Air Vice Marshall Marshal Rajesh Lal s/o late Prof. B.B. Lal

I consider myself fortunate to be Shri BB Lal’s son. His actions always inspired us a great deal. Till the very end, his sense of known what was right and taking accurate decisions always amazed us. Throughout my long association with him, I never heard him speaking ill of others or even raising his voice for any reason. He was always alert to changes happening around him. Let me first take you through some biographical details of his life before entering into his works. 

Braj Basi Lal was born on 2 May 1921 in Bardiora, Jhansi. He earned a scholarship to join the Allahabad University. In the University, he felt the need to augment his scholarship amount, and started teaching French to a few students to earn some money. He deeply loved Mathematics, and had the option of pursuing it further for his masters, but he opted for Sanskrit because it came along with a scholarship. This just shows that his adverse family situation compelled him to pursue Sanskrit from Allahabad University. Eventually, he completed his masters with a first division. But an incident during his masters training reflects some of his personality traits. The Abhijnanashakuntalam play had been organized by the Sanskrit department, but the lady who was supposed to be play Shakuntala backed out at the last moment. Braj Basi astonished his professors by volunteering to play Shakuntala. He wore a pagambari saree and performed wonderfully. The show went on for three days and it was a huge success. 

This was also the time when Mortimer Wheeler took over as D-G of ASI. He appealed to all major universities to send across fresh talent to help him with his surveys. The V-C of Allahabad University recommended BB Lal’s name, and this is how Lal embarked on his journey in archaeology. He joined Wheeler in his trial camp at Taxila, and the both of them became very close to each other. Two weeks into the camp, he had the gumption of telling Wheeler that he had made an error in one of his drawings. This left Wheeler surprised, but such observations only proved how precocious a talent Braj Basi was. After Taxila, Wheeler had young BB Lal to accompany him to Arikamedu and numerous other sites. Here I would also like to take a moment and acknowledge the role played by my mother, Late Kusum Lal in shaping my father’s career. Kusum Lal was the daughter of HL Shrivastava from the ASI, and after getting married, she accompanied Braj Basi on all his excavations. She would meticulously catalogue all pottery and artefacts picked p during the day. She camped on each of the 18 seasons spent in Kalibangan. She was a women of great resolve, and developed a passion for archaeology herself. She died in 2016. 

Prof. BB Lal became the Director General of ASI in 1967 at a very young age of 46, despite being the second in line after the retirement of his predecessor. The UPSC had sensed potential in him, and he became the youngest D-G. However, a few years later, he got back to teaching and writing, his true passions. In the 1970s, he commenced with his project Archaeology of Ramayana sites, which was to bring him gr eat renown. A large number of his books reveal his passion for disproving the Aryan Invasion Theory and also showing the veracity of the Ram Setu. He was fired up by some factually incorrect statements made by the Tamil Nadu chief minister, and through his research showed how the strait can still be seen above ocean level. He had three maor passions- (1) proving the historicity of Mahabharata (2) Researching on the Rigvedic people (3) furthering the Kalibangan excavations. He wrote over 100 seminal papers on pre-and proto-Indian history. Through his excavations at Kalibangan and other Harappan sites, he established the continuity of Indian culture. The use of gold cones, chess pieces, dice and collared shirts dating back to 3500 BCE reveal these links. Seals from Indus Valley sites reflect the svastika symbol, proto-shiva linga and fables such as that of the thirsty crow, which remain preponderant down to this day. 

He repudiated Mortimer Wheeler’s thesis of an Aryan Invasion, showing how the remains clearly reveal no major injury to the people, weapons of warfare too have not been found and moreover, skeletons have not at all been found in the citadel (only in the Lower town). When the invasion theory was ruled out, Romila Thapar argued that migration of pastoral cattle breeders, as mentioned in Avesta and Rig Veda, took place in the 2nd century BCE. RS Sharma built on this thesis to arge that Rig Vedic culture traces its origins to the Bactria-Marginia Archaeological Complex. But, Lal refuted this thesis by arguing that the feline art, semi-precious stones and refined sculptural symbolism of the BMAC region clearly proves that the culture could not correspond with that of pastoral cattle-breeders. Rather, Lal marshalled evidence to prove the indigenity of the Rig Vedic people by studying the evolution of civilisation in the Saraswati basin. The Rig Veda mentions the Saraswati as a mighty flowing river’ and Raikes in his report established that Sarasvati dried up only in the mid-3rd millennium BCE. Moreover, the Rig Veda also described numerous rivers from east to west, which correspond entirely with the expanse of the Indus Valley civilisation as we understand it today. Thus, Prof. Lal took great pains to emphasise that indigenous rig-vedic people were architects of the Harappan civilisation and both cultures were nothing but two sides of the same coin. 

Now, I would like to share some more personal details of Prof Lal. I happened to marry Shri MN Deshpande’s daughter. My father-in-law was also a close associate of my father, and was in the Bijapur, Karnataka circle if I a correct. Prof. Lal met Gurudev RD Ranade early in his career, and he palyed an instrumental role in his life. Moreover, Prof. Lal adapted to technology with ease. In 1997, he wrote his first book on typewriter. He also learnt Word that year. IN 2004, he learnt how to make power point presentations. In 2010, he had a bilateral knee surgery, and in 2013 he introduced us to the Bhagavada Gita. I remember reading out the verse and its purport to the whole family and wherever I erred, Prof. Lal would interject and complete the verse. These were the values we imbibed from him. He also composed a poem called ‘whisked away by a damsel’ which was based on a dream of the Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro. 

Prof. Lal was not a believer of God. He always asked ‘show me where God is?’ However, he did believe in meditation and trances and in an epilogue to one of his final books also acknowledged receiving his knowledge from some enlightened source. 

I thank you all for organizing this event. 

Dr. KN Dikshit

TO be very frank, most of our friends of my age and below know Prof BB Lal. I am one of those who had a six-decade long journey with Prof. Lal. I first came into contact with him in 1958 as a student. I went on to share an intimate relationship with both families, Prof. Lal’s and that of MN Deshpande too. TO work with Prof. Lal was challenging as he always took us to task if we didn’t work with proper speed. However, I firmly believe that whatever I am today is primarily the contribution of Prof. Lal. The Indian Archaeological Society was established in 1967. Earlier, members of ASI were not allowed to be part of that society, later they were allowed. Prof. Lal as the first director played a huge part in making this organization stand apart. The first award announced was called Ranade award as a tribute to his mentor, and to this day, this award is given every five years to a book which stands out from the rest. The second aspect that I wish to speak about is personal. In 1980, when I was working with him, I received a message from Lucknow that mother was unwell and was preparing to go home. When I reached Lucknow I came to know that mother had expired and father was admitted in the hospital after having a fall. He too died within a few days. Prof. Lal had perhaps received the news of my mother’s death but never told me about it in order to keep me in good spirits. Prof. Lal was a real guru to me. No Guru has told a student that what I am telling you is fine, he only gives guidelines to his students. For a man to move from Maths all the way to Sanskrit is indeed astounding. I would appeal to students over here to concentrate their minds in all their actions. After all archaeology is all about the question- Who am I? 

Dr. B.R. Mani, Former Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India and former Director General National Museum:

I will try to correlate the topic- ‘Temple, tradition and archaeology’ with Prof. Lal. In whose memory I am delivering today’s lecture. I am thankful to two gentlemen: Dr. Dikshit and BP Pandey, who were closely associated with Lal. I am also thankful to Rajesh bhai and Sushma ma’am for being here today. Prof. Lal was always very affectionate towards me, and I will certainly like elaborating on my relationship with him on some other occasion. Coming to the topic, today I shall speak about how through my work, I have discovered the links between temples, tradition and archaeology. Having been closely involved with excavations of Ayodhya, I can comment on it. Ayodhya is famous as one of the seven moksha-dayikas across the country. It has references in several scriptures like the Ramayana and Skanda Purana. Prof. BB Lal started excavating in Ayodhya around 1975-76, looking to establishing what lay beneath the Babri mosque. When he found a pillar base, he surmised that below that mount, there could have been a temple, but at that point in time, people were not convinced. Four decades later when I excavated Ayodhya in 2003, it was confirmed. Prof. Lal’s findings showed Maurya, Shunga, Kushana and Gupta levels. I could locate nearly 90 trenches in the central part of the mosque, which had been unfortunately demolished by the time excavations began. 

The Ayodhya issue started from the times of Nawab of Awadh, and continued for more than 150 years. A number of riots took place around the disputed sites. Banaras Hindu University’s team led by AK Narain first carried out excavations in 1969-70, before an ASI team led by BB Lal and KN Diskhit pursued the Ramayana National Project from 1875 to 1986. After demolition of the mosque in 1992, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court asked ASI to get a geo-physical survey conducted without disturbing subsoil structures. The results showed anomalies, as there were structures present below the mosque. The High Court on 5 March 2003 permitted excavations, and they started off on 12 March 2003 under my direction. Ninety trenches were excavated, and due care was taken to number all the trenches.

When we began excavations, we came across remains of 200-year old tiles, which could have been those of the Ram Chabutra seen in 1767 by traveller Joseph Tieffenthaler. We also were informed about a 11th century inscription which affirmed that it was a Vishnu temple. This inscription was commissioned by King Govinda Chandra of the Gahadavala dynasty. This is in chaste Sanskrit, and the term ‘vigrahjanmabhumi’ establishes the fact that this was seen as the birthplace of Lord Ram. One important fact here is that seventeen pillar bases were found in one area. These were noticed adjacent to the walls of mosque. In Brihat Samhita, it is mentioned that the temple site should always be divided into 64 parts, and we found exactly 64 pillar bases while excavating in Ayodhya. In 1850, a riot took place within this disputed area killing seventy people, many of whom were buried around the mosque. We found skeletons only 1.5 feet below. 

From our excavations, we could also deduce that the shrine must have been circular. It seems that the main shrine must have been at the same place as the central mosque. The original temple, therefore, going by the evidence, seems to have been a Panchayatan temple. There is a cut in the central part, which shows water moving towards the North and it must bear mentioning that 99% temples have an offshoot of water going towards North. The bricks also have a v-shaped cut, to ensure flow of water. The excavations have a depth of about 11 metres. Makara-pranala has also been found reused in the walls of foundations of the mosque. Decorated patterns with various features were also found. 

Period 1 in this mound dates to the NBPW level. There are sites like Mathura, Noh, Sohgaura where NBPW was found in earlier levels. 

One pillar kept in Ramkatha Sangrahalaya has been identified as a garuda-dhwaja, and could have come out from the disputed site itself. The Vishnu hari inscription, as mentioned earlier is a twenty-line inscription written in chaste Sanskrit by a Gahadavla king. The excavations were done upto a level where natural sand deposits were found, which is now 10 metre below surface level. We found ringwells too while digging. When I visited the site again in April 2021, I came across some new findings, which I will briefly mention. A new inscription has been found on a Black Stone slab in the Gaudiya script. This has an auspicious ‘siddham’ which seems to record stone-working and silakarma, done supposedly for a client. Doorsil remains have also been found within the temple, and lintels with a gaja-lakshmi panel (always found in Vishnu temples) have also been discovered. 

Dr. Sanjay Manjul, Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India and excavator of Sinauli

Greetings to all those present over here. I suppose I am the youngest over here to have been associated with Prof. Lala. I recall that iwas in 1995 that I met him for the first time in Dholavira, and as a student, I had been deputed to stay along with Prof. Lal by Dr. R.S. Bisht. I closely observed the way he went about performing his tasks. Prof. Lal would wake up in the morning, and polish his shoes all by himself. He would undertake even the smallest trench excavations with immense passion. What made him stand out was his curiosity- he always asked numerous questions and entering everything he heard ro observed in his notebook. It was a spectacle to see how meticulously he recorded a site, and I consider it a privilege to get the opportunity of learning from him. After that meeting, I only got the opportunity of seeing him in lectures. 

The most recent memory I have is when after the Sinauli excavations, I received a call from Prof Lal. Yes, here I would like to mention that he always spoke on call by himself. He told me that he would like to see the artefacts that had been collected at Sinauli. Incidentally we had then placed all the artefacts in Red Fort, and Prof. Lal came along with his family to observe them. He spent nearly four hours examining all the objects, and after that patted me on my back exclaiming that I had accomplished something monumental. He also made an entry in my diary that this was a huge achievement, and blessed both me and my wife, who is also an arcaheologist. After that meeting, I went to his house on numerous occasions, and I will treasure the way he treated me whenever I came over. Getting to eat food and discuss numerous issues with Prof. Lal was extremely special, and I have indeed entered all those experiences in my diary. I also feel privileged to be the director of an institute that had Prof. Lal as its first director. I hence offer my tribute to Dr. Lal. His journey of 100 years shall always be cherished. I will conclude by shedding light on two-three significant contributons he made in the realm of archaeology. The first was in associating the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata with archaeology. The second was in expanding on theories regarding our Vedic ancestors. Most crucially, he identified OCP and copper hoard objects. Before his excavations, Ganga-Jamuna doab culture was not well-known and I consider Prof. Lal’s excavations to be a landmark achievement. Many avenues have opened up thereafter. Lastly, he also challenged a dominant narrative, by elaborating how Indian culture and archaeological evidence cold be correlated.