Hiranand Sastri (1878–1946) was an Indian archaeologist,

epigraphist Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

and official of the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

who was involved in the excavation of numerous sites including

Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.Sankissa Sankissa (also Sankasia, Sankassa and Sankasya) was an ancient city in India. The city came into prominence at the time of Gautama Buddha. According to a Buddhist source, it was thirty leagues from Savatthi.''Dhammapadatthakathā'', iii, 224 A ...

. His son, Sachchidananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya', was the Hindi language poet and writer.

Early life

Sastri was born in 1878 in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. He graduated from D.A.V. College,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

, winning Gold Medal for standing first in the BA examination in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

and English subjects. He obtained a MA from

Oriental College Punjab University Oriental College, commonly known as Oriental College, is an institution of oriental studies in Lahore. It is located next to Government College University, Lahore. It was founded by Adi Brahmo Samaj preacher Pundit Navin Chand ...

, Lahore (under Punjab University), and again won Gold Medal.

Career

Sastri started his career as a professor of Sanskrit and Philosophy at D.A.V. College, and later, he became

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in Sanskrit at the Punjab University, teaching Sanskrit and

Comparative Philology Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

. He passed the Honours Examination in Sanskrit and received the Master of Oriental Learning (MOL). He joined the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1903 and was appointed as an assistant archaeologist surveyor in the Northern Circle. Soon after, he was deputed by

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

, the then director general of ASI, to survey some archaeological sites in the

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

doab ''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...

, where he found some copper hoard objects. He explored and surveyed sites in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

and

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

including Rajpur Parasu,

Bithoor Bithoor or Bithur is a town in Kanpur District, by road north of the centre of Kanpur city, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Bithoor is situated on the right bank of the River Ganges, and is a centre of Hindu pilgrimage. . Bithoor is also the centre ...

, Parihar, Kullu,

Mandi Mandi may refer to: Places * Mandı, Azerbaijan India * Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir * Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh ** Mandi State, former princely s ...

and Suket. He was promoted as the Assistant Archaeologist, Librarian and Curator of the Nagpur Government Museum in 1906. He was sent to

Harappa Harappa (; Urdu/ pnb, ) is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a ...

in 1909. On 16 September 1925, he was appointed as the government epigraphist for India. He held the post till 10 October 1933. He edited some volumes of ''

Epigraphia Indica ''Epigraphia Indica'' was the official publication of Archaeological Survey of India from 1882 to 1977. The first volume was edited by James Burgess in the year 1882. Between 1892 and 1920 it was published as a quarterly supplement to '' The Ind ...

'', the official publication of ASI. He died on 4 August 1946 in

Gurdaspur Gurdaspur is a city in the Indian state of Punjab, between the rivers Beas and Ravi. It houses the administrative headquarters of Gurdaspur District and is in the geographical centre of the district, which shares a border with Pakistan. The ...

Recognition

The Punjab University awarded him the Doctor of Literature for his work ''Bhasa and the Authorship of the Thirteen Trivandrum Plays''. The

Baroda State Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its ...

awarded him the title of ''Jñānaratna''.

Selected works

* Nālandā and Its Epigraphic Material, 1942, Issue 66 of Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India * A guide to Elephanta, 1934, Kanak Publications * The Ruins Of Dabhoi Or Darbhavati In Baroda State,1940,Gaekwads Archaeological Series *

References

External links

* * 1878 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Indian archaeologists Archaeological Survey of India people {{India-bio-stub