Dev Kumar Jhanjh

Areas of Interest & Expertise

Epigraphic Studies
State Formation Process
Economic History
Environmental History of Early India up to 1300 CE

Biography

Dev obtained his PhD degree from the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2021. He completed his graduation in History (Honours), followed by Master’s and MPhil degrees in Ancient Indian History and Culture (Specialisation: Epigraphy and Numismatics) from the University of Calcutta.

He was awarded the DAAD Sandwich Fellowship by the German Academic Exchange Service, for the academic year 2018 – 19, which enabled him to pursue a part of his PhD at Martin Luther University, Germany for a year.

He is currently working on his first book, tentatively titled Coming of the State in ‘Land of the Gods’: The Early Central Himalaya.

He writes bilingually in English and Bengali. Before joining Azim Premji University, he taught history at Adamas University, Jadavpur University, West Bengal State University, and The Sanskrit College and University, West Bengal.

In 2019, the Indian History Congress announced his essay as the best paper of the Ancient India section for which he received Professor Vijay Kumar Thakur Memorial Prize. He was offered to curate a module on Indian Epigraphy for Sahapedia (an open online resource on the arts, culture, and heritage of India) in 2017.

He also worked as a research assistant for the project ‘A Geographical Glossary of Inscriptions of Eastern India’ at the Department of Sanskrit, Jadavpur University, Kolkata for three years.

Publications

Chapters in Edited Books

Jhanjh, D.K. (2023). Politics and polity in early Central Himalayan region. In D.T. Potts, E. Harkness, J. Neelis, & R. McIntosh (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History: Asia and Africa. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119399919.eahaa00577
Jhanjh, D.K. (2022). State formation and polity of Brahmapura-Kārttikeyapura in Central Himalayas (c.5^th-10^th centuries CE). In K. Hermann, & B.P. Sahu (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the State in Premodern India (pp. 261 – 277). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003242062
Jhanjh, D.K. (2022). Raja, Rastra, Rajniti: Prachin Bharatiya Prekkhit. In S. Kaustavmani and P. Nath (Eds.), Itihaser Bitarka, Bitarker Itihas: Atiter Bharat o Aajker Gobeshana (pp. 54 – 86). Ananda Publishers.
Jhanjh, D.K. (2020). The Ābhīraka Coin: Search for a new identity. In R. Mahalakshmi (Ed.), Art and History: Texts, Contexts and Visual Representations in Ancient and Early Medieval India (pp. 20 – 34). Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/art-and-history-9789388414319/

Journal Articles

Jhanjh, D.K. (2021). Adi aitihasik parve rashtragathner itihas o itihascarcar dhara. Itikotha, IX(2), 33 – 64.
Jhanjh, D.K. (2021). Politics and polity in the central Himalayan region (c. First century BCE to fourth century CE). Journal of Ancient Indian History, xxxii-xxxiii (2016 – 18), 39 – 63.
Jhanjh, D.K. (2020). Revisiting a tenth-century copper plate inscription: A Rāṣṭrakūṭa record restruck by the Paramāras. Journal of the Asiatic Society, LXII(3), 33 – 46. https://asiaticsocietykolkata.org/uploads/J._No._3_2020_PDF.pdf
Jhanjh, D.K., & Sinha, K. (2017). Reconstructing a sacred site: A story of temple building, political rise and some Brāhmaṇa governors of Gaya. Journal of Bengal Art, 22, 41 – 49.

Conference Proceedings

Jhanjh, D.K. (2018). Akṣaśālika, Akṣaśālin, and Suvarṇakāra as the engravers of copper plate charters of Odisha (c.7^th–11^th Centuries CE). Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 78, 117 – 126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26906076
Jhanjh, D.K. (2016). Footsteps of the Abhiras in Early India. Perspective Asia Pacific Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial International Conference, 74 – 81. http://iaaps.org.in/images/PV/7PV.pdf
Jhanjh, D.K. (2016). Changing social contours of the Ābhīras in early India. Procedings of Indian History Congress, 76^th session, 101 – 109. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156571

2022 1. ‘State formation and Polity of Brahmapura-Kārttikeyapura in

Central Himalayas (c.5^th

-10^th centuries CE)’ in Kulke Hermann and

B.P. Sahu (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the State in Premodern

India, Routledge, New Delhi, pp. 261 – 277. (ISBN 9780367558970)

2022 2. ‘Raja, Rastra, Rajniti: Prachin Bharatiya Prekkhit’ in Sengupta

Kaustavmani and Pratyay Nath (eds.), Itihaser Bitarka, Bitarker Itihas:

Atiter Bharat o Aajker Gobeshana, Ananda Publishers, Kolkata, pp.

54 – 86. (in Bangla) (ISBN:978 – 93-5425 – 010‑1)

2021 3. ‘Adi Aitihasik Parve Rashtragathner Itihas o Itihascarcar Dhara’,

Itikotha, vol. IX, no. 2, July Issue, pp. 33 – 64. (in Bangla) (ISSN 2320-

3447)

2021 4. ‘Politics and Polity in the Central Himalayan Region (c. First

Century BCE to Fourth Century CE)’, Journal of Ancient Indian

History, combined vols. xxxii-xxxiii (2016−18), pp. 39 – 63. (ISSN:

0075 – 4110)

2020 5. ‘Revisiting a Tenth-Century Copper Plate Inscription: A Rāṣṭrakūṭa

record Restruck by the Paramāras’, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Vol.

LXII, No. 3, pp. 33 – 46 (ISSN 0368 – 3308)

2020 6. ‘The Ābhīraka Coin: Search for a New Identity’, in Mahalakshmi,

R. (ed.), Art and History: Texts, Contexts and Visual Representations

in Ancient and Early Medieval India, Bloomsbury, New Delhi, pp. 20-

34. (ISBN: HB: 978−93−88414−29−6).

2018 7. ‘Akṣaśālika, Akṣaśālin, and Suvarṇakāra as the Engravers of Copper

Plate Charters of Odisha (c.7^th

-11^th Centuries CE)’, Proceedings of

Indian History Congress, 78^th Session, pp. 117 – 26. (ISSN: 2249 – 1937)

2017 8. ‘Reconstructing a Sacred Site: A Story of Temple Building, Political

Rise and Some Brāhmaṇa Governors of Gaya’ jointly with Kanad

Sinha in Journal of Bengal Art, vol.22, pp. 41 – 49 (ISSN: 1607 – 1344)

2017 9. ‘Paramara Kartrik Punarankita Rastrakuta Lekha: Ekti

Samiksha’ in Itihas Anusandhan, vol. xxxi, pp. 129 – 36 (in Bangla)

(ISBN: 978−81−910874−8−2)

2016 10. ‘Samaj Darpane Abhirgosthir Paribartita Pratichhabi’ in Itihas

Anusandhan, vol. xxx, pp. 175 – 81 (in Bangla) (ISBN: 978−81−910874−

7 – 5)

2016 11. ‘Footsteps of the Abhiras in Early India’ in the Volume of Indian

Association for Asian and Pacific Studies, in Perspective Asia Pacific

(Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial International Conference), pp.

74 – 81 (ISBN: 978 93 84721 57 2)

2015 12. ‘Changing Social Contours of the Ābhīras in Early India’ in

the Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 76^th session, pp.101 – 09

(ISSN: 2249 – 1937)

2015 13. ‘Political History of the Abhiras’, in Bhattacharya S.N., R.K.

Chattopadhyay and G. Bhattacharya (eds.), Sanskriti Vichitra (vol. I),

Essence of Art and Archaeology, Museum, Museology and Heritage

Management (In Honour of Dr. S.S. Biswas), Kaveri Book House,

New Delhi, pp. 84 – 90. (ISBN: 978−81−7479−183−2)

2014 14. ‘Lekhomalar Aloke Prachin Bharate Abhirader Abasthan’ in Itihas

Anusandhan, vol. xxviii, pp. 143 – 49 (in Bangla) (ISBN: 978−81−

910874−4−4).