Dr Sushma Jansari is a British Indian historian specialising in the

Mauryan period The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

and collecting histories. She is the Tabor Foundation curator South Asia at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and Vice Chair of Trustees of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. Jansari is also the founder and presenter of ''The Wonder House''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

and a former council member and honorary joint-secretary of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

Education

Jansari studied ancient history at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, graduating with a BA in 2005 and MA in 2006. She undertook postgraduate research at this institution, completing her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) degree in 2016 with a thesis titled "From Megasthenes to Sophytes: A re-examination of literary and numismatic sources for Seleucid-Mauryan relations in British and Indian scholarship".

Career

While working on her PhD, Jansari joined the British Museum's Department of Asia and curated the ancient to mediaeval displays in the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery for China and South Asia (opened 2017). In 2018, she was appointed Tabor Foundation curator of South Asia, becoming the first person of Indian origin to hold a permanent role curating the South Asian collections. Jansari was lead curator (2016-2022) for the

Manchester Museum Manchester Museum is a museum displaying works of archaeology, anthropology and natural history and is owned by the University of Manchester, in England. Sited on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road (A34 road, A34) at the heart of the university's group ...

South Asia Gallery, a British Museum Partnership which opened in 2023. She was the first Indian origin woman to join the

Council (2012-2018) and hold the post of honorary joint-secretary. She introduced annual student and early career scholar lectures to the society. As a curator of Gujarati origin, Jansari was featured in the Roots and Changes - Gujarati Influences exhibition at Brent Museum and Archives in 2021. Her book, ''Chandragupta Maurya: The Creation of a National Hero in India'', was published by UCL Press in June 2023. The exhibition
Ancient India: living traditions
' by Jansari, about art and religion in ancient South Asia, at

The British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

opens in May 2025. The exhibition book also titled
Ancient India: living traditions
' will also be released in May 2025.

Podcaster

In 2019, Jansari launched ''The Wonder House'' podcast. She founded, presents and produces this show.

Select Publications

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References

External links

The oldest dateable depiction of the Buddha in human form, British Museum Curator's Corner Season 4, Episode 6.

Dr Sushma Jansari talks about Challenging Stereotypes of Difference at TEDx.

Audio described tour of the South Asia section of the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery for China and South Asia, led by Dr Sushma Jansari and Di Langford.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansari, Sushma Living people Employees of the British Museum Alumni of University College London Historians of South Asia Historians of India British women historians British women curators British art curators British numismatists Women numismatists Year of birth missing (living people)