JAGDISH GANDHI

 

MR. JAGDISH GANDHI is a researcher in Ancient History with specific intrest in archaeology, architecture, epigraphy, numismatics and folklife. As a Heritage activist and environmentalist, Mr. Gandhi is largely responsible for salvaging Banganga Complex, the Palace of Maharao of Kutch and the Lunar/crater from depradations of various kind.

Banganga Tank

Jagdish Gandhi launched his conservation activities as early as in 1972 when the words “Conservation” and “Heritage” were not heard of, succeeding in restoring the then decaying Banganga Tank precinets to its prestine glory through donations from public charitable instutions way back in 1974.

Besides, Mr. Gandhi successfully challenged in High Court the change of user, from Girls’ High School (educational purpose) to Residential Zone ( Residential & Commercial purpose) of the former place of Maharao of Kutch, which housed the said school. The palace, earmarked for demolition, today stands salvaged and the Girls High School, stands fully functional.

Himself a Numismatist, Jagdish Gandhi twice organized exhibitions titled “2500 years of Coinage of India” in collaboration with the Prince of Wales Museum.

 

Being a Photographer, Jagdish Gandhi had on display in 1972, his photographs of Sculptures of Hallebid-Belur  temples of Hoyasala dynasty (11th cen.) of South India. These were also exhibited at Madison Hall in New York.

Once a member of the Greater Bombay Municipal Corp. Committee for Preservation of Monuments and Cultural Heritage, Mr. Jagdish Gandhi had taken up specific cases for conservation as specified above.

Jagdish Gandhi has traversed the entire course of the lost river Saraswati, from its source in the Himalayas, through Rajasthan and Kutch, to its point of discharge into the Gulf of Khambat in Saurashtra. He is presently actively involved in an effort to physically resurrect the Vedic Saraswati through aplications of modern modes of science and technology.

Being a regular trekker in the Himalayas, Jagdish Gandhi has studied Riverine/Glacial behavioral patterns and morphology in close proximity with Nature.

As an ecology-activist, Jagdish Gandhi has filed a PIL (Public Intrest Litigation) in the High Court against the State, challenging the violations committed by the latter on the Mithi River Basin and Estuary, which matter Mr. Jagdish Gandhi is arguing in person.