Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in collaboration with Museum Society of Mumbai
cordially invites you to a lecture titled
The Literary and Archaeology story of the arrival of the Parsis in India and their dispersal
by
Dr. Kurush Dalal
on
Monday, 18th January 2020 at 5:30pm IST
To register click here
From 2002 to 2004 the WZCF, Mumbai and the IAS, New Delhi conducted an intensive archaeological project, under the auspices of the ICHR and the Tata Trust, at the Medieval Archaeological site of Sanjan, Dist Valsad, Gujarat. The excavations were spurred by the only existing Parsi historical text, the Kisseh-i-Sanjan, and conducted to ascertain the existence of the apocryphal landing place on the Indian mainland and the first town of the Zoroastrian refugees from Iran who are today known as the Parsis.This talk deals with the various literary sources (especially their translations) both well-known and little-known which were instrumental in determining whether or not to go ahead with the subsequent excavations. These literary sources include quasi-historical manuscripts, copper plate grants and rock-cut inscriptions. This talk aims to dispel some pre-existing myths, reinforce the validity of certain texts and show the importance of a holistic approach in understanding medieval archaeology and the fact that even quasi-historical texts are more historically accurate than what we consider.
About Kurush Dalal
Kurush F Dalal has a BA in Ancient Indian History and History from the University of Mumbai), an MA in Archaeology as well as a PhD on the early Iron Age in Rajasthan, both from Deccan College, Pune University. Subsequently he shifted focus to the Early Medieval Period predominantly on the West Coast of India and excavated the sites of Sanjan, Chandore and Mandad. These excavations and the data recovered have had a strong impact on scholarship in the region. The recent Mandad excavations have revealed a brand new hitherto unknown Indo-Roman Port site with antecedents going back even further.Dr Dalal also actively works on Memorial Stones and Ass-curse Stones in India and dabbles in Numismatics, Defence Archaeology, Architecture, Ethnoarchaeology and allied disciplines. He is the Co-Director of the Salcette Explorations Project, a massive Urban Archaeology Project documenting the Archaeology of Mumbai since 2015, thus extending his interest from the Medieval into the Colonial Period.He has published over 35 papers and has read many more at National and International Seminars. He is a visiting lecturer at various Universities, Colleges, Schools and Government Institutions. He taught archaeology and allied subjects at the University of Mumbai for 10 years. Since October 2019 he is Consulting Editor with Live History India and continues to research Archaeology and Culinary Anthropology. As of August 2020 he is the Director of the INSTUCEN School of Archaeology