T. N. Ramachandran

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T.N. Ramachandran (1903 -1973) was an art historian, artist, archaeologist and a Sanskrit scholar. His entire life has been devoted to the study and exposition of various aspects of Indian art. Author of several monographs, he has surveyed the panorama of Indian art as archaeologist, numismatist, epigraphist, historian and scholar of Sanskrit. He was the director General of Archeology In India, who conducted pioneering research and wrote extensively on various subjects during his tenure at the Indian national Museum.

The archeological objects have been accumulated over the period and preserved in the Museum since its inception. They were organized into the present form in 1938 AD due to the efforts of Dr.F.H.Gravely and Sri (late) Dr. C. Sivarama Murti, then Curator who later on became the first Indian Director-General of the National Museum, New Delhi. Prior to this, sporadic research by Sri T.N.Ramachandran, Curator, on certain groups of antiquities have revealed the importance of the objects and thus made the Museum well known, yet only after the formation of the Section more detailed studies of the antiquities of the Museum were undertaken.

Eminent arachnologist, zoologist and student of archaeology, Frederic Henry Gravely, collaborated with T N Ramachandran Curator of Archaeology 1925-1935 on the scientific basis for identifying the period of metal images.

T.N. Ramachandran and Y.D. Sharma visited Afghanistan between May-July, 1956 in order to explore and investigate the art traditions, epigraphical records and archaeological remains. During the survey, a number of sites were visited and the antiquarian remains housed in museums were also extensively studied.

Ramachandran was a tall and thin and frail man, his appearance belied the ocean of knowledge that he was. He always had an endearing smile and spoke softly. He was married to Lakshmi, the grand daughter of the great Ramayana exponent Paruthiyur Krishna Sastri and daughter of Pattabhi Rama Sastri, then District educational Officer of Tanjore. He had five sons Guruswamy, Rajamani, Suryanarayanan, Navaneethakrishnan and Kamal Kumar.

Apart from the literary evidence for the popularity of Bharata’s karanams, the dance sculptures in the temples of Tamilnadu prove beyond doubt that the Tamils took great pains in preserving Bharata’s style. Just as the earliest extent literature on karanas is the Natya Sastra, the earliest extant visual representation of these are found in the Brhadiswara temple at Tanjore. The credit of identifying them as Bharata’s karanas goes to Padmabhushan Dr. T. N. Ramachandran, the eminent archeologist. When the Chola king Rajaraja built the Tanjore temple in the beginning of the 11th century, dance art enjoyed such a high status in society that he had the karana figures chiselled as sculptures in the first tier of the Vimana.

Noted Bharatnatyam Dancer, performing artist and scholar, Padma Subrahmanyam has conducted extensive research in Karana sculptures, received a Ph.D from Annamalai University for her thesis on “Karanas in Indian Dance and Sculpture” under the guidance of Dr.T.N.Ramachandran.

Ramaa Bharadvaj distinguished dancer, teacher, choreographer, writer, dance activist of distinction. She had her training in dance theory from Dr. T.N. Ramachandran, at age 12,

T. N. Ramachandran was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1964 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1969. He has traveled widely all over the world, participated in international seminars, delivered important lectures at the invitation of several universities, which have been published as books. He has delivered important endowment lectures at many universities in India. He has many books and innumerable papers on architecture, iconography, epigraphy, numismatics and literature to his credit.

Some of T. N. Ramachandrans works include: Buddhist Sculptures from Stupa near Goli Village, Guntur District, Nagapattinam and Other Buddhist Bronzes, Tirupparuthikundram and its Temple, Tempera Painting in Sitabhinji, District Keonjhar, Orissa, History of Buddhism in the Tamil Kingdoms of South India, The Three Main Styles of Temple Architecture Recognised by Silpa Sastras (F. H. Gravely and T. N. Ramachandran), 1934, Catalogue of Hindu Metal Images in the Government Museum, Madras (T. N. Ramachandran and F.H Gravely), 1932,