A house demolition in Chirgaon, a town in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district, turned into an impromptu treasure hunt after word spread that silver coins had turned up in the excavated soil. Hundreds of people rushed to the spot and began digging through the mud themselves once the news broke, and within a short while the site had taken on the look of a fairground.
How the discovery began
Deepu Gupta, who lives opposite the Jain temple in Chirgaon, was having his old house demolished. The debris and soil from the demolition were being dumped near a pond in Talabpura, with the loads passing by the Mahakaleshwar temple on the way. While playing in that dumped soil, a young girl stumbled upon an old silver coin. She wasted no time telling her family, who rushed to the spot and began searching the soil for more coins. Word soon spread that a few other people nearby had also come across old silver coins, and before long the news had travelled through the entire town like wildfire, with groups of people heading straight for the site.
Crowds descend, chaos follows
As the news travelled, the site took on the look of a fairground. Large numbers of people converged on Talabpura and began sifting through the mounds of dumped soil by hand, hoping to find coins of their own, while some even used shovels to dig deeper. The scene grew chaotic, with barely any room left to stand around the heaps of soil. So far, though, there is no confirmation of exactly how many coins have actually been found, whether they are genuine silver, or what historical value, if any, they might hold.
Administration stays silent, examination awaited
No official statement has been issued yet by the Jhansi administration on the matter. Under the usual process, if the coins are found on examination to carry archaeological significance, the concerned department could take them into custody for a detailed investigation. For now, curiosity and speculation continue to swirl among local residents, who are eager to know just how old, and how valuable, the coins pulled from the soil really are.
