Vishwambhar Sharan Pathak (1926–2003) was a historian,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

scholar and an

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is o ...

who authored several books. Pathak was born at

Narmadapuram Hoshangabad, officially known as Narmadapuram is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Hoshangabad district and Narmadapuram division. It is located in central India, on the south ...

in 1926. He completed his first PhD from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in the mid fifties. In 1957-58 he served as co-editor (with Prof RB Pandey) of the bulletin ''Bharati'' of the Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology of BHU. In the late fifties he moved to

Sagar University Dr. Hari Singh Gour University (Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya), formerly and more popularly known as Sagar University or University of Saugor, is a central university in the city of Sagar, the state of Madhya Pradesh or (MP), India. It wa ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

as a member of faculty at the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology. Pathak completed his second PhD in the early sixties under the Indologist A. L. Basham at

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. V.S. Pathak served as Head of the Department of History, Archaeology and Culture and also as Vice Chancellor of Gorakhpur University. He was invited to deliver the ''Professor Jagannath Agrawal memorial lecture'' (started in 1994) at the Punjab University, Chandigarh. Pathak died on 19 December 2003. During his last days, he was annotating Bhoja's ''Tattva-Prakasha'' and two commentaries on it.

Selected works

* Pathak, V.S. (1960), History of Saiva Cults in Northern India from Inscriptions (700 AD to 1200 AD), Published by Ram Naresh Varma, Printed at The Tara Printing Works, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. * Pathak, V.S. (1966), Ancient Historians of India; a study in historical biographies, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, India. * Pathak, V.S. (1987), Smarta religious tradition: Being a study of the epigraphic data on Smarta religious tradition of northern India c.600 AD to c.1200 AD, Kusumanjali Prakashan, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. * Pathak, V.S. (1992), Desh ke Abhidhan (in Hindi), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Reviewed work

* V.S.Pathak (1968), Review: Ancient Historians of India. A Study in Historical Biographies,

Journal of the American Oriental Society The ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the olde ...

, Vol 88, No 2, page 374.

References

1926 births 2003 deaths Indian Indologists Indian Sanskrit scholars People from Hoshangabad 20th-century Indian historians Scholars from Madhya Pradesh {{india-historian-stub