Indian onlookers watch as a team from the state archaeological survey of India dig at the Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh temple
Archaeologists have said today that they have found artefacts in the ruins of a centuries-old fort where a Hindu sage believes 1,000 tons of gold are buried, according to a dream he had.
Archaeologists began digging at the fort in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, three months after the seer, Shobhan Sarkar, told a government minister about his dream of a 1,000-tonne gold treasure.
The Archaeological Survey of India (AIS) has denied that the excavation was linked to the swamy's dream and said its search is based on the findings of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) that suggested gold or silver could be buried there.
"It is a trial excavation and so far we have cleared soil up to a depth of 1.5 metres (five feet) and yesterday we found a medieval wall, earthen jars and pots, a hearth and a floor," ASI's excavation chief Syed Jamal Hasan told news agency AFP.
The fort belonged to Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh, a Hindu king who was executed after taking part in the 1857 revolution against the British.
The ASI said that its excavation is aimed at discovering and recording the fort's "cultural heritage" and is not a gold hunt.
"Archeologists anywhere in the world do not dig for gold and treasures and here we are interested only in discovering the site's cultural heritage," Mr Hasan said.
The guru told India media that he was worried about the "collapsing economy of India" and so also wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Reserve Bank of India about the "hidden treasure".