Tamil Nadu   

Indus Research Centre inaugurated

Staff Reporter

A valuable corpus of information on the ancient civilisation

DISCUSSING A POINT: Iravatham Mahadevan (right) with educationist V.C. Kulandaisamy at the inauguration of The Indus Research Centre in Chennai on Thursday. — PHOTO: K.V.SRINIVASAN

CHENNAI: The city now has a centre that will help historians and others passionately pursuing research on the Harappan or Indus Civilisation to further their studies.

The Indus Research Centre, inaugurated on Thursday, is a unit of the Roja Muthiah Research Library Trust. Thanks to the computerised data files and photographic card catalogues gifted by noted researcher Iravatham Mahadevan and other books, monographs and research papers diligently collected by trustees, the centre can now boast of a valuable corpus of information on the ancient civilisation.

"Claims defeatist"

Inaugurating the centre, Mr. Mahadevan said recent claims made by some historians about the Indus Script being merely pictures and not writing were defeatist. "The concordance I have published reveals linguistic features."

"Scientific analysis of the script, preferably computer-aided, is required. Matching elements of the script to linguistic models should happen later," he said. An ideology-based approach with pre-conceived notions would render the attempt futile, he remarked.

He said he was happy that Professor Rani Siromoney, wife of the late professor Gift Siromoney, donated her husband's valuable research material on the Indus Script to the centre. It would encourage young scholars to pursue inter-disciplinary research as research material was available in an accessible and computerised form.

Genuine advancements

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , said the centre was an institute of great integrity and independence, avoiding entanglements with government funds. Amidst all the antiquity-frenzy and compulsion to establish pedigree, the centre would facilitate genuine advancements in the field, he said.

Historian S. Muthiah, trustee of the Roja Muthiah Research Library Trust, was present. For further details, call: 22542551 or 22542552.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Congress has not dropped its demand for share in power: Moily
Indus Research Centre inaugurated
All India Bar Association opposes entry of foreign law firms
Karunanidhi for excise duty cut on diesel
Police suspect iron balls were meant for LTTE
Sex education to be included in school syllabi
Fast planned to protest construction of dam by Andhra
Political will needed to implement Coastal Regulation Zone rules: official
Wait ends
Always alert
Free training in medical transcription
Briefly

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu