The late Iravatham Mahadevan was India's most highly respected scholar of the un-deciphered ancient Indus script. A Tamil speaker, he has used historical linguistics and statistics to examine the Dravidian components in Vedic Sanskrit and the Indus script and is known for his breakthrough decipherments of the earliest Tamil Brahmi writing. He put together the first script concordance of Indian seals in 1970. His publications include The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977).

Dr. Gregory Possehl calls Mahadevan a "careful, methodical worker, taking care to spell out his assumptions and methods. . . 'Tentative conclusions' and 'working hypotheses' are more his style than set ideas and fait accompli" (Indus Age: The Writing System, p. 130).

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