Dilip K. Chakrabarti is Emeritus Professor of South Asian Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology at Cambridge University. He is the first person to hold professorship in the field of ancient Indian history at that university. Before joining Cambridge, he held tenured appointments in Calcutta (1965-1977), Delhi (1977-90) and Visva Bharati (1980-81) Universities. He also held visiting fellowships, scholarships, teaching appointments and received grants in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Tehran, New York, Paris, Jahangir Nagar (Bangladesh) and Armidale (Australia). He has archaeologically surveyed the Kangra Valley, the whole of the Chhotanagpur plateau, the whole of the Ganga-Yamuna plain and Haryana-Punjab between 1980 and 2008, and has also worked out in the field the archaeology of the routes which linked the Ganga plain with the Deccan and the ancient routes of the Deccan and the southern Peninsula. It is doubtful if anybody after Alexander Cunningham in the 19th century has so far been more familiar with India's archaeological landscape than him. He has authored (co-authored in two cases) 29 books and edited/co-edited about a dozen more. He is the editor of the VIF series on the History of Ancient India. He was honoured with Padma Shri in 2019 for his distinguished contribution in the field of Indian history and archaeology.

He received V.S.Wakankar Rashtriya Samman of Madhya Pradesh government, Gurudev Ranade award of the Indian Archaeological Society, S.N. Chakrabarti medal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and Senerath Paranavitana award of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He also received D.Litt. (Honoris causa) of M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.

Contributions 
Forest and Hills People: Civilizational Issues in the Context of India S. Gurumurthy’s recent thoughts on the issue have redirected our attention to an age-old problem related to Indian history and civilization. The purpose of the present brief note is to define the problem in terms of some salient features of the res...

An Outline of the Development of Ancient Historical and Archaeological Studies in India There is a wide range of studies on this topic, often contentious in various ways. Here I shall adopt a simple factual approach, outlining how the study of ancient Indian history and archaeology has developed in different stages from the mid-18th cen...

भारतवर्ष का विचार एक ऐसे व्यक्ति के रूप में जिसको अपने भारतीय पासपोर्ट पर पाकिस्तान की यात्रा करना लगभग असंभव है, ...

The Idea of Bharatavarsha AS one who with his Indian passport finds it impossible to travel to Pakistan, I frequently treat myself to Pakistani travel videos available in ‘you tube’. I now know, for example, that Karim’s teashop in the old quarter of Gwadar at the we...

Fascist Distortion of History? Anandabazar Patrika of Kolkata has been for a long time the most widely circulated newspaper in Bengali. It is also closely linked to the political currents of West Bengal or more accurately, to the political party in power in that state. It h...

Book Published / Book Reviews 
History of Ancient India-VIII : Sculpture, Painting, Terracottas, Performing Arts and Architecture The present volume provides a thorough and meticulous introduction to India’s sculpture, painting, terracottas, performing arts and architecture. In each case the coverage is extensive, supported by detailed references and should lead to further re...

Debating Culture; Anirban Ganguly; D K Printworld (P) Ltd, New Delhi, 2013; PP 158; Price Rs 400 Dr Anirban Ganguly’s book Debating Culture discusses the concept of culture in the writings of several outstanding national thinkers. He begins with Swami Vivekananda who had a very catholic and wide interest in both world and Indian art...

Contact Us