Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao (1 July 1922 – 3 January 2013), commonly known as Dr. S. R. Rao, was an Indian

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

who led teams credited with discoveries of a number of Harappan sites, including the port city

Lothal Lothal () was one of the southernmost sites of the ancient Indus Valley civilization, Indus Valley civilisation, located in the Bhal region of the Indian state of Gujarat. Construction of the city is believed to have begun around 2200 BCE. Di ...

and

Bet Dwarka Bet Dwarka (also spelled Beyt Dwarka) or Shankhodhar is an inhabited island at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch, situated off the coast of the town of Okha, Gujarat, India, and north of the city of Dwarka. Northeast to southwest, the island meas ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Biography and career

Rao was born into a Madhwa Brahmin family on 1 July 1922. He completed his education from

Mysore University The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

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 The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

basis in the script has been that of Rao". In a 2002 interview with

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

, 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 Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

has written in his article that I have already deciphered it."

Identification of Dwarka

At Kushasthali (

), a strip of sand and stone situated north of town of

Dwarka Dwarka () is a town and municipality of Devbhumi Dwarka district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Gujarat. It is located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti river at ...

, 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 Thermoluminescence dating (TL) is the determination, by means of measuring the accumulated radiation dose, of the time elapsed since material containing crystalline minerals was either heated (lava, ceramics) or exposed to sunlight (sediment ...

.S.R.Rao, The Lost City of Dvaraka. National Institute of Oceanography 1999 Rao asserts that the unearthed remains at Dwarka were the historical city that was home to

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

, believed to be the eighth

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

Publications

* ''Lothal and the Indus Civilisation'', Bombay: Asia Publishing House, (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'', New Delhi: the Director General,

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

(1985) * ''Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization'', , Delhi:

Aditya Prakashan Biblia Impex India is a New Delhi–based book distribution company that specializes in books on Indology, Hinduism and Buddhism founded by the influential Indian historian Sita Ram Goel in 1963. It is currently managed by Goel's son Pradeep Kumar ...

(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 Popular Prakashan is an Indian independent publisher and bookseller founded in Bombay in 1924. History In 1924, founder Ganesh R. Bhatkal, a former employee of Oxford University Press India, established the Popular Book Depot as an independent ...

, (1994) * ''The Lost City of Dvaraka'', National Institute of Oceanography, (1999) * ''Marine Archaeology in India,'' Delhi: Publications Division, (2001)

References

External links

*
Dr. Rao emphasizes preservation of heritage sites in IndiaIndus script
* * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070927222731/http://www.srkv.org/guest_book/person1.html Rao biography
Interview
at Kamat.com
S.R.Rao's speech(mp3)about Lord Krishna's Dwarka at DeshGujarat.Com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Shikaripura Ranganatha 1922 births 2013 deaths People from Shimoga district Kannada people 20th-century Indian archaeologists Underwater archaeologists Indigenous Aryanists Archaeologists of the Indus Valley civilisation Scientists from Karnataka Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows Archaeologists of South Asia