Asko Parpola

Asko Parpola
Parpola at the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010
Born	1941 (age 82–83)
Occupation	Indologist and Sindhologist

Asko Parpola (born 1941) is a Finnish Indologist and Sindhologist, current professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in the Indus script.

Biography

Parpola is a brother of the Akkadian language epigrapher Simo Parpola. He is married to Marjatta Parpola, who has authored a study on the traditions of Kerala's Nambudiri Brahmins.

Scholarship

Parpola's research and teaching interests fall within the following topics:

• Indus Civilization / Indus script and religion / Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions
• Veda / Vedic ritual / Samaveda / Jaiminiya Samaveda texts and rituals / Purva-Mimamsa
• South Asian religions / Hinduism / Saiva and Sakta tradition / Goddess Durga
• South India / Kerala / Tamil Nadu / Karnataka
• Sanskrit / Malayalam / Kannada / Tamil / Prehistory of Indian languages
• Prehistoric archaeology of South Asia and (in broad sense) Central Asia / Coming of the Aryans

Two significant contributions of Parpola, to the field of decipherment of the Indus script, are the creation of the now universally used classification of Indus valley seals, and the proposed, and much-debated, decipherment of the language of the script.

Awards

Asko Parpola received the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award for 2009 on June 23, 2010 at the World Classical Tamil Conference at Coimbatore.

Publications

Books

• 1994: Deciphering the Indus Script, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521430791
• 2015: The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-022692-3

Misc

• 2008: Is the Indus script indeed not a writing system? In: Airāvati: Felicitation volume in honour of Iravatham Mahadevan: 111–31. VARALAARU.COM, Chennai.

External links

• Asko Parpola at Harappa.com
• Kimmo 60 years at the Wayback Machine (archived September 26, 2006)