Mohenjo-daro was discovered by him, but the "boss," Sir John Marshall, allegedly "stole" the achievement and claimed it in his own name He was the much-discussed Bengali archaeologist Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay He is better known to scholars as R D Banerjee Though Rakhaldas's ancestral home was at Chhaygharia in Bongaon, he was born in Kaliati village in Berhampore, Murshidabad district, on 12 April 1885.

His father - Motilal Bandyopadhyay, his mother - Kalimati Devi Rakhaldas's home in Berhampore is now known as the "Deslai Company's turn " It also has a history. Rakhaldas's home was sold about a hundred years ago. A Deshlai businessman bought it. A car filled with Deslai used to be parked in front of the house. The house was actually his Deslai warehouse. The merchant used to travel around the area with his pigeons. The name of the company changed to Deshlai. Someone else said, ".

The name of the company is a twist in the country ".

In English, Rakhaldas passed the Entrance Examination from Berhampore Krishnanath School and College in 1900 In 1903, he passed the FA Then he was admitted to Presidency College, Kolkata In 1907, he passed the Honours in History Then in 1911, he passed the MA from Calcutta University Rakhaldas became an assistant officer in the Archaeology Department of the Indian Museum.

From there, he was promoted to the position of Superintendence of Archaeology in 1917 He took voluntary retirement in 1926 Then in 1928, he became the Manindra Chandra Nandi Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at Banaras Hindu University Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay died at the age of 45 in Kolkata on 23 May 1930.

Back to the original context, Rakhaldas was accused of plagiarism In 1911, Rakhaldas joined the Survey of India He was promoted to the post of Superintendence of Archaeology By 1920, Vijayadas Salgade, a Greek archaeologist, had gone to the Indus Valley to investigate the excavations of the Indus Valley ruins.

He also reported on the report of Rakhaldas's discovery in the Sindhudurg area.

Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book Discovery of India, credited Marshall with the discovery of Mohenjo-daro, but not Rakhaldas Rakhaldas was falsely accused of theft after a dispute with the "boss" Marshall Archaeological excavations were underway at the Chausati Yogini temple in Hirapur, Orissa, under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India.

A valuable statue was stolen at the time Sir John Marshall, the Director of the Archaeological Survey of India, convicted Rakhaldas without any evidence and dismissed him from office Rakhaldas was later found to be innocent Apart from Mohenjo-daro, Rakhaldas was also credited with the discovery of the Karnasuvarna in Murshidabad, the capital of the powerful Bengal king Shashanka.

The discovery was made on a strange day Rakhaldas had come home from Karnasuvarna in Berhampur A day before, Rakhaldas was suddenly on a mud-coloured walk Rakhaldas was looking at his feet.

Rakhaldas immediately took the mud and put it on a piece of paper Then he sent it to the Archaeological Survey of India in Kolkata There, the examination revealed that the mud indicated Karnasubarna, the sixth-century CE capital of King Shashanka Rakhaldas was instrumental in the discovery of many important Pala-era artifacts in Mohenjo-daro, Kanishka, Shashanka, and Bengal.

He was also involved in the excavation of Paharpur He was the author of the first book on coinage in Bengal, Banglar Itihas, a two-volume work Apart from history, he wrote novels and historical novels, such as Shashanka (1914), Pashaner Katha (1914), which deals with the Kushan period.

These include Dhruva and Karuna (1917), Dharmapala (1917), Mayukh, Virodhanam, Asim, Parshantar, Shaivamandir of Bhumara, History of the Tripuri Haihaya Jati, The Origin of the Bengali Script, etc.

After passing the Entrance Examination in 1900, Rakhaldas married Kanchanamala, daughter of Narendranath Mukherjee They had a son He was the father of another daughter One of his relatives was said to have taught at Asutosh College in Kolkata Rakhaldas is known to have died of Carbuncle disease.

However, Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay's name will remain etched in gold in the history of archaeology in this country Many Bengalis today may not know his full credit, but he is, and will remain, a Bengali archaeologist's name and a true legend.

Source: Rakhaldas Banerjee: The Forgotten Archaeologist --- P K Mishra.