Ajay Mitra Shastri (5 March 1934 – 11 January 2002) was an Indian academic, historian and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

associated with the Nagpur University.

Early life and education

A. M. Shastri was born on 5 March 1934 at

Guna Guna may refer to: People * Guna people, Indigenous peoples of Panama and Colombia Philosophy * Guṇa, a Hindu philosophical concept * Guṇa (Jainism), a philosophical concept Places * Guna district, in Madhya Pradesh, India ** Guna, Indi ...

Central India Agency The Central India Agency was created in 1854, by amalgamating the Western Malwa Agency with other smaller political offices which formerly reported to the Governor-General of India. The agency was overseen by a political agent who maintained ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

). Originally named Mahendra Kumar, he spent four years at

gurukul A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a comb ...

s (residential schools) at Rajor (Faizabad) and

Ayodhya Ayodhya () is a city situated on the banks of the Sarayu river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ayodhya district as well as the Ayodhya division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ayodhya became th ...

, where he chose the name "Ajay Mitra" from a list of names suggested by his ''

acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a religious teacher in Hinduism and Buddhism and a spiritual guide to Hindus and Buddhists. The designation has different meanings i ...

'' (teacher). He subsequently joined a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

school at

Baran __NOTOC__ Baran may refer to: * Baran (name) Places Europe * Baran, Belarus, a town * Baran, Lublin Voivodeship, a village in Poland * Baran, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, a village in Poland * Uroczysko Baran killing fields near Kąkolewnica, Pol ...

in present-day

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, where he passed the ''Madhyama'' examination. He also passed the ''Visharad'' and ''Sahitya Ratna'' exams in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

language. Subsequently, he passed the Shastri examination from the Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi, and adopted "Shastri" as his last name. During this period, he also passed Matriculation and Intermediate examinations. In 1953, he obtained the ''

Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

'' degree (equivalent to

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

) with Sociology, History and Political Science specializations from the Kashi Vidyapith. In 1957, he obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in Ancient Indian History and Culture from the

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

Career

In 1957, Shastri became a lecturer at the Department of Ancient History and Culture at the Nagpur University. There, he completed

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

on ''Brhat-samhita'' of Varahamihira in 1962. He held various posts at the Nagpur University until his retirement, including

Lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

(1957–1965), Reader (1965–1977) and

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

(1977–1994). In 1980, Shastri suffered a

retinal detachment Retinal detachment is a condition where the retina pulls away from the tissue underneath it. It may start in a small area, but without quick treatment, it can spread across the entire retina, leading to serious vision loss and possibly blindness. ...

, and underwent multiple operations. Dr. Ishwarchandra, an eye specialist of Nagpur, and Dr. S. S. Badrinath, an eye surgeon of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, advised him to stop reading and writing completely in order to save his vision. However, Shastri continued to engage in these activities, and wrote several books and articles, besides editing multiple journals. He died on 11 January 2002.

Early life and education

Career

Works

References

Bibliography

Further reading