Archaeology in India is more than a hundred years old. While numerous excavations of ancient sites have been conducted and voluminous reports on these excavations and other aspects of ancient culture have been published, very few thought it necessary to investigate the life and the culture of medieval society which was much nearer to us in respect of time – a society that has shaped modern life and customs to a large extent. Mehta (1979) was the first scholar to advocate the need to undertake archaeological investigations in the medieval period. Since then a number of developments – on the theoretical and practical spheres, have taken place. The present book Archaeology of Medieval India reviews the work so far done and brings into sharper focus the utility of this branch. It discusses sources like literature, epigraphy, numismatics, monuments, and elaborates the methodology of researches in the archaeology of medieval period. It can justly be claimed that this is the only statement of the theory and the practice of medieval archaeology of India, so far published.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Madhukar Shripad Mate
Dr. Madhukar Shripad Mate (1930- ) retired in 1990 as professor in Proto and Ancient Indian History at the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune. During his long career at the Deccan College, he has conducted numerous surveys of monuments and paintings; has participated in a number of excavations and finally was director of excavations at Daulatabad, the ancient Devgiri. He was a secretary for ten years of the prestigious Bharat Itihas Samshodhak Mandal of Pune. Dr. Mate has published a number of books in English and in Marathi apart from a large number of research papers. Some of his notable publications are: Maratha Architecture, Islamic Architecture of the Deccan, Temples and Legends of Maharashtra, Water Management and Hydraulic Technology in India; Pracheen Bharatiya Kala, Pracheen Kala Bharati, Madhyayugin Kalabharati, Madhyayugin Maharashtra: Samajik Ani Sanskritik. At present he is engaged, along with two other scholars in writing a four volume history and biography of Chhatrapati Shivaji, a project launched by the Maratha Mandir of Mumbai.
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