Who was B B Lal, the Padma Vibhushan awardee behind excavation at Ramjanmabhoomi site? | Explained News,The Indian Express
B B Lal, once the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India, has written about finding temple-like pillars during an excavation at Ayodhya. The Padma Vibhushan awardee passed away on Saturday.
Saturday, Sep 10, 2022
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HomeExplainedWho was B B Lal, the Padma Vibhushan awardee behind excavation at Ramjanmabhoomi site?
Who was B B Lal, the Padma Vibhushan awardee behind excavation at Ramjanmabhoomi site?
B B Lal, once the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India, has written about finding temple-like pillars during an excavation at Ayodhya. The Padma Vibhushan awardee passed away on Saturday.
By: Explained Desk
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New Delhi | Updated: September 10, 2022 3:09:32 pm
Former president Ram Nath Kovind presenting B B Lal with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2021. (www.padmaawards.gov.in)Archaeologist Braj Basi Lal, who led an excavation at the Ramjanmabhoomi site in the mid-1970s and was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2021 passed away on Saturday (September 10) morning.
Lal was the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India between 1968 and 1972, and has worked extensively on archaeological sites associated with the Harappan civilisation and the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He has also served on several UNESCO committees and was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India in 2000. He is best known for his theory of a temple-like structure underneath the now demolished Babri mosque.
Lal was born in 1921 at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and resided in New Delhi. He developed an interest in archaeology after completion of his Masters degree in Sanskrit from Allahabad University.
In 1943, he served as a trainee in the excavation under the renowned British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler and began his career as an archaeologist from the site of Taxila. In the course of over 50 years, Lal worked on over 50 books and 150 research papers published in national and international journals. Some of his most notable books include, ‘The Saraswati flows on: The continuity of Indian culture’ published in 2002 and ‘Rama, his historicity, mandir and setu: Evidence of Literature, Archaeology and other Sciences’ published in 2008.
In his book, ‘The Saraswati flows on’, Lal criticised the argument held by historian of ancient India R S Sharma of the Aryan invasion or immigration theory. Lal’s view that the Rig Vedic people were the same as those who were part of the Harappan civilisation is largely controversial and has attracted a lot of criticism from historians.
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