In News
- Recently, Braj Basi Lal, the former director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (1968-1972) and a Padma Vibhushan awardee, passed away.
Braj Basi LalÂ
- Braj Basi Lal was the lead archaeologist of the Ram Janmabhoomi site.
- He was born in 1921 at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and resided in New Delhi.Â
- He has worked extensively on archaeological sites associated with the Harappan civilisation and the Hindu epic Mahabharata. As a result, discovered a number of Painted Grey Ware sites in the Indo-Gangetic divide and upper Yamuna-Ganga Doab.
- He has also served on several UNESCO committees and is best known for his theory of a temple-like structure underneath the now demolished Babri mosque.
- He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2021.
Literary works
- He has 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.
Research works
- In 1990, Lal wrote of the ‘pillar-base theory’ on the basis of his excavations in which he claimed to have found temple-like pillars which would have formed the foundation of the Babri Masjid.
Source: IE
