Iravatham Mahadevan
| Iravatham Mahadevan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 October 1930 British Burma |
| Influences |
K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar, G. R. Hunter |
Iravatham Mahadevan (born 2 October 1930) is an Indian epigraphist and former civil servant, known for his successful decipherment of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and for his expertise on the epigraphy of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Iravatham Mahadevan was born on 2 October 1930 in a Tamil Brahmin family of Thanjavur district. He was conceived in British Burma where his father Iravatham was practising as a doctor.
Mahadevan had his schooling in the town of Tiruchirapalli and graduated in Chemistry from the Vivekananda College, Chennai and law from the Madras Law College. Mahadevan successfully passed the Indian Administrative Service examinations held in 1953 and was allotted to the Tamil Nadu cadre.
Mahadevan worked as an Assistant Collector in Coimbatore district and Sub-Collector at Pollachi. In 1958, Mahadevan was transferred to Delhi as Assistant Financial Adviser in India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry serving from 1958 to 1961. In 1961, Mahadevan was posted to Madras as Deputy Secretary in Government of Tamil Nadu's Industries Department and served as Director of Handlooms and Textiles Department from 1962 to 1966. Mahadevan voluntarily retired from the civil service in 1980.
According to an interview given to an e-journal Varalaaru, Mahadevan revealed that he started researching the Tamil-Brahmi script following a casual suggestion by Indian historian K. A. Nilakanta Sastri during a meeting in 1961.
There are several caves in Tamil Nadu with inscriptions in the Brahmi script. K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar says they are in Tamil. It is an unsolved problem. Can you give it a shot???
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