Shereen Ratnagar, an eminent archaeologist who examined the findings of the Archaeological Survey of India at the disputed site in Ayodhya, passed away in Mumbai on Monday after a brief illness. She was 82.
An authority on the Indus Valley Civilisation, Ratnagar was educated at Deccan College, Pune. She was a professor of archaeology and ancient history at the Centre for Historical Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University and retired in 2000.
Prof. Supriya Varma, Ratnagar's first PhD student, described her as an “excellent mentor and supervisor and an uncompromising academic”.
“Ratnagar was a person of immense integrity and courage. She insisted on rigorous academic standards, which are essential for high-quality research. She would not hesitate to take a political position, and as a public intellectual, she often wrote in newspapers on matters concerning the discipline of archaeology in India,” Varma said.
According to Varma, the ASI had in 2003 said it had found evidence of a massive structure just below the disputed site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid stood. The ASI report concluded that a large structure, interpreted as a Hindu temple, existed beneath the mosque, based on features like pillar bases, terracotta figurines and stratigraphic layers dating back to the 12th century or earlier.
The Sunni Wakf Board approached Allahabad High Court with a plea that Prof. Ratnagar, Prof. Suraj Bhan and Prof. Dhaneswar Mandal be allowed to examine the ASI’s findings.
The three experts led by Ratnagar visited the site twice in 2003. In her court submissions, Ratnagar contended that the pillar bases identified by the ASI were not uniquely indicative of a Ram temple, as similar features appeared in Islamic structures.
Varma said Ratnagar’s main work was centred on the economic, political and social aspects of the Harappan civilisation. Her strength lay in using archaeological data for a nuanced theoretical understanding of the Harappan society in all its dimensions.
Prof. Ajay Dandekar, who was a research student of Ratnagar, said she was one of the world’s foremost scholars on the Harappan culture. Her research extended to the broadest possible contexts, covering trade and other links between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilisations. “She brought in a grounded theoretical approach to archaeology. We lost a great scholar and a warm human being,” Dandekar said.