Rao Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British Raj, British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the British Empire, Empire. From ...

Kashinath Narayan Dikshit (21 October 1889 – 12 August 1946) was an Indian archaeologist who served as

Director-general A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

(ASI) from 1937 to 1944.

Early life

Dikshit was born on 21 October 1889 in a Karhade Brahmin family of

Pandharpur Pandharpur City (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɳɖʱəɾpuːɾ is a popular pilgrimage town, on the banks of Chandrabhaga River, Chandrabhagā River, near Solapur, Solapur city in Solapur district, Solapur District, Maharashtra, Ind ...

in the then Bombay Presidency (now

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Career

Rao Bahadur Kashinath Narayan Dikshit (1889-1946) was Director-General of the

(ASI) from 1937 to 1944, a critical period leading up to World War II and India's. He played a significant role in excavations at

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila () is a city in the Pothohar region of Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and is just south of the ...

, Mohenjodaro,

Harappa Harappa () is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal, that takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs to the north. Harappa is the type site of the Bronze Age Indus ...

, and other sites across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. His meticulous work at Mohenjodaro is highly regarded, particularly his excavation of the DK area, which revealed significant insights into the

Indus Civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...

. Dikshit is a South Asian archaeologist who emerged from modest beginnings in Maharashtra. Young Dikshit had to provide for his family after his Mamlatdar father, Narayan Hari Dikshit, died from the plague. He had a strong education, doing particularly well in Sanskrit and taking home multiple awards and scholarships. Dikshit established scholarships, decentralized archaeological training, and supported museum modernization, among other contributions to archaeology.

Retirement

He kept up his museology work after retiring and remained active in the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Future generations find inspiration in his life narrative, and his legacy lives on in the field of South Asian archaeology. This story was written with assistance from Dikshit's great-granddaughter, Ms. Sarita Alurkar, and granddaughter, Dr. Veena Mandrekar. Dikshit's 1939 work "Prehistoric Civilization of the Indus Valley" is fully readable, and his archive has photos that are still being worked on to identify the people in it.Post-retirement, he continued his work in museology and was actively involved with the

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...

. His legacy endures in the field of South Asian archaeology, and his life story is an inspiration to future generations.

Family

Dr. Veena Mandrekar, Dikshit's granddaughter, and Ms. Sarita Alurkar, his great-granddaughter, contributed to this article. The full text of Dikshit's work, "Prehistoric Civilization of the Indus Valley" (1939), and photographs from his archive are available, with ongoing efforts to identify individuals in the images.

Death

Dikshit retired in 1944 and was succeeded by Sir Mortimer Wheeler. He died on 12 August, 1946 at age of 56 years and 10 months.

References

* {{authority control 1889 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Indian archaeologists Directors general of the Archaeological Survey of India People from Solapur district Scientists from Maharashtra Indian institute directors Mohenjo-daro