Excavations at Hastinapur

The site is situated in the Mav¹n¹ tehsil (District Meerut), about 37 kilometres from Meerut city, and about 90 kilometres north-east of Delhi, between the parallels of 2909’ N to 7803’ E. At present, the Ganga flows at a distance of about 8 kilometres from the site, but, in ancient times, it flowed much nearer. Burhi Ganga flows to the east of the site at a distance of 1.5 kilometres.

Hastin¹pura is mentioned in several ancient texts, particularly in the Mah¹bh¹rata. It was expected that excavations conducted at the site of Hastin¹pura would shed welcome light on the period of the Bh¹rata war.

Excavations at Hastinapur were conducted under the directorship of B B Lal, in 1950-1952. Remains of five periods, with gaps in between, have been found.