Madho Sarup Vats

Pandit Madho Sarup Vats (12 April 1896 – 7 December 1955) was an Indian archaeologist and Sanskrit scholar who served as the Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1950 to 1954. Pandit Vats is especially well known for his participation in the excavations at Mohenjodaro which he supervised from 1924.

Early life

Vats was born in Punjab in a Gaur Brahmin family on 12 April 1896. He graduated in Sanskrit from Punjab University, Lahore and began his career in 1918 with the Patna Museum where he was tasked with preparing estampages of inscriptions. In April 1920, Vats joined the Archaeological Survey of India.[1]

Archaeological Survey of India

In March 1920, Vats joined the Archaeological Survey of India with a Sanskrit scholarship and was deputed to officiate as Assistant Superintendent of Western Circle in 1923 when Assistant Superintendent G. C. Chandra was the acting Superintendent in the absence of Rakhaldas Banerjee. Vats began his term by deciphering newly discovered inscriptions at a Chaitya cave in Karle, he published the inscriptions in the Epigraphia Indica.[2] But soon afterwards, Vats diverted his attention to Mohenjodaro as the excavations there had been left incomplete.[3] He was a part of a team led by John Marshall, the other members on the team were K. N. Dikshit and Harold Hargreaves.[4] He also published frequently in the Epigraphia Indica.[5][6][7] A few choice publications are one on grants by the king Dhruvasena I of the Maitraka dynasty,[8] and one on grants by Prithvichandra Bhogashakti[9] (a feudatory of Harishchandra[10]).

In 1925, Vats was promoted to Superintendent of Northern Circle[11] and he supervised the excavations at Harappa till 1934-35. Shortly after his retirement, Vats published the results of the excavations.[12]

Works

• Excavations at Harappa: ... an Account of Archaeological Excavations at Harappa Carried Out Between the Years 1920-21 and 1933-34, 2 Vols. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal (2013 reprint). ISBN 978-8121508100.
• The Gupta Temple At Deogarh. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India Series, no. 70. Delhi: Manager of Publications (1952). OCLC 621252.
• Repairs at Agra and Fatehpur Sikri: 1944-49. Ancient India (5): January 1950.
• Central Asian Fragments of the Ashtādaśasāhasrikā Prajñāpramitā and of an Unidentified Text. Delhi: Manager of Publications (1942). Co-authors: Sten Konow (ed.), A. Aiyappan, B.C. Law, T. N. Ramachandran, Frank Manley. OCLC 31467645.
• Cruciform Indo-Aryan Śikhara Temples at Dudhai, District Jhansi, and Similar Shrines Elsewhere in India. 1943. OCLC 470090114.
• The temple of Visnu at Bishenpur and later temples of Manipur. Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute: 1954. OCLC 1121044686.
• Sohnag Terracotta Seal of Avantivarman. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Vol. 9 (1946). JSTOR 44137039.

Preceded by N. P. Chakravarti

Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India 1950 - 1953

Succeeded by Amalananda Ghosh

References

1. Ray, Purnima; Patil, C. B. (2014). Remembering Stalwarts: Biographical Sketches of Scholars from Archaeological Survey of India. Director General, Archaeological Survey of India. p. 258.
2. Guy, John; Tournier, Vincent (2023-07-17). Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-693-8.
3. Lahiri, Nayanjot (2012-08-07). Finding Forgotten Cities: How the Indus Civilization was discovered. Hachette India. ISBN 978-93-5009-419-8.
4. Avikunthak, Ashish (2022-02-03). Bureaucratic Archaeology: State, Science and Past in Postcolonial India. Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-316-51239-5.
5. Diskalkar, D. B. (1993). Sanskrit and Prakrit Poets Known from Inscriptions. Anandashram Samstha.
6. Diskalkar, D. B. (1979). Materials Used for Indian Epigraphical Records. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
7. Indian Culture. Indian Research Institute. 1943.
8. The Economic History of India: Historiographical Issues and Perspectives - Essays in Honour of Professor Ranabir Chakravarti. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2023-07-30. ISBN 978-93-5435-156-3.
9. Sarde, Vijay (2023-03-31). The Archaeology of the Nātha Sampradāya in Western India, 12th to 15th Century. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-85811-2.
10. Thakur, Renu (1998). "The Nature and Role of the "Pattana" in Early Medieval India". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 59: 293–300. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44147000.
11. Jansen, Michael (1985). Mohenjo Daro. Brill Archive. pp. XI. ISBN 978-90-04-07783-6.
12. Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7591-0172-2.