01-26-2007, 09:12 AM
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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. â 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.
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. â 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.