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{{Short description|Indian epigraphist (1930–2018)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Iravatham Mahadevan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1930|10|02}}
| image = Iravatham Mahadevan.jpg
| birth_place = [[British Burma]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2018|11|26|1930|10|02}}
| death_place = [[Chennai]], India
| spouse =
| occupation = civil servant
| influences = [[K. A. Nilakanta Sastri]],<br />[[K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar]],<br />[[G. R. Hunter]]
}}
'''Iravatham Mahadevan''' (2 October 1930 – 26 November 2018)<ref>[https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/iravatham-mahadevan-leading-scholar-on-the-indus-valley-and-tamil-brahmi-scripts-passes-away/article25595085.ece Iravatham Mahadevan passes away]</ref> was an Indian [[Epigraphy|epigraphist]] and civil servant, known for his decipherment of [[Tamil-Brahmi]] inscriptions and for his expertise on the epigraphy of the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]].

==Early life==
Iravatham Mahadevan was born on 2 October 1930 in a [[Tamil Brahmin]] family of [[Thanjavur district]].<ref name="mahadevan_interview">{{cite web|title=Straight from the Heart – Iravatham Mahadevan: Interview with Iravatham Mahadevan|url=http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=740|publisher=Varalaaru.com}}</ref>
Mahadevan had his schooling in the town of [[Tiruchirapalli]] and graduated in [[Chemistry]] from the [[Vivekananda College, Chennai]] and law from the [[Madras Law College]]. During his childhood and adolescence, Mahadevan was associated with [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]. Mahadevan successfully passed the [[Indian Administrative Service]] examinations held in 1953 and was allotted to the Tamil Nadu cadre.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /><ref>[http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html#4 Ancient Indus Valley Script Iravatham Mahadevan Interview]</ref>

==Civil service==
Mahadevan worked as an Assistant Collector in [[Coimbatore district]] and Sub-Collector at [[Pollachi]].<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> In 1958, Mahadevan was transferred to [[Delhi]] as Assistant Financial Adviser in India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry serving from 1958 to 1961.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> In 1961, Mahadevan was posted to Madras as Deputy Secretary in Government of Tamil Nadu's Industries Department and served as Director of Handlooms and Textiles Department from 1962 to 1966.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> Mahadevan voluntarily retired from the civil service in 1980.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" />

==Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions==
According to an interview given to an e-journal ''Varalaaru'', Mahadevan revealed that he started researching the [[Tamil-Brahmi]] script following a casual suggestion by Indian historian [[K. A. Nilakanta Sastri]] during a meeting in 1961.

{{quote|There are several caves in Tamil Nadu with inscriptions in the Brahmi script. [[K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar]] says they are in Tamil. It is an unsolved problem. Can you give it a shot?<ref name="mahadevan_interview" />}}

Earlier, during his stint in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Delhi in 1958–61, Mahadevan had become acquainted with the noted epigraphist and art historian [[C. Sivaramamurti]] who was then working as a curator at the [[Indian Museum]] next block. Sivaramamurti initiated him into the basics of South Indian epigraphy.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" />

Mahadevan first published his study of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions at [[Pugalur]] in Kerala in 1965 following those of [[Mangulam]], the next year.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> In the same year, Mahadevan presented his paper on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in Madras which was later published as the book ''Corpus of the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions''.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> After a brief period of research with the [[Indus script]], Mahadevan resumed his work on Tamil-Brahmi in 1992 with active support from the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department. In 2003, he published a revised edition of the 1966 book which has since acquired the status of a classic.<ref name="frontline">{{cite news|title=A magnum opus on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions|author=R. Champakalakshmi|url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2013/stories/20030704000207100.htm|work=Frontline}}</ref>

==Indus script==
Mahadevan started his research on the [[Indus script]] following a brush with [[W. W. Hunter]]'s book on the Indus Script at India's Central Secretariat Library in Delhi.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> In 1970, Mahadevan was offered the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship to do his doctoral research on the Indus Script.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> Mahadevan continued his research even after his fellowship ended and published his first book ''Indus Script: Concordance and Tables'' in 1977.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" /> Following a break from 1991 to 2003 to complete his research on Tamil epigraphy, Mahadevan resumed his studies again in 2003.<ref name="mahadevan_interview" />

[[Gregory Possehl]] called Mahadevan a "careful, methodical worker, taking care to spell out his assumptions and methods. ... 'Tentative conclusions' and 'working hypotheses' are more his style than set ideas and fait accompli".<ref>Gregory L. Possehl, ''Indus Age: The Writing System'' (1997), p. 130</ref>

==Significant contributions==
Iravatham Mahadevan's ''The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables'' (1977) is the only openly available corpus of the Indus Script. He wrote over 40 papers to further the Dravidian hypothesis of the Indus Script and argues for a continuity between the written records of Indus and the oral transmissions from the Rig Veda.
He was instrumental in firmly establishing the view of K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer that the writings found in the caves of Tamil Nadu in a script similar to Brahmi are a variant of Brahmi, which Mahadevan calls Tamil Brahmi, and in ascertaining that the language of the script is indeed Tamil.<ref>Early Tamil Epigraphy. Revised Enlarged Edition. Iravatham Mahadevan. 2014. pp. 96</ref> Mahadevan went on to read the names and titles of several generations of Pandiya and Chera kings in Tamil Brahmi writings,<ref>Corpus of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions. I. Mahadevan. 1966; Early Tamil Epigraphy. I. Mahadevan. 2014.</ref> all corroborated in early Tamil literature.<ref>Early Tamil Epigraphy. I. Mahadevan. 2014</ref>

==Awards and honours==
Iravatham Mahadevan was awarded the [[Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship]] in 1970 for his research in Indus script and the National Fellowship of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]] in 1992 for his work on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.<ref>[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/HOS62.htm Review] of Mahadevan (2003).</ref>

In 1998, he was elected the president of the Annual Congress of the Epigraphical Society of India and in 2001 he became the general president of the [[Indian History Congress]]. He received the [[Padma Shri Awards (2000-2009)|Padma Shri award]] from the Government of India in 2009 for arts.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/17/stories/2009041756521800.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421195152/http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/17/stories/2009041756521800.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 April 2009|title=Honour for Iravatham Mahadevan|date=17 April 2009|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=4 July 2009}}</ref> He was conferred the [[Tolkappiar award|Tolkappiyar award]] for lifetime achievement in classical Tamil by the Government of India for the year 2009–2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/presidential-awards-for-classical-tamil-presented/article5220483.ece|title=Presidential awards for classical Tamil presented|date=10 October 2013|publisher=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=10 October 2013}}</ref>

He was conferred the Campbell Medal by the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, formerly the Royal Asiatic Society, in November 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|others=Special Correspondent|date=2014-11-15|title=‘Indus script early form of Dravidian’|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/indus-script-early-form-of-dravidian-iravatham-mahadevan/article6600394.ece|access-date=2021-06-04|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

A bronze bust of Mahadevan was created by artist G. Chandrasekaran and placed at the [[Roja Muthiah Research Library]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/dravidian-scholar-iravatham-mahadevans-bust-unveiled/article29472951.ece|title=Dravidian scholar Iravatham Mahadevan’s bust unveiled|date=21 September 2019|work=The Hindu|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''Corpus of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions'' (1966)
* ''The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables'' (1977)<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/42936591| volume = 37| issue = 1/4| pages = 193–197| last = Sankalia| first = H. D.| journal = Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute|title=The Indus Script : Texts, Concordance, and Tables | date = 1 January 1977| jstor = 42936591}}</ref>
* ''Early Tamil Epigraphy : From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D.'' ([[Harvard Oriental Series]], 62) (2003)
* ''Early Tamil Epigraphy : Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions''. Revised and Enlarged Second Edition: Volume 1 ([[Central Institute of Classical Tamil]]) (2014)<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/4132283| issn = 0003-0279| volume = 124| issue = 3| pages = 565–569| last = Salomon| first = Richard| journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society|title= Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D| date = 1 July 2004| jstor = 4132283}}</ref>
* ''Akam and Puram : 'Address' Signs of the Indus Script'' (2010)
* ''Dravidian Proof of the Indus Script via the Rig Veda: A Case Study'' (2014)
*''Toponyms, Directions and Tribal Names in the Indus Script'' ([[Archaeopress]]) (2017)

== See also ==
* [[Early Indian epigraphy]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.harappa.com/arrow/bio.html Biography at harappa.com]
*[http://www.murugan.org/research/mahadevan.htm 'Murukan' in the Indus Script]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070206005438/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/02/04/stories/2007020400260500.htm Towards a scientific study of the Indus Script] [[The Hindu]] Magazine, Sunday, 4 February 2007.
*[http://www.harappa.com/script/mahadevantext.html#4 An interview]
*[http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/00151/Dr_Iravatham_Mahade_151204a.pdf Akam and Puram : ‘Address’ Signs of the Indus Script – presented at World Classical Tamil Conference, June 2010 – The Hindu]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahadevan, Iravatham}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Dravidologists]]
[[Category:Indian epigraphers]]
[[Category:Indian Indologists]]
[[Category:Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows]]
[[Category:People from Thanjavur district]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Scholars from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Tamil scholars]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Thiruvalluvar Award]]

Iravatham Mahadevan - Revision history

->MB at 23:03, 4 November 2021