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{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
'''Govardhan Rai Sharma''' (1919–1986)<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=6595–6597 |date=2014 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2425 |last1=Singh |first1=Manoj Kumar |chapter=Sharma, Govardhan Rai |isbn=978-1-4419-0426-3 }}</ref> was a [[Historian]] from [[Allahabad University]] who led the [[Kausambi]] excavations which added to original historical research in the country. The ruins of this ancient city were found on the left bank of the river [[Yamuna]], 70 km south-west from [[Allahabad]].<ref name="Rohan L. Jayetilleke"/> Thus commenced excavations of the site by the late Prof. G.R. Sharma of the [[Allahabad University]] in 1949 and again in 1951–1956.<ref name="Rohan L. Jayetilleke">{{cite news
|url = http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/12/05/fea06.asp
|title = The Ghositarama of Kaushambi
|author = Rohan L. Jayetilleke
|work = [[Daily News (Sri Lanka)|Daily News]]
|date = 2007-12-05
|access-date = 2008-10-29
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160714/http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/12/05/fea06.asp
|archive-date = 4 June 2011
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref> Following these excavations numerous remains of the ancient city came to light.<ref name="Rohan L. Jayetilleke"/> His findings and claims have been contested by other scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Indian Archaeological Society |url=http://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.19453 |title=Purātattva. |date=1979 |publisher=Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi |pages=88–103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lal |first=Braj Basi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJPStAEACAAJ |title=Kauśāmbī: Revisited |date=2017 |publisher=Aryan Books International |isbn=978-81-7305-574-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Congress |first1=Indian Archaeological Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZEtAAAAMAAJ&q=Lal+in+the+does+not+supported+GR+Sharma |title=Indian Archaeology: New Perspectives : Proceedings of the XI Annual Congress of the Indian Archaeological Society, VI Annual Congress of the Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies, and the UGC Sponsored All-India Seminar on Protohistoric Chronology of Central India, Held at Prachya Niketan, Centre of Advanced Studies in Indology and Museology, Bhopal, March 16-18, 1980 |last2=Congress |first2=Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies |date=1982 |publisher=Agam Kala Prakashan |language=en}}</ref> He is among the [[historian]]s who brought [[archeology]] in the mainstream of studying [[History]].

Professor G.R. Sharma, had ventured to document archaeologically the destruction and burning of several settlements in the [[Ganges]] valley during the so-called invasion of the [[Indo-Greek]] king [[Menander I|Menander]] (considered to be identical with Milinda of the Buddhist tradition) in the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2021/stories/20031024001804300.htm
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081009085145/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2021/stories/20031024001804300.htm
| url-status = usurped
| archive-date = 9 October 2008
| title = Whither Indian archaeology?
| author = K.M.Shrimali
| publisher = [[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]
| date = 2003-10-11
| accessdate = 2008-01-26
}}</ref>

Professor G.R.Sharma had also discovered (in 1967) a prehistoric site near Khajuri on the river Belan, a tributary of the river [[Tons River|Tons]], in the [[Meja sub-division]] of [[Allahabad district]] of [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite book
| first = H.D.
| last = Sankalia
| title = Studies in Indian archaeology : professor H.D. Sankalia felicitation volume
| publisher = Popular Prakashan
| year = 1985
| isbn = 978-0-86132-088-2
}}</ref>

==Works==
* The excavations at Kausambi (1957–59): The defences and the Syenaciti of the Purusamedha, Dept. of Ancient History, Culture & Archaeology, [[University of Allahabad]] (1960)
* Excavations at Kausambi, 1949–50, (Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India), Manager of Publications (1969)
* Kusana Studies – Papers Presented to the International Conference on the Archaeology, History and Arts of the People of [[Central Asia]] in the Kusana Period – Dushambe (Tadjikistan) [[U.S.S.R.]] September 25 – October 4, 1968, [[University of Allahabad]] (1968)
* Beginnings of Agriculture: from Hunting and Food Gathering to Domestication of Plants and Animals : Epi-Palaeolithic to Neolithic : Excavations at [[Chopanimando|Chopani-Mando]], Mahadaha, and Mahagara, Abinash (1980)
* Excavations at Chopani-Mando, Belan Valley, 1977-79: Epipalaeolithic to protoneolothic (Archaeology of the Vindhyas and the Ganga Valley), Dept. of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, [[University of Allahabad]] (1980)
* Excavations at Mahadaha, 1977-1978: A mesolithic settlement in the Ganga Valley (Archaeology of the Vindhyas and the Ganga Valley), Dept. of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, [[University of Allahabad]] (1980)
* Excavations at Mahagara, 1977-1978: A neolithic settlement in the Belan Valley (Archaeology of the Vindhyas and the Ganga Valley), Dept. of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, [[University of Allahabad]] (1980)
* [[Reh Inscription of Menander]] and the Indo Greek Invasion of the Ganga Valley, (Studies in history, culture and archaeology / [[University of Allahabad]], Dept. of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology) Abinash Prakashan (1980)

==Edited works==
* Clark, J.D. and Sharma, G.R. (Eds.) Palaeoenvironment and Prehistory in the Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, north central India. Allahabad: Abinash Prakashan.
* Clark, J.D. with J.M. Kenoyer, J.N. Pal and G.R. Sharma. An Upper Palaeolithic shrine in India? Antiquity, 57: 88-94.
* Clark, J.D. with J.M. Kenoyer, J.N. Pal and G.R. Sharma. Baghor I: A possible Upper Palaeolithic shrine in central India. Anthroquest, 25: 1, 11-14.
* History to Prehistory : Archaeology of the Ganga Valley and the Vindhyas, General Editor: G.R. Sharma, Editorial Board: J.D. Clark & B.K. Thapar, Managing Editor: D. Mandal, Allahabad, [[University of Allahabad]], Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archaeology, 1980.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Professor G. R. Sharma: A Memorial Tribute. In (S. C. Bhattacharya et al., Eds.) Peeping Through the Past: Prof. G. R. Sharma Memorial Volume. Allahabad, University of Allahabad, Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archaeology, 2000.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, G. R.}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Indian Indologists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian archaeologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Allahabad]]
[[Category:People from Ghazipur]]
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]

G. R. Sharma - Revision history

CourtneySugden at 15:07, 19 September 2024