Keezhadi: The Lost Civilization That Rewrote South India’s Ancient History
For centuries, the story of ancient India followed a familiar script. Civilization, according to mainstream narratives, flourished first in the Indus Valley, faded away, and only much later re-emerged in the south through gradual cultural diffusion. Tamilakam, it was said, inherited civilization rather than creating it. Writing arrived late. Urban life followed northern influence. The south was peripheral.
Then Keezhadi surfaced from the soil of Tamil Nadu — and that story began to collapse.
Located along the banks of the Vaigai River near Madurai, Keezhadi is not a myth, a legend, or a poetic exaggeration preserved in Sangam literature. It is a physical, stratified, datable settlement that speaks through bricks, pottery, tools, graffiti, and urban planning. What makes Keezhadi extraordi...
