Henry Heras
Encyclopedia
Henry Heras is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
- 14 December 1955, Bombay, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, archeologist and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Education
After becoming a Jesuit in 1904, Heras followed the usual course of Jesuit priestly formation in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
: three years of philosophy in Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, three years of teaching History in Orihuela
Orihuela
Orihuela is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 32,472 inhabitants in the beginning of 2006...
, Spain, and the theological course in Sarria
Sarria
Sarria is a municipality in the province of Lugo, northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Sarria is the most densely populate town on the French Way in Galicia, with 13 700 inhabitants...
, Spain, at the end of which he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1920.
Historian in India
On arrival in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(1922) he was appointed to teach history at St Xavier's College, Bombay. He chose to teach Indian history "because he wanted to study it". This became his favorite subject and field of competence. He wrote a short book on historical methodology, The Writing of History, which became compulsory reading for his students.
He founded the Indian Historical Research Institute (1926), which trained numerous historians and Indologists, including Frank Moraes
Frank Moraes
Francis Robert "Frank" Moraes was editor of many prominent newspapers in post-Independence India, including The Indian Express.-Biodata:...
, Dr. Keny, and others. The institute was later renamed the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture.
Proto-historian and archeologist
From 1935 on he turned his attention to the newly excavated archeological sites of Mohenjo-DaroMohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site situated in what is now the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the...
and Harappa
Harappa
Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from...
: he was particularly keen on deciphering the inscriptions of the so-called Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
. He wrote numerous articles on the topic, summing up finally his research in what will remain his master piece: Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture (1953) in which he proposed a solution to the mysterious script of Mohenjo-Daro, and established cultural links between the Indus Valley Civilization and the Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian-Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
civilization. Though the deciphering he proposed is not yet fully convincing it is "gaining ever greater acceptance by the specialists".
Other activities and achievements
Heras is also the founder of the Bombay Historical Society and was also actively involved in the Indian Historical Records Commission, Indian History Congress and the International Congress of Historical Sciences. Being totally identified with the culture of the country he chose to become an Indian citizen as soon as possible after the independence of 1947.The same admiration for Indian culture led him to encourage Christian artists to adopt Indian forms of art and symbols in order to express Christian themes. In painting he enthused Angelo Fonseca, Olimpio Coleto Rodrigues, et al. In architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
he was personally involved in drawing the plans of the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of Belgaum
Belgaum
Belgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
. He conducted an exhibition on Indian Christian art for the Holy Year of 1950 in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. He is acknowledged to be the "Father of Christian Indian Art".
Recognition
In 1981, the Indian postal department issued a stamp in his honor on which he is portrayed alongside a Mohenjo-DaroMohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro is an archeological site situated in what is now the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the...
tablet.
Selected works
- The Writing of History, Madras, 1926.
- The Aravida Dynasty of VijayanagaraVijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
, Madras, 1927. - Beginning of Vijayanagara History, Bombay, 1929.
- The Conversion Policy of the Jesuits in India, Bombay, 1933.
- Studies in Pallava History, Madras, 1933.
- Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture, 1955.