Sir Alexander Cunningham is recognized as the father of Indian archaeology. He studies India’s ancient sites, deciphers the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts, and brings India’s lost Buddhist heritage back to the world. He founded the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1861, which became a statutory body under the Ministry of Culture after independence.
Sir, Alexander Cunningham significantly transformed Indian archeology from a hobby of curious travelers to a scientific discipline that has contributed to our modern understanding of the vast and complex history of the Indian subcontinent.
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Who was Sir Alexander Cunningham?
Alexander Cunningham arrived in India in 1833 and joined the British Bengal Engineers as a second lieutenant, but his personal interests were numismatics (the study of coins) and ancient geography. He started his journey with James Prinsep, a British numismatist and Indian scholar who deciphered the Brahmi script. His most important discoveries and contributions are:
- His work was characterized by a systematic approach and made use of the travel accounts of ancient Chinese pilgrims Faxian And Xuanzang as maps to locate forgotten Buddhist sites.
In 1837, Cunningham excavated one of the sacred Buddhist shrines at Sarnath, outside Varanasi.
In 1850 he excavated Sanchi Stupa, one of the oldest surviving Buddhist stupas.
He published his book ‘The Bhilsa Topes’ (1854) to trace the Buddhist history based on the study of the temple architecture of Kashmir (1848) and Ladakh (1854).
In 1861, he became the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (1861-1865 and 1870-1885) and provided a formal structure for India’s cultural heritage.
His famous work is The Ancient Geography Of India (1871), based on the Ashokan edicts of the 3rd century BC and the Stupa of Bharhut (1879).
He amassed a large collection of Indian coins purchased by the British Museum.
He was also the first person to visit the Indus Valley Civilization and report on Harappa in the 1870s. He collected a soapstone seal with a bull and an unknown script on it.
Cunningham’s study of ancient Indian inscriptions and coins provided the chronological framework, rulers and socio-cultural history of India.
Source: Britannica
Sir Alexander Cunningham wrote the numerous reports telling of the ancient Indian sites, and they remain the most important source material for historians. His dedication to numismatics (the study of coins) and ancient geography led to the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India, which became the permanent institution for the preservation and study of India’s rich cultural heritage. However, many modern historians argued that his methods were more “survey-based” than the stratigraphic excavations used today.
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