: Quest for a Mahabharata City

Kampil (Farrukhabad District, U.P.) is a typical Indian village in the fertile terrain of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Known for its long, glorious past, the village has, since A. Cunningham’s visit here in 1878, compelled increasing attention of the archaeologists seeking to explore its possible identity with Kampilya — the city, described in the Mahabharata story, as the fabulous capital of Drupad’s south Pancala kingdom. The question of Kampil-Kampilya identity was examined afresh by a multidisciplinary research team, on the basis of lRS Satellite multispectral images of the mid -Ganga plain, a predictive geo-archaeological model, and field surveys. Which, in trun, led researchers to the discovery of a complex of ruins: the remains of a fortified structure, locally called Drupad Kila — about five kilometers upstream of the Kampil village. Set out here are the preliminary findings of this multidisciplinary research, including (a) a study of the late Holocene palaeo-hydographic evolution of Doab region around Drupad Kila site and the influence of geomorphology/environmental resources on the human historical settlements; (b) an archaeological report, based on the surface survey of the discovered site; and (c) a socio-ethnological study of the villages around the Kila complex. Carried out during 1996-98, these studies: each contributed by the area specialist (s) of the research team, addressed specifically the question whether the Drupad-Kila complex answers to the description of Mahabharata city of Kampilya. Visualizing the manifold importance of Kampilya — beyond just the archaeological event, the editors have created a holistic “Kampilya Project” to retrieve the cultural and environmental potentialities of the Drupad-Kila complex and its peripheral areas.