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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox academic
| birth_date = {{birth date|1898|09|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mhakave]], [[Kolhapur district]], [[Bombay Presidency]] (now part of [[Maharashtra]])
| death_date = {{death date and age|1960|11|25|1898|09|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], India
|discipline=Historian|workplaces={{Plainlist|
* [[Banaras Hindu University]]
* [[Patna University]]
}}|alma_mater=[[Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute|Deccan College]]}}

'''Anant Sadashiv Altekar''' (24 September 1898 – 25 November 1960;<ref name="jnsi"/> {{Lang-mr|अनंत सदाशिव अळतेकर}}) was a historian, [[archaeologist]], and [[numismatist]] from [[Maharashtra]], India.<ref name="iow"/> He was the [[Manindra Chandra Nandy]]'s Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture at [[Banaras Hindu University]] in [[Varanasi]], India,<ref name="vga">{{citation|url=http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDK441/|access-date=13 September 2009|title=The Vakataka-Gupta Age|first1=Ramesh Chandra|last1=Majumdar|first2=Anant Sadashiv|last2=Altekar|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-208-0043-4|year=2007}}. Reprint of 1946 edition.</ref><ref name="cci"/> and later the director of the Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute<ref>{{citation|title=Imagining India|first=Ronald B.|last=Inden|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-253-21358-7|page=150}}.</ref> and University Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at the [[Patna University]],<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/u/45/3Z/453Z0J01.htm |contribution=First Lap of the Tour Programme |title=Report of the Sanskrit Commission 1956–1957 |access-date=13 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416221749/http://education.nic.in/cd50years/u/45/3Z/453Z0J01.htm |archive-date=16 April 2009 |df=dmy }}.</ref> both in [[Patna]], India.

==Early life==
Anant Sadashiv Altekar was born into a [[Deshastha Brahmin|Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin]] family on 24 September 1898 in [[Mhakave]], a village in [[Kolhapur district]], [[Maharashtra]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Churning the Indian past: Dr. A.S. Alteker birth centenary anniversary volume|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2gMAQAAMAAJ|author1=Anant Sadashiv Altekar|author2=Brajdeo Prasad Roy|publisher=Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute|year=2003|page=vii}}</ref><ref>Professor Anant Sadashiv Altekar commemoration volume", Journal of the Numismatic Society of India, 22, 1960</ref><ref>Moraes, G., 1959, January. PANEGYRIC UPON THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE LATE Dr. AS ALTEKAR. In Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (pp. 8-12). Indian History Congress.</ref>

==Work in archeology==
In 1936, at the invitation of the local government, he conducted an archaeological and historical survey of [[Kotah]], and made many discoveries there, including the excavation of many old forts and temples; the most important of his discoveries from this expedition were three stone pillars dated to the year 295 of the [[Bikram Samwat|Vikrama Era]] (AD 238), the second-oldest Vikrama inscriptions known.<ref name="cci">{{citation|title=Cultural contours of India: Dr. Satya Prakash felicitation volume|pages=40–41, 61|editor-first=Vijai Shankar|editor-last=Srivastava|publisher=Abhinav Publications|year=1981|isbn=978-0-391-02358-1}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Science Notes {{ndash}} Archaeological Discoveries in Kotah State|journal=Current Science|page=899|date=June 1936|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/jarch/currsci/4/898-903.pdf}}</ref> From 1951 to 1955 he led another excavation at [[Kumhrar]], under the auspices of the Jayaswal Institute; his discoveries there confirmed the theories of [[David Brainard Spooner]] that the site, which Altekar described as "probably the earliest huge stone-pillared structure to be built by Indian architects", was a relic of the [[Maurya Empire]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.asi.nic.in/asi_exca_imp_bihar.asp|title=Excavation sites in Bihar|publisher=[[Archaeological Survey of India]]|access-date=13 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028011257/http://asi.nic.in/asi_exca_imp_bihar.asp|archive-date=28 October 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|first1=A. S.|last1=Altekar|first2=V.|last2=Mishra|title=Report on Kumrahar Excavations 1951–1955}}.</ref> On display at the [[Patna Museum]] is a casket excavated by Altekar at a Buddhist monastery near [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaishali]] in 1958, said to contain the ashes of the [[Buddha]].<ref>{{citation|title=Holy ashes fail to attract pilgrims|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-03-01/patna/27267355_1_buddhist-pilgrims-holy-ashes-patna-museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910094311/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-03-01/patna/27267355_1_buddhist-pilgrims-holy-ashes-patna-museum|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 September 2013|date=1 March 2003|first=Pranava K.|journal=[[The Times of India]]|last=Chaudhary}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Buddha's bones on display to public|date=16 May 2003|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200305/s856054.htm|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]}}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Bihar 'no' to Lanka's plea for Buddha relic |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-05-27/patna/27806863_1_relic-xuanzang-memorial-nav-nalanda-mahavihara |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717011405/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-05-27/patna/27806863_1_relic-xuanzang-memorial-nav-nalanda-mahavihara |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 July 2012 |date=27 May 2006 |first=Pranava K. |journal=[[The Times of India]] |last=Chaudhary }} .</ref>

==Study of the history of education in India==
Altekar corresponded in 1932 with [[Gandhi]] concerning [[Hinduism]] and the [[Dalit|untouchable]] castes.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.gandhiserve.org/correspondence/1932.html|title=www.gandhiserve.org/correspondence/1932.html|publisher=GandhiServe Foundation|access-date=13 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101111436/http://www.gandhiserve.org/correspondence/1932.html|archive-date=1 November 2009|url-status=dead}}.</ref> His 1934 book ''Education in Ancient India''<ref>The Indian Book Shop, 1934; 7th ed., [[Manohar Prakashan]], 1975</ref><ref>Review by Paul Frederick Cressey, ''[[American Journal of Sociology]]'' '''40'''(3): 424, 1934, {{doi|10.1086/216811}}.</ref> provided a comprehensive review of all aspects of [[History of education in the Indian subcontinent|education in India]] until around AD 1200, with some additional treatment of topics up to the start of the [[British Raj]].<ref name=raghavan>[http://www.yabaluri.org/TRIVENI/CDWEB/Reviews_nov33.htm Review by V. Raghavan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222337/http://www.yabaluri.org/TRIVENI/CDWEB/Reviews_nov33.htm |date=8 October 2011 }}, ''Triveni'', Nov.-Dec. 1933, retrieved 14 September 2009.</ref> In his book, Altekar collected extensive historical information on education in India from [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit]], Brahminic, [[Pali literature|Pali]] and [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist]] literature, along with inscriptions and accounts by foreign travellers. He also included defects in his study in the last chapter.<ref name=raghavan/> In the book, Altekar proposes a theory of steady decline in Indian literacy from an earlier golden age, which later scholars such as Hartmut Scharfe dismissed as "sheer phantasy".<ref name=rocher>{{citation|first1=Ludo|last1=Rocher|title=Review of ''Education in Ancient India'' (2002) by Hartmut Scharfe|journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]]|volume=124|issue=1|year=2004|pages=197–199|doi=10.2307/4132197|publisher=[[American Oriental Society]]|last2=Scharfe|first2=Hartmut|jstor=4132197}}.</ref> Scharfe called Altekar an apologist, that his anti-British theory may have been influenced by his participation in the freedom struggle against British colonialism in 1930s when the book was first published. Scharfe acknowledges Altekar collected useful historical information.<ref name=rocher/><ref>{{citation|first=Hartmut|last=Scharf|title=Education in Ancient India (Handbook of Oriental Studies)|volume=16|publisher=Brill Academic|year=2002|pages=64–70}}</ref>

==Other academic projects==
Altekar's book ''The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization From Prehistoric Times to the Present Day'' (1938)<ref>2nd ed., [[Motilal Banarsidass]], 1959; Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59740-263-7}}.</ref> was the first historical survey of the status of [[women in India]].<ref name="iow">{{citation|title=Images of Women in Maharashtrian Society|first=Anne|last=Feldhaus|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7914-3659-2|page=266}}.</ref>

Altekar's other books include

* ''The Vakataka-Gupta Age'',<ref name="vga" />
* ''State and Government in Ancient India'',<ref>3rd ed., Motilal Banarsidass, 1958. Textbook Publishers, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-7581-7992-0}}.</ref>
* ''[[Rashtrakutas|Rāshṭrakūṭas]] and their times'',<ref>Oriental Book Agency, 1967.</ref>
* ''History of Benares'',<ref>Culture Publication House, Benares Hindu University, 1937.</ref>
* and several books on [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] [[coin]]age.<ref>{{OL author|9771A |cname=Anant Sadashiv-Altekar }}.</ref>

In 1947 Altekar was elected the first chairman of the [[Numismatic Society of India]],<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.bhu.ac.in/aihc/ins.htm|title=Numismatic Society of India|access-date=13 September 2009}}.</ref> and in 1960 the ''Journal of the Numismatic Society of India'' published a commemorative volume in his honour.<ref name="jnsi">{{citation|title=Professor Anant Sadashiv Altekar commemoration volume|journal=Journal of the Numismatic Society of India|volume=22|year=1960}}.</ref> Altekar also chaired the All India Oriental Conference in 1958.<ref>{{citation|title=The Story of a Centenarian|first=Bhavana|last=Pankaj|date=2 February 2003|journal=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030202/spectrum/book7.htm}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altekar, Anant Sadashiv}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University faculty]]
[[Category:Scientists from Maharashtra]]

Anant Sadashiv Altekar - Revision history

>GreenC bot at 15:07, 16 April 2021