BREAKING: Gyanvapi | 'Carbon Dating Of 'Shiva Linga' Not Possible, Only Its Upper Part 'Binder' Can Be Carbon Dated': ASI In Allahabad HC

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) today submitted its report before the Allahabad High Court specifying its opinion on the methods that it can incorporate to ascertain the age of the Shiva Linga that has purportedly been found inside the Gyanvapi Mosque premises in Varanasi.

The Submission has been made before the bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra-I which is presently hearing a revision plea moved by 4 women Hindu worshippers challenging the Varanasi Court's October 14 order wherein the court had rejected their plea for conducting a scientific probe of the 'Shiva Linga', to determine its age.

In its report, accessed by LiveLaw, the ASI has categorically stated that direct dating of the Shiva Linga/Lingam is not possible and the age can be ascertained only with proxy dating of materials which can directly correlate with the establishment of the lingam if there is any.

"For an object of religious significance such as Shiv Lingam or for that matter any other object or symbol made of stone etc, we have to get the dates from the surrounding sediments and items," the Report states

Our readers may note that Carbon dating is a widely-used method that is applied to establish the age of organic material, that is to say, things that were once living.

Significantly, it has been further stated in the ASI's report that Radiocarbon dating of rock material is not possible as it lacks the presence of atmospheric-derived14C.

However, the report adds that the images of the Shiva Linga show that the top part of it is divided into five sectors/parts (image attached below) and if these parts have been embedded together or added(pasted) at a later stage with the help of some binding material (containing plant products, cement, mortar, etc), then that particular binder can be radiocarbon dated and the age of that binder could be ascertained which can, in turn, throw some light on the age of religious symbol or modifications at later stages, if any.

#BREAKING: The Archaeological Survey of India (@ASIGoI) today told the #AllahabadHighCourt that carbon dating of the purported 'Shiva Linga' inside the #Gyanvapi Mosque IS NOT POSSIBLE and only the top part of the Lingam, Binder, can be carbon dated.#ShivaLinga pic.twitter.com/KLhWC6FQrA

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 12, 2023

However, a further caveat has been added that only a small amount (~10gm) of the binder will be scratched out for dating and that this investigation will only tell the age of the binder and embedment of the top portion and not of the religious symbol. However, through this technique, it can be inferred that the religious symbol is older than the embedment process.

The report further states that based on the discussions that took place in the meeting of various research labs with the Director General of ASI, the following activities are proposed:

- Use ground penetrating radar (GPR), which can confirm whether the religious symbol is protruding out of the in-situ rock (Swayambhu) lying underneath the Gyanvapi premises.

- While studying the geology of Varanasi, this area is mainly alluvial deposits and the chances of getting igneous/sedimentary rocks underneath are minimal and therefore zircon dating may be moved towards the end.

- If that is the case, then the U-Pb isotopes present inside the zircon mineral can be measured to find out the formation age of the rock.

However, a caveat has been attached to this suggestion that this technique works in the time domain of the order of million years and therefore, it can only tell the in-situ nature of the religious symbol having the present for a very long time and this method is destructive and about 5kg of material is required for extracting the zircon minerals.

Importantly, it has further been suggested that a site visit of the concerned researchers from various research laboratories can be planned/allowed so that a planned and focused study could be conducted and more possibilities of new ideas/methods could emerge.