"People in India don't believe that our cities can be that old, because we are told by Western archaeologists that our cities cannot be older than the Greek civilisation," says Mohanty.

Even though Sisupalgarh was discovered in 1948, it wasn't until three years ago that excavations started here. A team of archeologists from Deccan College in Pune, University of California and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) were manning the digs. "This year we excavated the central area of Sisupalgarh, which consisted of 13 standing pillars and after excavation we found 18 more. And there are more to be excavated," he adds. Archaeologists believe that it is because of the excellent architectural skills thatthe pillars could stand for so many years.A large variety of pottery discovered;show the high quality of life in the city. Excavations reveal the city was well planned with eight gateways.

There was a large monument for public gatherings and large defensive walls surrounded the whole city.

"After the beginning of Iron age there were phenomenal changes in the society that existed during that period. Around 8-9 century BC, Ganapadas (small towns), started emerging. And then around 6-7 century BC Mahaganapadas (Big cities) came into existence. There were 16 Mahaganapadas, that existed during 5 century BC and Sisupalgarh was part of Kalinga Janapada (federal state). Buddhist elements existed on the three sides of Sisupalgarh-you could call them Buddhist suburbs of those time," he reveals.

"These cities from a very early time, about the third or fourth century BC , were very densely populated and urban in every sense of the word," says Dr Smith, who met Mohanty at an excavation site in Maharashtra.

Sisupalgarh is believed to be older and bigger than classical city of Athens, Greece. It was once a thriving metropolis, with a population of over 25,000.

"Sisupalgarh is one of the very few sites which are well preserved by the locals, otherwise there are about 45 cities which are being excavated around Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic plains and Maharashtra," he adds.

But so far only a small portion of the huge site has been excavated.