CURRENT AFFAIRS | 27 MAY 2026
Historian and archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar — one of independent India’s most authoritative voices on the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilisation — passed away in Mumbai on the night of 25 May 2026 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 82. Her 1981 work, Encounters: The Westerly Trade of the Harappa Civilisation, remains a standard reference on Bronze Age maritime trade between the Indus and Mesopotamia.
Life and scholarship
- Born: 1944, Mumbai; educated at Parsee Girls’ High School; BA in history, MA from JNU.
- PhD: JNU, under Prof Romila Thapar.
- 1975 fieldwork: Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq with support from the British Committee for Archaeological Studies in the Arabian Gulf + British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq.
- Key works: Encounters (1981), The End of the Great Harappan Tradition, Harappan Archaeology: Early State Perspectives.
- 2003: Co-reviewed (with D Mandal) the ASI excavation report on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site, flagging “methodological problems”.
CLAT angle — heritage statutes & the IVC syllabus
- Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR) — governs ASI-protected monuments; defines prohibited and regulated areas.
- Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 — regulates export and trade in antiquities.
- Constitution — Entry 67, Union List — ancient and historical monuments and records of national importance.
- NCERT IVC syllabus — Mohenjo-daro (Great Bath), Harappa, Dholavira, Lothal (Gujarat dockyard), Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi.
Key Facts
| Born / Died | 1944 — 25 May 2026 (aged 82) |
| PhD supervisor | Romila Thapar (JNU) |
| Landmark book | Encounters: The Westerly Trade of the Harappa Civilisation (1981) |
| Notable intervention | 2003 critique of ASI Ayodhya excavation report |
| Heritage statutes | AMASR 1958, AATA 1972, Entry 67 List I |
Mnemonic — "ENCOUNTERS → ENTRY 67"
Link Ratnagar’s book Encounters (1981) with Entry 67 of the Union List. Both bookend Indian archaeology — the scholarship that maps IVC trade and the constitutional entry that protects what’s found.
Why this matters for CLAT 2027
Obituaries of major scholars appear regularly in CLAT GK. Pair Ratnagar with Romila Thapar (mentor) and the AMASR / AATA statutory pair. The 2003 Ayodhya critique adds a Legal Reasoning hook on archaeological evidence and judicial reliance on expert reports.
Practice Quiz — 10 CLAT-Style Questions
Click an option to reveal the answer and explanation.
