Piecing Together: Memoirs of an Archaeologist

by B.B. Lal

In 1921, just when Daya Ram Sahni struck his pickaxe at Harappa in Punjab, bringing to light the earliest civilization of the Indian subcontinent, in a far off village in Uttar Pradesh was born a child, named Braj Basi Lal, who, in time to come, was ordained to carry on the mission of Sahni at Kalibangan in the Sarasvati Valley in Rajasthan. He discovered over here many new features of the Harappan Civilization, including the earliest (circa 2700 BCE) agricultural field met with anywhere in the world. One of Lal's passions has been to ascertain if there was any historical basis for the two great Indian epics, viz., the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The book marshals the evidence from various sites excavated by him, which shows that these epics did have a basis in history, though they are full of interpolations. The book also deals with the Mandir-Masjid issue at Ayodhya and shows that there existed a Hindu temple in the Janma-Bhumi area prior to the construction of the Babari Masjid. Finally, the oft-debated issue of 'Aryan Invasion' of India has been dealt with, showing, in unequivocal terms, that there was no such 'invasion' nor even 'immigration' and that the Vedic people were indigenous to the Indian soil, their roots traceable back to the 6th millennium BCE. On the contrary, literary-cum-archaeological evidence shows that some of the Vedic people themselves migrated as far west as present-day Turkey, early in the 2nd millennium BCE. Interleaved with these archaeological discoveries are certain narratives which give a glimpse of Professor Lal's personal life - a naughty (nasty?) boy, affectionate teachers, 'rebirth' in 1957, interactions with fellow archaeologists, whisked away by a damsel, surviving five major car accidents without any injury and lessons he learnt from his life. The Epilogue says it all.

The Second Preface Acknowledgements List of Illustrationsi 1. The Tale of My Straying into Archaeology 2. Bade Hakim Ji of Datia 3. The 1942 'Quit India' Movement 4. Harappa 1946 5. Brahmagiri 1947 6. Sisupalgarh 1948 7. The Yawning Gap and I 8. 1950-52: Excavation at Hastinapura and Historicity of the Mahabharata 9. Naughty (or Nasty?) Boy 10. The Lal Family 11. Calcutta 1953-55 12. From Calcutta to Agra, 1955 13. From Agra to Delhi Circle, 1956 14. January 17, 1957: My Rebirth 15. Vegetarian/Non-vegetarian/Vegetarian 16. 1959: Establishment of the School of Archaeology 17. 1961: International Conference on Asian Archaeology 18. Nubia (Egypt) 1962 19. 1961-69: Excavations at Kalibangan and Their Contribution to Our Knowledge of the Harappan Civilization 20. Not an Easy Exit 21. From Delhi to Gwalior 22. From Gwalior to Continuation of the Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites Project, 1977-86 23. 2000-year-old Unique Example of Indian Hydraulic Engineering 24. My Teachers 25. Jako Rakhe Saiyan, Mar Sake Na Koya 26. Whisked Away by a Damsel 27. A House Well-planned, Completed Not, Alas! 28. The Mandir-Masjid Controversy (1991-92) 29. Review Committee on the Functioning of the Archaeological Survey of India (2000) 30. The AIT/OIT Controversy (2000-09) 31. ''From Which Engineering College Did He (Rama) Graduate?'' 32. 2010 33. An Assortment 34. My Fellow Archaeologists 35. Looking Ahead 36. Epilogue Index

265 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2011