Chennai: Tamilnadu is poorer in the field of archaeology with the passing away of epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan. The famous scholar passed away in the early hours of today at his Adambakkam residence at age 88.
The multi-faceted Mahadevan was born 2 October 1930 at Mannachanallur, Tiruchi. His early education was in Valanar College in Tiruchi and he completed his studies in Madras University. He served as an IAS officer from 1954 to 1981 and made a name for himself with his administrative abilities.
From 1987 to 1991, he made a mark as the editor of Dinamani daily and showed keen interest in bringing out a paper that would appeal to all strata of society and age group.
Regarding his scholarship in archaeology, though he was first interested in the study of coins, later, he turned his attention towards inscriptions. This led him to propound the theory that there was a link between Tamil and the Indus Valley script that he decoded. He did extensive research on the Tamil Brahmi script and propagated the idea.
He was awarded the Padma Sri by the Indian government in 2009.