Kuthur Ramakrishnan Srinivasan (1910 – 30 November 1992) was an Indian archeologist, historian and the author of a number of books on Indian history and culture. He was best known for his archeological work on the Cave Temples of Mahabalipuram. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

awarded him the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, the third highest civilian award, in 1991.

Biography

K. R. Srinivasan was born in 1910 at

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of Ta ...

, a temple town in the south Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. Choosing botany as subject, he secured an MSc from the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

after completing the course at

Presidency College, Chennai Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...

and started his career at St. Joseph's College, Trichy as a lecturer of botany. His elder brother, K. R. Venkataraman, was a noted historian and the elder brother's work on

Pudukottai Pudukkottai Municipal Corporation is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the oldest Heritage city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different t ...

was reported to have inspired Srinivasan to take up archaeology. In 1936, he joined Pudukottai museum as its curator. Later, when the museum was taken up by 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 ...

and renamed as the

Government Museum, Pudukkottai This Government Museum is a museum located in the town of Pudukkottai of Pudukkottai District. This is the second largest museum of Tamil Nadu after Government Museum, Chennai. The museum is divided into sections covering zoology, geology, painti ...

, he continued there until his official retirement from service in 1968 as its deputy director general. During his service, Srinivasan undertook several archaeological missions in Puduchery,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

of which the most notable one was his work on the Cave Temples of Mahabalipuram. He documented the temples from Pallava period and published a book, the ''Temples of South India'' which has since been translated into

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

languages and is a prescribed text for academic studies. He also published another book, the ''Cave-temples of the Pallavas'' based on his work in

Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram), is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of ...

. It was during this research, he discovered a hidden passage in one of the temples leading to a series of carvings depicting 81 karanas. Later, he studied the

Buddha statues Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as () in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure in an image may be someone else who has obtained B ...

Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur (, ), is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, near the city of Magelang and the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia. Constructed of gray andesite-like stone, the temple consi ...

and his studies of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

were also documented as a book, ''The Story of Buddha''; this book is a part of

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

curriculum in Tamil Nadu. ''The Harappan and the Vedic Cultures'' and ''The Age of Vidyaranya'' were two of his other books. Srinivasan guided

Padma Subrahmanyam Padma Subrahmanyam (born 4 February 1943, in Madras), is an Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, teacher, Indologist and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad; several films and documen ...

, a noted Indian

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

dancer, in her doctoral studies on the karanas. After retirement, he moved back to his native place, Trichy, and it was here he died in 1992, at the age of 82.

Awards and honors

Srinivasan was honored by the Government of India with the

, the third highest civilian award in 1991, a year before his death. His birth centenary was observed in 2011 by the

, as a mark of honor. On the occasion, a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

was also released under the title, ''Sivasri : perspectives in Indian archaeology, art and culture : birth centenary volume of Padma Bushan Dr. C. Sivaramamurti and Padma Bushan Sh. K.R. Srinivasan''.

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Srinivasan, Kuthur Ramakrishnan Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education 1910 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Indian historians Scholars from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian archaeologists Presidency College, Chennai alumni University of Madras alumni Archaeological Survey of India people People from Tiruchirappalli

Biography

Awards and honors

Bibliography

See also

References

External links