James Burgess (14 August 1832Hayavadana Rao, C. (Ed.) (1915
''The Indian biographical dictionary 1915''.
Madras: Pillar & Co., pp. 71-72. At Wikisource. – 3 October 1916), was the founder of ''

The Indian Antiquary ''The Indian Antiquary: A journal of oriental research in archaeology, history, literature, language, philosophy, religion, folklore, &c, &c'' (subtitle varies) was a journal of original research relating to India, published between 1872 and 19 ...

'' in 1872 Temple, Richard Carnac. (1922)
Fifty years of The Indian Antiquary
'. Mazgaon, Bombay: B. Miller, British India Press, p. 3. and an important archaeologist of India in the 19th century.

Life

Burgess was born on 14 August 1832 in

Kirkmahoe Kirkmahoe is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway. The parish contains the settlements Kirkton, where the parish church is located, Dalswinton and Duncow. It is bounded by the parishes of Dumfries to the south, Holywood and Dunscore to th ...

, Dumfriesshire. He was educated at Dumfries and then the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He did educational work in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, 1856 and

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, 1861, and was Secretary of the Bombay Geographical Society 1868–73. He was Head of the Archaeological Survey, Western India, 1873, and of South India, 1881. From 1886 to 1889 he was Director General,

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

. In 1881 the

awarded him an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

(LLD). He retired to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

around 1892. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1894. He won its Keith Medal for 1897–99, and served as their Vice President 1908 to 1914. He died on 3 October 1916, at 22 Seton Place in Edinburgh.

Selected publications

*''The Temples of Shatrunjaya''. 1869. *''The Rock Temples of Elephanta''. 1871. *''Temples of Somanath, Gunagadh and Girnar''. 1870. *''Scenery and Architecture in Guzarat and Rajputana''. 1873. *''Notes on Ajanta paintings''. 1879. *''The Cave Temples of India''. 1880. (With James Fergusson) *''Archaeological Survey of Western India''. 9 vols., 1874 - 1905. *''Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati, etc.'' 1887. *''Antiquities of Dabhoi''. 1888. *''The Sharqi Architecture of Jaiinpur''. 1889. (Editor) *''Archaeological Research in India''. 1890. *''

Epigraphia Indica ''Epigraphia Indica'' was the official publication of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1882 to 1977. The first volume was edited by James Burgess in the year 1882. Between 1892 and 1920 it was published as a quarterly supplement to ...

''. 1889–94. (2 vols.) *''On Hindu Astronomy''. 1893. *''Constable's Hand-Gazetteer of India''. 1898. *''Hypsometry by Boiling-point''. 1858 and 1863. *''Transliteration of Indian Place-names''. 1868, 1894–95. *''On the Error-function Definite Integral''. 1898. (awarded the Keith medal, R.S.E.) *''The Gandhara Sculptures''. 1899 and 1900. *''Buddhist Art in India''. 1901. (enlarged translation) *''The Indian Sect of the Jainas''. 1903. (translated and edited) *''Fergusson's Indian and Eastern Architecture''. 1919. (enlarged edition)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, James 1832 births 1916 deaths Scottish archaeologists Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Directors general of the Archaeological Survey of India Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh