BHUBANESWAR: “History is not just essential, it is inescapable. Study of history is essential for rooting the people and events in their right perspective. Rootless people are often ruthless people,” said Indologist R Balakrishnan.
Delivering the 19th lecture of Odisha Knowledge Hub Lecture series in the Secretariat, Balakrishnan
said there is always an element of ‘narration and story-telling’ in history. Each tribe, community and institution has a story to tell which adds to the treasure of history.
The IAS officer, who retired last month, said history is a narrative. Oral history and collective memory in different parts of Indus Valley civilization have not been appropriately built into the literature of history.
Citing the examples of the icon of Sun God at Konark wearing a horse rider’s high shoes, a giraffe in Konark panels, two genetic types of elephants on the walls of Konark, an association of the name Chandrabhaga with Konark temple and many other evidences, Balakrishnan hypothesised that Konark was a multi-national product of Odisha.
Introducing Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Asit Kumar Tripathy said Balakrishnan is an Indologist with focus on Indus Valley Civilization. He follows a multi-disciplinary approach to map the post Indus migrations and trace the carried-forward legacies of Harappan culture. Because of his scholarly reflections and discoveries on Indus Valley civilization, he has been awarded Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by Periyar Maniammai University.
His research papers on Konark; ancient links between Kalinga and Indonesia; Genesis of Sun worship in Odisha; and Plural foundations of Jagannath Culture etc have brought many unknown facets of Odishan history to world intelligentsia-forum during contemporary times.
He said Balakrishnan guided and shaped many important Government publications like “The Cultural Atlas of Odisha”, “Charles Grome’s Report on the Temple on Jagannath”, “Nabakalebara-2015-A Visual Grandeur”, “80 Years of Odisha Budget’ and “Listening Window” of OKH Lecture series. His recent book ‘Abadha Padachinha’ is the Odia translation of his research articles on Odisha.