Leaving behind a legacy of history books meant for the average curious reader, Charles Allen passed away on 16th August, a day after India celebrated its 73rd Independence Day. Charles Allen was born in Kanpur in 1940, and remained associated with India through his efforts to bring to light the various efforts taken by British officers like James Prinsep, William Jones and Alexander Cunningham, to re-dsicover India’s lost heritage, and document it. Even if their initiatives were sponsored by a colonial power that probably saw a narrow and selfish advantage of decoding the cultural history of this vast sub-continent, what it does not change is the personal sacrifice that many of these early historians made to uncover India’s ancient past, including the decipherment of the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts, alongwith excavation of several monuments like the Sanchi and Sarnath Stupas that revealed so much about the Buddha and Buddhism that lay hidden under layers of dust and ignorance.
Farewell Mr. Allen, and may our remotest posterity recall the wonderful literature you created, above all!