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.
Biography and career
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
Rao published claims of having deciphered the Indus script as expressing an "Aryan" language in 1994[citation needed].
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. 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.
External links
- Interview with S. R. Rao at The Hindu
- The Lost City of Dvaraka
- Renowned archaeologist Dr S R Rao felicitated by society
- Decoding the Indus script
- Dr. Rao emphasizes preservation of heritage sites in India
- Indus script
- Hindu dated 20 Feb, 2006 - S. R. Rao among Vidya Varenya awardees
- Google's cache of Sundeep Books biographic write-up
Bibliography
- 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