Nayanjot Lahiri
Ashoka University, Sonepat
Nayanjot Lahiri is a Professor of History at Ashoka University since 2016. Her many books include Pre- Ahom Assam (1991), The Archaeology of Indian Trade Routes (1992), Finding Forgotten Cities – How the Indus Civilization was Discovered (2005; centenary edition 2024), Marshalling the Past – Ancient India and its Modern Histories (2012), Ashoka in Ancient India (2015), Monuments Matter – India’s Archaeological Heritage since Independence (2017), Time Pieces – A Whistle-Stop Tour of Ancient India (2018), Archaeology and the Public Purpose – Writings on and by M.N. Deshpande (2021) and Searching for Ashoka (2022). She was awarded the Infosys Prize in Humanities – Archaeology for 2013, and her book, "Ashoka in Ancient India" won the John F. Richards prize of the American Historical Association for the best book in South Asian History for 2015.
Session 2D: Public Lecture
Chairperson: Umesh V Waghmare, JNCASR, Bengaluru
Finding Forgotten Cities – Looking Back at the Discovery of the Indus Civilization
2024 is a century from the year when John Marshall made an announcement that dramatically altered existing perceptions of India’s antiquity: the discovery of ‘The Civilization of the Indus Valley’. Who were the main protagonists in this discovery saga? Is the story of its discovery similar to how scientific discoveries are made? What was the vision of the Archaeological Survey of India in the early years after the discovery of the antiquity of Harappa and Mohenjodaro? This lecture will look at such questions as it narrates the fascinating story of how India’s antiquity was unexpectedly discovered in 1924.