Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia Biography 
Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia was an Indian archaeologist from Maharashtra, who lived during the period, 10 December 1908 – 28 January 1989. A recipient of Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1966, his name is counted among the pioneer Indian archeologists of all time for his excavation techniques. His research works on Prehistoric period in India are regarded as his timeless contributions. He published most of his research works as research papers and books.
Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia was born in Mumbai on 10 December 1908. But his family originally belongs to Gujarat, who has migrated to Mumbai. He was born into a family of lawyers. He was a frail infant, who was not expected to live long. But miracles can happen any time, and he lived a long life of 80 years, giving some outstanding contributions to the field of Indian archeology.
During his teens, at the age of 15, he read Lokmanya Tilak’s The Arctic Home in the Vedas, and he got interested to know more about Aryas and their history. He later took Sanskrit and Mathematics as main subjects for graduation studies, to know more about Aryas. It was the beginning. He wrote an article on ‘Kundamala’ and ‘Uttararamacarita’, in which he convincingly proved that Dinnaga, the author of Kundamala influenced the author of the latter. He did his master’s in Ancient Indian History. For his Dissertation, he took Nalanda as the subject.
He enrolled himself at the University of London for his PhD, and once returned he joined Deccan College as Professor in 1939. Historical site of Kolhapur was excavated in the 1950s, and he also did explorations in the Pravara valley at Nevasa. He also conducted excavations at Nasik – Jorwe, Maheshwar – Navdatoli, Nevasa etc. He also conducted research works on early man of Kashmir. After retirement, he became Professor Emeritus in the Department, and continued with his research works.
Published: July 23, 2018
Updated: July 23, 2018
