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FORMATIVE YEARS Born in 1941 in village Done (Dist Siwan) on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Sachchidanand Sahai did his graduation from D.A.College, Siwan (1957-59) where he was privileged to be a disciple of Professor B.B. Mishra, an eminent historian famous for his book the Indian Middle Class. His zeal to understand the dynamics of Indian culture led him to Banaras Hindu University where he joined the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology in the College of Indology for his postgraduate studies (1960- 62). One of the subjects for his postgraduate specialization was the Greater India Studies. Sahai distinguished himself as a brilliant alumnae of Banaras Hindu University, getting the first position in the first class and winning A.S. Altekar Gold Medal for the year 1962.

SORBONNE (PARIS) YEARS UNFOLDING OF INDIA –CAMBODIA RELATIONS Sahai soon realized that the study of neighboring South East Asian countries within the framework of Greater India Studies was neither sufficient nor scientifically appropriate. The neighboring nations in the region –Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia—which had gained independence in the wake of decolonization—expected that India should treat them as equal partners in shaping the destiny of Asia and monitoring the world peace. The concept of Greater India unduly overemphasized the role of India without taking into consideration the local genius, languages, culture and national aspirations of the people of the area. Leaving the trodden path leading to the British universities, Sahai chose Paris University (Sorbonne) for his doctoral researches with an intention to master the French language and to pursue studies of Khmer, a major language of the Austroasiatc family to which Munda and Khasi languages of India belong. At the National School of Oriental Languages, Paris he followed the courses of Old Khmer (Cambodian) language with eminent Cambodian scholar Professor Au-Chieng and Modern Khmer (Cambodian) with another well-known Cambodian scholar Professor Saveros Pou. He had rare opportunity at the Paris University to work under the supervision of Professor George Coedes for his Ph.D. research on political institutions and administrative organization of ancient Cambodia. Gaining fluency in French language, Sahai wrote his thesis in French entitled Les institutions politiques et l’organisation administrative du Cambodge ancien. In 1969, he was awarded a Ph.D. degree for this thesis. The French School of Far East, Paris (Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient) considered his doctoral writing as the original piece of research and published it in French with the above title in 1971 in its prestigious series of EFEO. This work remains a fundamental writing on ancient Cambodian political institutions which has been continuously cited and referred to by the successive generations of Cambodian and international scholarship for the last forty years. This is one of the few publications in French by an Indian scholar which analyses the Indo-Cambodian cultural relations in a balanced way, taking into account both the Sanskrit sources and Cambodian/Indian language sources of ancient Cambodia. Even after a prolonged stay of about five years in Paris and in spite of exemplary success in the French academic milieu Sahai opted to return to India to work on his mission of forming a new generation of young Indian scholars able to handle both Indian and Southeast Asian sources to unravel our past cultural relations and to shape our future relations with this important region of Asia.

PROMOTION OF INDIA-LAOS CULTURAL RELATIONS In 1971, Sahai was nominated by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to work as Visiting Professor of Asian Civilization at Vientiane where he taught for two years at Si Savang Vong University. Taking advantage of this assignment, he gained fluency in Lao language both ancient and modern and mastered the old script of the country. On the recommendation of Indian Embassy in Vientiane, Indian Council for Cultural Relations initiated a Lao Language and Literature Project under which he worked on the two old manuscripts of the Lao version of the Ramayana and a third manuscript on the Puranic story of Krishna. The following were the three manuscripts: 1. The Phra Lak Phra Lam or the Rama Jataka, a Laotian rewriting of the Ramayana 2. The Khvay Thuaraphi or the Story of Dundubhi, a Laotian adaptation of the story of Kiskindhakanda of Valmiki Ramayana. 3. The Phra Keut Phra Phan or the story of Krishna and Bana from the Purana.

1. The first manuscript consisted of four thousand palm-leaves in recto-verso written in the Old Khmer script. Sahai patiently deciphered this huge manuscript for two years, established the text in modern Laotian language, after comparing the six parallel manuscripts. The Laotian version of Ramayana thus edited by Sahai was published in two volumes (800 pages) under the joint auspices of Indian Embassy, Vientiane and Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi. His Highness Prince Souvanna Phouma, the then Prime Minister of Laos wrote a preface to these two volumes and appreciated the contribution of Sahai to the promotion of India- Laos cultural Relations under the joint aegis of ICCR and Indian Embassy. His Excellency Alfred Gonsalves, Indian Ambassador to Laos wrote a second preface to this two volume monumental book, testifying to the academic contribution of Sahai and its applied value for the strengthening India’s relationship with Laos which was of great strategic importance for India when the Vietnam-war was still going on. On suggestion of Sahai the Indian Embassy and Indian Council for Cultural Relations agreed to publish one thousand copies of these two volumes for free distribution to the Buddhist monasteries. This made a great impact since Rama is considered as the Bodhisattva and the ideal ruler of Laos. A deluxe edition of 500 copies of this publication was made for sale. All 1500 copies of this book are either distributed or sold. This book has made a great impact in Laos because it is widely believed that Rama was born in Vientiane in Laos where he ruled as an ideal ruler upholding the customs and manners of the people of Laos. The popularity of the book did not diminish during the communist regime. A Phra Lak Phra Lam Theatre was established in the Royal Palace which was turned into a museum in the new regime. The Theatre has made a written request to the Indian Embassy to bring out a second addition of the book. After his return to India in 1973 Sahai continued to work on the two volumes of the Laotian Ramayana, the Phra Lak Phra Lam, preparing its English translation and a critical study. To complete this work he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at the Cornell University, Ithaca. He devoted almost two decades to this study. In 1996, it was published in two volumes with the title The Rama Jataka in Laos by a reputed Delhi publisher. 2. The second manuscript was personally obtained by Sahai from His Majesty Si Savang Vatthana, the King of Laos. His Majesty granted him an audience on and loaned him this valuable manuscript from his personal collection for further research on this text. A Study of this text under the title The Ramayana in Laos was published in 1976 from New Delhi. A preface to this book was written by the eminent linguist and the National Professor Suniti Kumar Chaterjee. The book has become so popular that its second edition has been recently brought out from New Delhi. 3. The third manuscript present a Laotian version of the Indian Puranic story of Usha, the daughter of the demon-king Bana and Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna and describes their love story and war between Bana and Krishna. Bana is the king of the right bank of the Mekong and Krishna of the left bank of the Mekong. All the three texts clearly demonstrate the process of borrowing of Indic themes and their radical localization and naturalization to serve as the powerful mediums for the expression of national cultures of the region. FOUNDING OF THE SOUTH EAST ASIAN REVIEW In 1930s the contemporary Indian academicians established the Greater India Society under the patronage of Rabindranath Tagore and launched a research journal entitled Journal of Greater India Society. This journal focused on the study of India and Southeast Asia cultural relations. However, after a short span of twenty years the journal had to be stopped, since the very title of the journal created ill-will in the newly independent neighboring countries. Many eminent academicians wished to revive the Journal of Greater India Society. But Sahai saw the flaw and fallacy of the Greater India concept. In its place he outlined the concept of regional cooperation and sharing of cultural and intellectual heritage between India and South East Asia. To promote studies with this cohesive approach he founded the biannual research journal entitled The South East Asian Review in 1976 under the auspices of Asian Trust. With the cooperation of national and international scholars and under the editorship of Sahai the journal has now successfully completed its 36 years of existence, continuously focusing on all aspects of cooperation between India and South East Asia: social, economic and cultural. A number of areas of regional, cultural and economic cooperation have been taken up by the journal in the past years.

PROMOTION OF THAI STUDIES In 1981, Sahai founded the International Conference of Thai Studies and convened its first session in New Delhi under the joint auspices of Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Bodh Gaya, Indian Council of Historical Research, Indian Council of Social Science Research, India International Centre, Thammasat Universty and Chulalongkorn University etc. The sessions were held at India International Centre where delegates from 21 countries participated to discuss the Thai culture and its two millennia of partnership with India. Shri S.B. Chavan and Shri Vasant Sathe the two senior ministers of the Government of India respectively inaugurated and closed the first International Conference on Thai Studies. It was for the first time recognized that as a pan-Asian civilization Thai/Tai people have contributed considerably to the growth of wet-rice agriculture, formation of villages and cities, propagation of gospel of the Buddha and formation of states in different parts of Asia: China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma and north-east India. The role of Tai leader Sukhpha in the formation of Ahom state in Assam in the 12th century A.D. (which strongly defended the frontiers of India for many centuries) was carefully analyzed by the national and international scholarship. The International Conference on Thai Studies (ICTS) has grown as a substantial institution in last twenty-five years and at the interval of every three years its eight sessions have been so far held in Bangkok, Khunming, Canberra, Chiengmai London etc. The Thai interest in India in the second half of 19th century and its role in the revival of Buddhism was almost a forgotten chapter. Sahai took up research project on King Chulaongkorn’s visit to India in 1872, did extensive field work in the seven cities of India which the Thai delegation visited (Calcutta, Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bombay and Benares), brought out precious archival materials from various archives of India, Thailand and United Kingdom and scanned hundreds of newspapers in English and vernacular languages of India available in the nineteenth century. It is now obvious that His Majesty King Chulalongkorn’s extensive travel in India for 47 days inaugurated a new era of relationships with Indian people at various levels. The results of this research project havr been published recently in a book entitled India in 1872 As Seen by the Siamese.

ACADEMIC SUPPORT TO THE MEKONG-GANGA COOPERATION PROJECT The neighboring Asian countries of the Mekong River basin–Mynmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam—some years back expressed the desire to culturally and economically collaborate with India, transcending all national barriers and centering the projects of regional cooperation on the geophysical cultural and economic realities related with the Mekong River basin and the Ganga basin. The political will to bring closer the people living in the basins of these two mighty rivers requires constant intellectual feedback, theoretical input and applied academic research. Consequently Sahai formulated a research project on the Mekong: An Indochinese Social Space under the auspices of Indian Council for Social Science Research and worked for two years as its Project Director. The results of his researches have been published in a 2005 publication entitled The Mekong Space and Social Theory. Incidentally this is the first book ever published in India on the Mekong River and its potential for building up cultural and economic ties with the Ganga basin.

ICCR DISTINGUISHED VISITOR TO SOUTHEAST ASIA In recognition of his contributions to cultural studies on Southeast Asia, Indian Council for Cultural Relations nominated him as its distinguished visitor with a mission to foster deeper cultural links with the countries of the region, to identify talented artists and researchers in the region for shaping the future of our cultural intercourse and to deliver lectures on the themes of art and culture at the leading educational institutions. Between 13th November 2004 and 18th March 2005 Sahai visited Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia and delivered lectures at the leading universalities and centers of higher education in the region. A number of institutions in Vietnam and Laos had received a guest speaker from ICCR for the first time and they were deeply impressed by their exposure to Indian academic world.

RESEARCH ON SOUTHEAST ASIA AS FELLOW OF INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY, SHIMLA

      As Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, Sahai  successfully  carried out  a research project designed to focus on the pre-modern architecture of Southeast Asia which links this region with India in a lasting way. Many thousand Buddhist and Hindu temples spread over Mynmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam  and Indonesia are examples of  shared Indian and Southeast Asian engineering skills which gradually evolved through two millennia and encoded in various technical texts of architecture and town planning in Sanskrit language (silpasastra). These architectural pieces, which are great art objects, have also served as powerful catalyst of social economic and cultural transformations in the region. The project has established in a definitive way that the ASEAN architectural heritage is, in fact, a closely shared Indian and Southeast Asian heritage which may be meaningfully used as an important theme of cultural diplomacy by the nations of the region.

LINGUISTIC SKILLS In course of his extensive field work in South East Asian countries, Sahai has mastered a number of languages of South East Asia—Lao, Thai, Khmer, Cham, besides his fluency in French. His analysis of Southeast Asian civilizations and their linkages with India based on the study of sources in the languages of the countries of the region has been widely appreciated by the scholars of the region, enhanced their confidence in Indian scholarship.

CONTRIBUTIONS AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL At the university level Sahai joined the Magadh University Bodh Gaya in 1962 as the founder teacher of Department of Ancient Indian and Asian studies and designed an integrated course of Indian and Asian cultural heritage under the supervision of eminent historian Dr. K. K. Dutta, the first Vice Chancellor of the University. From 1990 to 2000 he steered the Department as its chairperson. Sahai was invited in 1988 to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi as a Research Professor with a mandate to design and organize a South East Programme at the Centre. During his tenure at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Sahai carried out one of UNESCO projects and collected necessary data for IGNCA. After completing this assignment successfully within two years, Sahai returned to the parent University to work as its Pro-Vice Chancellor (2001).

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITIONS Besides his academic achievements, Sahai possesses the talent of an insightful photographer. He has widely photographed the ASEAN cultural heritage sites such as Angkor, Borobudur, Prambanana and a number of inaccessible sites in different parts of Southeast Asia. He has so far organized two very successful photographic exhibitions—one on the Cambodian art and the other on the Indonesian art under the auspices of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi to create public awareness about the ASEAN cultural heritage inspired by the Indian cultural contacts.

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS Besides the A.S. Altekar Gold Medal in 1962, Sahai has own a number of awards and distinctions in course of his long career of Asianist spread over four decades. In 1974 he was nominated as the sectional President of Southeast Asian Studies of the All India Oriental Conference at its Dharwar session where he outlined the future policies of Southeast Asian studies at the higher levels of University education. In 2000, the Indian Association of Social Scientists granted him V.K..V. Rao Life Time Achievement Award for his contributions to the study of neighboring countries. He has been invited several times to advise the Government of India on its South East Asian Policy. Sahai is the recipient of French Government Scholarship (1965-69)and Fulbright Fellowship from the United States (1981). He has visited China under India-China Cultural Exchange Programme and France under Indo-French Cultural Exchange Programme. Sahai has been invited to a number of major universities worldwide to lecture on themes relating to Indian and Asian cultural heritage in Southeast Asia, Europe and United States where he has focused the dynamics of Indian culture with its pluralistic worldview. Pravasi Bharatiya Sammana and Gold Medal 2012

In 2012, Sahai was awarded a gold medal as Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by President of India in recognition of his efforts to promote the image of India in foreign countries through his writings and research

Padma Shri Award

IN 2012, Government of India conferred upon Sahai the prestigious national honor by offering him the award of Padma Shri in recognition of his academic work relating to the language and literature of Southeast Asia.

Advisor to APSARA Authority Sahai worked as Advisor to Angkor Archaeological Park (APSARA Authority) under the auspices of Royal Government of Cambodia from 2008-2012 and contributed to the understacdning of monuments of Khmer civilization through his researches.

National Professor (2013- ) Under the auspices of Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Professor has been appointed as National Professor to promote the study of Sanskrit epigraphy. He is posted at Archaeological Survey of India and works from Red For. Delhi

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