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CHENNAI: The first director of the Department of Archeology of the state of Tamil Nadu passed away at his home on January 24, 2022. Nagaswamy was 92 years old. He was living with his two daughters and two sons. He took his last breath at 2:30 p.m.; confirmed by his son-in-law to PTI.
In his career and life, Nagaswamy worked for the betterment of his state and his country. R Nagaswamy was a member of the court hearing in London in the famous Pathur Nataraja case. He played a vital role in bringing the famous Chola-era bronze Nataraja back to Tamil Nadu.
He was the founder of the Institute of Epigraphy and Archeology back in the year 1973. He also penned a book named Masterpieces of Early South Indian Bronzes in the year 1983, and he wrote a book for the Tamil Nadu government to mark the World Classical Tamil Conference.
As an archeologist, he was part of the biggest excavations of the state of Tamil Nadu including Korkoi and the ancient Pandyan Port. Nagaswamy was the Padam Bhusan awardee. He received many other awards like the Kalaimamani Award of the Tamil Nadu government.
In recent times, Nagaswamy was one of the eminent personalities who stood in favor of closing the temples in Tamil Nadu in order to abide by the rules due to Covid 19.
After his demise, many prominent personalities expressed their condolences. Noted epigraphist and Archeologist S Ramachandran said that Nagaswamy was such a dynamic archeologist who liked to lead from the front. He is and will be a great inspiration to budding epigraphists and archeologists of the country.
The demise is a great loss to the state of the nation.