Date: March 27, 2023
Location: Bodh Gaya – Site 3B
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I have made a decision.
We are halting all operations effective immediately.
I have attempted to maintain objectivity, order, and academic rigor in the face of what we assumed were explainable anomalies—extreme psychological responses, environmental interference, ritual psychosis. But this... this is no longer within the bounds of science.
This is something else.
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The Bhantaragya Doctrine
We deciphered another segment of the heretical scroll recovered from Chamber Theta. It refers again to the Bhantaragya—the one who walks with silence in his bones. A monk cast out by the Sangha for conducting "Tatha-agni rites"—rituals of reversed rebirth, cannibalizing enlightenment to force spiritual stagnation.
It says:
> "The Bhantaragya burned the wheel, cracked the dharma, and gave his marrow to the Void. His chants did not liberate—they captured."
And then this line:
> "Those who read his words are read in return."
That one has kept me from sleep.
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I Tried to Shut It Down
This morning, I called a mandatory assembly at the central camp. I laid out the incidents. Objectively. Kavya's trance. Mira's corrupted logs. Rohan's burn. The mirror. The bleeding glyphs. The vanished interns. The chanting at night. The spiral marks.
I said aloud what we all felt in our bones:
This site is unstable. Possibly cursed.
I ordered:
All relics sealed.
Chambers Theta and Eta locked.
Manuscripts and artifacts to be catalogued and readied for transport to Delhi HQ.
Immediate contact with the ASI and the Ministry.
Zhang resisted, but I could see fear behind his logic. Lu remained quiet. Ashan supported me. Mira looked relieved. The Indian sub-team backed me—they've seen enough.
But when we tried to leave...
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The World Has Gone Silent
No calls go through.
No satellite pings are returned.
No emails leave the outbox.
No GPS signal. No emergency channel.
Our data terminals—connected through secured networks—show we're online.
But we aren't.
Even our analog radio sets are dead static. Not interference. Void. Like no frequency exists anymore.
It hit me like ice down the spine:
We haven't spoken to the outside world in eleven days.
Not one of us.
Not a text. Not a call to a spouse. Not a check-in with family. Not a field update to headquarters. No one even thought to. That's not normal. That's not human behavior.
We forgot the world.
And the world… forgot us.
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The Wall
We tried to exit.
Ashan, Mira, and I walked east toward the service trail. It loops to the access road that connects to the old Nalanda route. We've used it a dozen times.
It was gone.
Not overgrown. Not blocked. Gone.
The path turned and turned until we came right back—to our own camp. Like we'd walked in a circle.
Later, Rohan, Zhang, and Lu tried westward. Same result.
The topography is looping, or we are. And something doesn't want us to leave.
This site is no longer just ground and earth. It has become… conscious.
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Panic Begins
The interns are starting to feel it. They're crying. Huddling.
One of the girls from Nalanda, Shruti, screamed when she found her shadow was facing the wrong way.
Another, Mahir, said he found a line of salt outside his tent. No one admits placing it. Salt for warding.
They've started burning incense. Whispering mantras. Some chant the wrong way.
I found Mira copying the script of the Bhantaragya into her notebook.
She doesn't remember doing it.
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My Hands Are Shaking
I have led digs through buried temples, plague-ridden ruins, and unrest zones. But I have never felt like this.
Not fear.
This is desecration. A sense that we were never meant to be here. That something allowed us in, only to close the door.
We are locked inside an ancient hunger.
And now it knows we're trying to leave.
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This is my warning.
If this diary is ever recovered—
Know that the Bhantaragya's rites are real.
Know that this site does not lie beneath Bodh Gaya.
It lies beneath memory.
We will attempt a signal flare tomorrow.
We will carve runes around our camp.
But if we vanish—
Seal the chamber. Burn the spiral.
And do not read the chants aloud.
Advait Sen
Lead Archaeologist, ASI
Project Bodh Gaya — Site 3B