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Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia
Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (10 December 1908 – 28 January 1989) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and archaeologist specialising in proto- and ancient Indian history. He is considered to have pioneered archaeological excavation techniques in India, with several significant discoveries from the prehistoric period to his credit. Sankalia received the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak award in 1966. And also received Padma Bhushan in the year 1974.
Sankalia was born in Mumbai into a family of lawyers hailing from Gujarat. A frail infant, he was not expected to survive.
At fifteen, Sankalia read the Gujarati translation of Lokmanya Tilak's The Arctic Home in the Vedas. Although he understood little of the book (p. 6), he was determined to "do something to know about the Aryans in India" (ibid.).[This quote needs a citation] To this end, Sankalia decided to emulate Tilak and study Sanskrit and mathematics. He received a B.A. degree in Sanskrit, and received the Chimanlal Ranglal Prize. Sankalia made Indian prehistory his life's work, and never lost sight of the origin of the Indo-Aryan peoples. (1962c: 125; 1963a: 279–281; 1974: 553–559; 1978a: 79, etc.). He studied English, which introduced him to textual criticism (p. 7), and wrote an article on Kundamala and the Uttararamacarita in which he convincingly proved that Dinnaga (author of the former) influenced Bhavabhuti (author of the latter). Bengali scholar K. K. Dutt arrived at similar conclusion independently of Sankalia.
Sankalia studied ancient Indian history for his M. A. degree at the new Indian Historical Research Institute (now the Heras Institute),[citation needed] and worked on the ancient university at Nalanda for his M.A. dissertation. His dissertation included chapters on history, art and architecture, iconography and the influence of the Nalanda school of art on Greater India (particularly Java). Sankalia visited a number of sites, and studied Buddhism with B. Bhattacharya (p. 10). These studies led to his later study of Gujarat. He passed the LLB examinations at the request of his father and uncle (who were both lawyers), and was expected to follow them (cf. pp. 10, 13, 28). However, Sankalia decided to go to England for his doctoral degree. He wrote an essay, "Caitya caves in the Bombay Presidency", which earned the Bhagwan Lal Indraji prize.[citation needed]
Sankalia captained a cricket team on College Day. He also enjoyed kite-flying and gardening.
Sankalia left for England, and enrolled at the University of London for his PhD on the archaeology of Gujarat. He studied under Bernard Ashmole (Roman classical archaeology), Sidney Smith (Sumerian language), K. de B. Codrington (museology), F. J. Richards (Indian archaeology) and R. E. M. Wheeler (field archaeology) (p. 18).
From Richards, Sankalia learnt geography, geology, anthropology, ethnography and toponymy. He focused on the latter, applying it to inscriptions in Gujarat and elsewhere (Sankalia 1942a; 1984). Sankalia encouraged his students to pursue toponymy, opening a new field in Indian archaeology.
Wheeler, who was excavating at the site of Maiden Castle, Dorset and had perfected his field techniques (begun in 1921), was a significant influence. He lectured on field techniques, in addition to providing practical training. Sankalia said about Wheeler's training, "The training was brief, lasting just about a month or so, but it was of immense importance for my future career. I learnt here, not only what was stratigraphical digging and drawing a section and three-dimensional recording of finds [...] but was also made aware of the necessity of minute-to-minute supervision of the trench under one's charge for [...] at any moment the layer might change and [which should] be noted as early as possible" (pp. 26–27). Sankalia (cf. pp. 112 ff.; 1938; and his popular articles), influenced by Wheeler, was a proponent of popular archaeology.
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Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia
Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (10 December 1908 – 28 January 1989) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and archaeologist specialising in proto- and ancient Indian history. He is considered to have pioneered archaeological excavation techniques in India, with several significant discoveries from the prehistoric period to his credit. Sankalia received the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak award in 1966. And also received Padma Bhushan in the year 1974.
Sankalia was born in Mumbai into a family of lawyers hailing from Gujarat. A frail infant, he was not expected to survive.
At fifteen, Sankalia read the Gujarati translation of Lokmanya Tilak's The Arctic Home in the Vedas. Although he understood little of the book (p. 6), he was determined to "do something to know about the Aryans in India" (ibid.).[This quote needs a citation] To this end, Sankalia decided to emulate Tilak and study Sanskrit and mathematics. He received a B.A. degree in Sanskrit, and received the Chimanlal Ranglal Prize. Sankalia made Indian prehistory his life's work, and never lost sight of the origin of the Indo-Aryan peoples. (1962c: 125; 1963a: 279–281; 1974: 553–559; 1978a: 79, etc.). He studied English, which introduced him to textual criticism (p. 7), and wrote an article on Kundamala and the Uttararamacarita in which he convincingly proved that Dinnaga (author of the former) influenced Bhavabhuti (author of the latter). Bengali scholar K. K. Dutt arrived at similar conclusion independently of Sankalia.
Sankalia studied ancient Indian history for his M. A. degree at the new Indian Historical Research Institute (now the Heras Institute),[citation needed] and worked on the ancient university at Nalanda for his M.A. dissertation. His dissertation included chapters on history, art and architecture, iconography and the influence of the Nalanda school of art on Greater India (particularly Java). Sankalia visited a number of sites, and studied Buddhism with B. Bhattacharya (p. 10). These studies led to his later study of Gujarat. He passed the LLB examinations at the request of his father and uncle (who were both lawyers), and was expected to follow them (cf. pp. 10, 13, 28). However, Sankalia decided to go to England for his doctoral degree. He wrote an essay, "Caitya caves in the Bombay Presidency", which earned the Bhagwan Lal Indraji prize.[citation needed]
Sankalia captained a cricket team on College Day. He also enjoyed kite-flying and gardening.
Sankalia left for England, and enrolled at the University of London for his PhD on the archaeology of Gujarat. He studied under Bernard Ashmole (Roman classical archaeology), Sidney Smith (Sumerian language), K. de B. Codrington (museology), F. J. Richards (Indian archaeology) and R. E. M. Wheeler (field archaeology) (p. 18).
From Richards, Sankalia learnt geography, geology, anthropology, ethnography and toponymy. He focused on the latter, applying it to inscriptions in Gujarat and elsewhere (Sankalia 1942a; 1984). Sankalia encouraged his students to pursue toponymy, opening a new field in Indian archaeology.
Wheeler, who was excavating at the site of Maiden Castle, Dorset and had perfected his field techniques (begun in 1921), was a significant influence. He lectured on field techniques, in addition to providing practical training. Sankalia said about Wheeler's training, "The training was brief, lasting just about a month or so, but it was of immense importance for my future career. I learnt here, not only what was stratigraphical digging and drawing a section and three-dimensional recording of finds [...] but was also made aware of the necessity of minute-to-minute supervision of the trench under one's charge for [...] at any moment the layer might change and [which should] be noted as early as possible" (pp. 26–27). Sankalia (cf. pp. 112 ff.; 1938; and his popular articles), influenced by Wheeler, was a proponent of popular archaeology.
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