Former IAS officer B. Venkataraman who was an authority on Chola History and Architecture expired in a private hospital in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon. He was 95.
Mr. Venkataraman, a 1950 batch officer, had served as chief secretary Orissa and then as secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, New Delhi. Besides his career as an IAS officer, he had a passion for Chola art and history that he had inherited from his father S.R. Balasubrahmanyam. He had co-authored a book ‘Later Chola Temples’ with his father.
Some of the books that he had authored include ‘Laddigam: A Later Chola Temples’, ‘Temple Art under the Chola queens’ and ‘Rajarajeswaram-the pinnacle of Chola art’ on the Thanjavur Brihadeeshwara temple. His doctoral thesis was on the contribution of the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi.
He had refurbished the Museum and Manuscripts Library, Bhubaneswar, and also renovated structural temples such as the Lakhmanesvar and Bharateswar temples in Orissa. He is survived by his wife and dance critic Leela Venkataraman, son and a daughter.
