Who founded Mohenjodaro?
VerifiedAnswer: R. D. Banerji
Explanation:
R. D. Banerji (Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay) was the pioneering archaeologist who discovered the ancient city of Mohenjodaro in 1921. This remarkable discovery changed our understanding of ancient Indian civilization forever. Banerji was working under the Archaeological Survey of India when he made this groundbreaking find in the Sindh province (now in Pakistan).
The discovery happened quite by chance when Banerji was investigating some ancient mounds in the region. What he found beneath those mounds was extraordinary - an entire city with sophisticated urban planning, advanced drainage systems, and well-organized streets. The name "Mohenjodaro" itself means "Mound of the Dead" in the local Sindhi language, referring to the burial mounds that first caught the archaeologist's attention.
Banerji's excavations revealed that Mohenjodaro was part of the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, which flourished around 2500-1900 BCE. This made it one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, contemporary with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The city showed remarkable features like standardized brick sizes, covered drains, public baths, and granaries.
The significance of Banerji's discovery cannot be overstated. Before this find, historians had limited knowledge about India's ancient past beyond the Vedic period. Mohenjodaro provided concrete evidence of a highly developed civilization that existed thousands of years ago. The city's layout, with its grid-pattern streets and sophisticated water management system, showed that our ancestors were far more advanced than previously imagined.
Today, Mohenjodaro is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, preserving this incredible piece of human history for future generations. Thanks to R. D. Banerji's dedication and archaeological expertise, we can learn about how people lived, worked, and organized their society over 4,000 years ago, making him truly the founder of our modern understanding of this ancient metropolis.
