INVC ,
Delhi ,
Minster for Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri Ananth Kumar has said that Dr. Shikaripur Ranganatha Rao is a great gift for our Country. Delivering the first Dr, S.R. Rao Memorial Foundation Lecture in New Delhi last evening, he said the contribution of Dr. S.R. Rao in the field of archaeology is beyond any ones imagination. He was at the forefront of Indian archaeology and a distinguished researcher, and an ardent lover of arts, the minister said.
Excavations of the Indus Valley site of Lothal, reading of the Indus Script and his discovery of Dwaraka were some of many outstanding achievements of Dr, S.R. Rao. Renowned for deducing the death of world’s oldest civilisation and discovering the mythical City of Dwaraka, Rao has been credited with having excavated nearly 50 archaeological sites in Independent India.
Shri Ananth Kumar said that there would be only few personalities like Dr. Rao who began his investigations into the challenging field of the Indus script and language in 1967 and worked on it till 2012. His scientific excavations revealed that the Indus script was evolutionary in nature. In fact, he was one of the earliest scholars to state that the Indus Valley and the Rig Vedic Civilizations were the same on linguistic and archaeological basis. His discovery of the legendary city of Dwaraka built by Lord Krishna which had been submerged underwater after long underwater excavations brought him instant international recognition.
The minister also released the special cover on Dr. S.R. Rao and the book Sindu-Saraswathi Civilization.
