Bhagwan Lal Indraji
| Bhagwan Lal Indraji | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 8, 1839 Junagadh, Junagadh State, Kathiawar Agency |
| Died | March 16, 1888 (aged 48) Bombay, Bombay Presidency |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | Bhagwanlal Indraji, Pandit Bhagvanlal Inderji |
| Occupation | Archaeologist |
| Known for | Deciphering ancient Indian inscriptions |
Bhagwan Lal Indraji or Bhagwanlal Indraji (1839-1888) was an Indian archaeologist and scholar. A member of the Royal Asiatic Society's Bombay branch, he made transcripts of several ancient Indian inscriptions, including the Hathigumpha inscription. He discovered many archaeological relics, including the Mathura lion capital, the Bairat Ashoka inscription, the Nanaghat reliefs, the Mathura Vishnu image, drum miniature stupa with a frieze of eight metopes representing the four principal and four secondary scenes from Buddha's life, Jain Aayagpata, various Mathur railing pillars, Mankuwar Buddha, Besnagar coping stone depicting Bodhi Tree, and Gadava surya frieze. He also excavated Sopara.
Bhagwan Lal Indraji was born in 1839, in Junagadh. He obtained his primary education in Junagadh, and learnt Sanskrit from his father, a Prashnora Nagar Brahmin.
As a teenager, Bhagwan Lal frequented Girnar, which had several rocks with inscriptions in the Brahmi script. Colonel Lang, the Political Agent of Kathiawar took a lot of interest in these inscriptions. In 1854, he handed over a copy of James Prinsep's paper containing Pali Brahmi alphabet to Manishankar Jatashankar, a local scholar. Jatashankar shared it with Bhagwan Lal, who made a copy of his own. Using this copy, Bhagwan Lal tried to decipher the Rudradaman I inscription on a Girnar rock. He could not understand the compound letters and the matras. So, he wrote to a friend in Bombay, requesting research material related to Girnar rock inscriptions. In response, he received several journals of the Royal Asiatic Society's Bombay branch. Using this material, he mastered the Pali alphabet, including its several varieties from different periods. He was able to make out unfamiliar letters, and to address omissions and inaccuracies in Prinsep's copy. He finally succeeded making a completely new transcript of the Rudradaman inscription, which greatly impressed Colonel Lang. He mastered the Brahmi script. A.K. Forbes, who succeeded Lang as the Political Agent, introduced Bhagwan Lal to Bhau Daji, a renowned Bombay-based scholar of India antiquties.
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