Rajghat: Ancient settlement

On the northern fringe of city at the confluence of river Ganga & Varuna, Rajghat is an ancient settlement of pre Aryan period. 

Excavations done in Colonial Period revealed an ancient city settlemrent much older than other parts of the city; artefacts found here are like pottery of daily uses & utensils of mud. 

At this place only archaeologists discovered the ancient route to cross the river & a wall depicting settlement of thousands years. 

At this place only was the ancient route of transportation of stone blocks by river Ganga from Chunar to built the Sarnath. Nearby mosque shows Indian architecture & probably one of the Ashokan Pillar now coated with much white-wash. 

Here only archaeologists discovered the ancient embankment of a fort much older in comparison to any other structure of Varanasi. As this area was the place of ancient settlement many a buildings in this area are built of ancient ruins of earlier period. 

Nearby area is still a market of food grocery that was once on the way of transportation in earlier time period. Earlier traders crossed river Ganga coming from Magadha & from other parts of India at this juncture & sold their goods in an affluent market of Varanasi. 

The artefacts found here in excavations are on display at Bharat Kala Bhawan, in the campus of Banaras Hindu University. 

- Siddharth Singh