Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Indian archaeologist (1922–2013)}}

Dr. '''Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao''' (b. [[1922]] and well-known as '''S. R. Rao''') is a renowned [[Indian]] [[archaeologist]] responsible for conducting extensive excavations in [[Lothal]] and [[Dwaraka]] and claims of decipherment of the [[Indus srcipt]]. He served as the Director General of the [[Archaeological Survey of India]], and has published many books on Indian archaeological discoveries. He was in-charge of the excavations of the submerged remains of the ancient city of [[Dwaraka]], in [[Gujarat]], pioneering [[marine archaeology]] in [[India]].

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}

{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao

| image = ShikaripuraRanganathaRaoPic.jpg

| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->

| caption =

| birth_name = Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1922|07|01}}

| birth_place = Anandapuram, Sagar taluk, Shimoga district, erstwhile [[Mysore State]] (now Karnataka)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2013|01|03|1922|07|01}}

| death_place =

| nationality = [[India]]n

| other_names =

| occupation = [[archeologist|Archaeologist]]

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

'''Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao''' (1 July 1922 – 3 January 2013), commonly known as Dr. '''S. R. Rao''', was an Indian [[archeologist|archaeologist]] who led teams credited with discoveries of a number of [[Indus Valley Civilization|Harappan]] sites, including the port city [[Lothal]] and [[Bet Dwarka]] in [[Gujarat]].

== Biography and career ==

Rao was born into a Madhwa Brahmin family on 1 July 1922. He completed his education from [[Mysore University]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ApuAAAAMAAJ|title=New Trends in Indian Art and Archaeology S.R. Rao's 70th Birthday Felicitation Volume · Volume 1|author1=Baiderbettu Upendra Nayak|author2=N. C. Ghosh|year=1992|page=XXI|publisher=Aditya Prakashan|isbn=978-81-85689-12-8 |quote=Shikaripur Ranganatha Rao (S. R. Rao) was born on 1st July, 1920 at Anandapuram in Sagar taluk of Shimoga district in the erstwhile Mysore (now Karnataka) state. His father Shikaripur Hucha Rao, a Madhwa Brahmin, was well educated upto first year in Arts and wanted...}}</ref>

Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao (born in 1922) completed his education from the [[Mysore]] University. He worked in the Archaeological Department of [[Baroda]] State and subsequently served the Archaeological Survey of India in various capacities. Dr. Rao, an outstanding archaeologist of India, has excavated many important sites such as Rangpur, Lothal, Amreli, Bhagatrav, Dwaraka, Hanur, Aihole, Kaveripattinam and others. Dr. Rao was the recipient of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship and D.Litt. from Mysore University. Rao had supervised excavation of several historic sites across the country in the West and South. He was also associated with conservation of monuments such as [[Taj Mahal]] and forts. It was under the initiative of Dr Rao that the NIO opened a marine archaeology research centre in 1981, under the stewardship of then director Dr S Z Quazim, which grew into a world recognised body. He was the founder of the Society of Marine Archaeology in [[India]]. Rao has been at the forefront of Indian achaeology for many decades - he was involved in extensive research into India's ancient and often mythical past - from the sites of the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] to excavations pertaining to the [[Kurukshetra War]].

== Decoding the= Indus script decipherment == =

While mainstream scholarship is generally in agreement with Rao's approach of comparison, the details of his decipherment have not been accepted, and the script is still generally considered undeciphered. John E. Mitchiner, after dismissing some more fanciful attempts at decipherment, mentions that "a more soundly-based but still greatly subjective and unconvincing attempt to discern an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] basis in the script has been that of Rao".<ref name="Mitchiner1978">{{citation|author=John E. Mitchiner|title=Studies in the Indus Valley Inscriptions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3IRAAAAMAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Oxford & IBH|page=5}}</ref>

[[image:Lothal_conception.jpg|thumb|200px|Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the [[Archaeological Survey of India]].]]

[[Image:Pakistan-pottery.png|thumb|200px|right|The [[script]] of Lothal's people was uniform with other Indus-era cities.]]

Rao published claims of having deciphered the [[Indus script]] as expressing an "Aryan" language in 1994{{cite}}.

In a 2002 interview with [[The Hindu]], Rao asserted his faith in his decipherment, saying that "Recently we have confirmed that it is definitely an Indo-Aryan language and deciphered. Prof. W. W. De Grummond of [[Florida State University]] has written in his article that I have already deciphered it."<ref>Rao refers to a statement by W. W. De Grummond, of the Department of Classics, Florida State University, that "Dr. Rao's decipherment of the Indus script has met with considerable acceptance and will serve now as a basis for further and continuing study of the language of the ancient Indus Valley civilization." in "Linguistic Affinities of Old Indo-Aryan with Classical Greek and Latin", B.U. Nayak, N.C. Ghosh (eds.) ''New Trends in Indian Art and Archaeology: S.R. Rao's 70th birthday felicitation volume'', [[Aditya Prakashan]] (1992), pp. 133-139. {{ISBN|81-85689-12-1}}</ref>

== Excavations at Dwaraka ==

Rao asserts that the unearthed remains were the mythical city that was home to [[Krishna]], the eighth [[Avatara]] of [[Vishnu]]. According to Rao's research and the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' Krishna built Dwaraka at Kushasthali - a fortress in the sea which is in ruins. Then he built another at the mouth of the Gomti river. At Kushasthali (Beth Dwaraka) Rao and his team found a wall (560 metres long) visible on the shore itself. Dating of pottery found here gave a date of 1528 B.C. Further unearthed was a seal ([[mudra]]). The Mahabharata refers to how Krishna wanted every citizen to carry some sort of identity - a mudra. Dr Rao asserted the three-holed triangular stone anchors found in large numbers in Dwarka waters suggested a continuity in evolution of the anchors in Lothal and Mohenjo-Daro, which had a single hole.

=== Identification of Dwarka ===

The Dwarka anchors of late Harappan phase are a couple of centuries older than the identical anchors of late Bronze Age used in Cyprus and Syria, he added.

At Kushasthali ([[Bet Dwarka]]), a strip of sand and stone situated {{convert|30|km|0|abbr=on}} north of town of [[Dwarka]], Rao and his team found a wall (560 metres long) visible on the shore itself. Dating of pottery found here gave a date of 1528 BCE based on [[thermoluminescence dating]].<ref name=Rao>S.R.Rao, The Lost City of Dvaraka. National Institute of Oceanography 1999</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vora |first=K. H. |last2=Gaur |first2=A. S. |last3=Price |first3=David |last4=Sundaresh |date=2002 |title=Cultural sequence of Bet Dwarka island based on thermoluminescence dating |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24106004?seq=1 |journal=Current Science |volume=82 |issue=11 |pages=1351–1356 |issn=0011-3891}}</ref>

Rao asserts that the unearthed remains at Dwarka were the historical city that was home to [[Krishna]], believed to be the eighth [[Avatar]] of [[Vishnu]].<ref name=Rao/>

==Publications==

* ''Lothal and the Indus Civilisation'', Bombay: [[Asia Publishing House]], {{ISBN|0-210-22278-6}} (1973)

* ''Lothal: A Harappan Port Town ([[1955]] - [[1962]])'', Vols. I and II, (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India)'', no.78, New Delhi, ASIN: B0006E4EAC (1979 and 1985)

* ''Lothal'', (publishedNew byDelhi: the Director General, [[Archaeological Survey of India]], [[(1985]])

* ''Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization'', {{ISBN|81-85179-74-3}}, Delhi: [[Aditya Prakashan]] (1991)

* ''New Trends in Indian Art and Archaeology: S.R. Rao's 70th Birthday Felicitation Volumes'', edited by B.U. Nayak and N.C. Ghosh, 2 vols. (1992)

* ''New Frontiers of Archaeology'', Bombay: [[Popular Prakashan]], {{ISBN|81-7154-689-7}} (1994)

* ''The Lost City of Dvaraka'', [[National Institute of Oceanography, India|National Institute of Oceanography]], {{ISBN|81-86471-48-0}} (1999)

* ''Marine Archaeology in India,'' Delhi: Publications Division, {{ISBN|81-230-0785-X}} (2001)

==References==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20021226135039/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/11/20/stories/2002112000450200.htm Interview with S. R. Rao at ''The Hindu'']}}

*[https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no14243.htm The Lost City of Dvaraka]

*[http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=130746&cat=India Renowned archaeologist Dr S R Rao felicitated by society]

*[http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/indus/indus_script.html Decoding the Indus script]

*[http://www.gopala.org/index.php/2005/10/14/preserving_the_underwater_cultural_herit Dr. Rao emphasizes preservation of heritage sites in India]

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/334517.stm Indus script]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060911221255/http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/20/stories/2006022020340300.htm Hindu dated 20 Feb, 2006 - S. R. Rao among Vidya Varenya awardees]

*[http{{webarchive |url=https://64.233archive.179.104today/search?q=cache:KTr_SzI2wfEJ20070509074547/http://sundeepbooks.com/servlet/sugetbiblio%3Fbno%3D000050+%22Shikaripura+Ranganatha%22&hl?bno=en&gl000050 |date=in&ct=clnk&cd=29 May 2007 |title=Google's cache of Sundeep Books biographic write-up] }}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222731/http://www.srkv.org/guest_book/person1.html Rao biography]

<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[imageFile:ASIOfficialGuideBook.png|thumb|150px|''Lothal'' ([[1985]]), [[Archaeological Survey of India]].]] -->

*[http://www.the-week.com/23jun01/cover.htm#1 Interview]

*[http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/peers/21751.htm Portrait of S.R.Rao] at Kamat.com

*[http://deshgujarat.com/2007/02/21/dwarka-of-krishnaarcheologist-sr-raos-speech-english-mp3/ S.R.Rao's speech(mp3)about Lord Krishna's Dwarka at DeshGujarat.Com]

{{Authority control}}

== Bibliography ==

{{Wikiquote}}

[[image:ASIOfficialGuideBook.png|thumb|150px|''Lothal'' ([[1985]]), [[Archaeological Survey of India]].]]

* ''Lothal'' (published by the Director General, [[Archaeological Survey of India]], [[1985]])

* ''Lothal and the Indus Civilisation'' ISBN: 0210222786

* ''Lothal: A Harappan Port Town ([[1955]] - [[1962]]) (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India)'' ASIN: B0006E4EAC

* ''The Lost City of Dvaraka'' [[1999]], xxii, 157 p., ISBN 8186471480

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Shikaripura Ranganatha}}

[[Category:Indian archaeologists]]

[[Category:1922 births]]

[[Category:2013 deaths]]

[[Category:People from Shimoga district]]

[[Category:Kannada people]]

[[Category:20th-century Indian archaeologists]]

[[Category:IndianUnderwater archaeologists]]

[[Category:Indigenous Aryanists]]

[[Category:Archaeologists of the Indus Valley civilisation]]

[[Category:Scientists from Karnataka]]

[[Category:Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows]]

[[Category:Archaeologists of South Asia]]