Meeting the challenge to decode a 400-yr-old DNA
Addressing the nation through ‘Mann ki Baat’ on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared how Indian researchers uncovered the relic of a 16th-century Georgian queen, Ketevan the Martyr, from St Augustine Church in Goa in 2005 and how external affairs minister S Jaishankar permanently handed over the relic to the government of Georgia and its people in a recent programme.
Sunday’s ‘Mann ki Baat’, however, acted as no less than a time machine for Neeraj Rai, a senior scientist and group head at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow. He was the man who unravelled the mystery of the 400-year-old relic (in the form of a bone) lying buried in the ruins of St Augustine church in Goa and confirmed that it was of Ketevan, the queen of Kakheti, Georgia, who was murdered at Shiraz in Iran in 1624 and earned the title of ‘martyr’ because it is believed she gave up her life defending the Christist,
said Sunday’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ took him almost 22 years back when the mystery of the Georgian queen’s relic came under international spotlight and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began its excavation in the ruins of St Augustine church in Goa. “I remember the time when I heard that the ASI had started excavation work to find the queen’s relic. It was fascinating and I always wanted to be a part of the discovery. At that time, I never thought that I would be the one to carry out its DNA analysis,” said Neeraj.
However, after years of excavation work, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) eventually found the relic that was in the form of a bone. But the problem was that instead of one, they found three bones and now the question arose as to which one was of the queen.
“We made the discovery in 2004-05. While excavating at around 8 to 10 metres deep in the ruins of St Augustine church, Goa, mentioned in literary evidence, we found three bones. Now the question was which one belonged to the (CCMB), took the subject as his PHD topic. “I started working on the relic in 2012 and started with DNA analysis,” said Neeraj.
Prior to Rai, a few more researchers and scientists tried to decode the mystery but failed to extract the DNA from the holy relic. “The biggest challenge before me was to find out which was the queen’s bone.
Initially, we tried to match the DNA samples with around 22,000 samples of the people of India that are in our data base. It was found that two bones
DNA samples from the people of Georgia matched with one of the three bones.
Not only this, but we also tried to find out the gender of the person to whom the bone belonged. And it was found that this bone belonged to a woman, while the other two were of men. Hence, going by literary evidence and DNA analysis, we confirmed that the relic belonged to queen Ketevan,” Neeraj added. Along with Neeraj Rai, Dr Thangraj, director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnosis (CDFD) and professor Gyanesh
According literary evidence, in 16 the emperor of Persia Sh Abbas I led an army to co quer the Georgian kingdo of Kakheti. King of Kakh Teimouraz paid tribute the emperor but mai tained autonomy and t Christian orthodox re gion. The Georgians se the king’s mother, Que Ketevan and her two so to negotiate for peace. T emperor ad them arrest and taken in chains Shiraz, the then Persi capital. Ketevan was told convert to Islam but resisting she was tortur and finally strangled death on September 2 1624. Four months later Friar named Ambrosio d Anjos unearthed her bo amid great secrecy and se it to the Augustinian co vent in Aspaan, furth south in Persia.
Around Februar