Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha

Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha (15 September, 1863– 17 April, 1947), born in Rohida village of Sirohi District, was a historian from the Indian state of Rajasthan. A prolific author, he wrote several books (in Hindi) on the history of Rajasthan and other historical subjects. Subsequent historians from Rajasthan have referred to him as Guruvara Mahamahopadhyaya (e.g. Dasharatha Sharma in Early Chauhan Dynasties). Ojha regarded Kaviraj Shyamaldas as his guru and worked under him as assistant secretary of the historical department, Udaipur

Early life and education

Dr. Ojha was born in a Audichya Brahmins family, his father's name was Hirachand Ojha. His primary education was completed at his home and then he moved to Bombay for further education, where he learnt about Scripts, Archaeology and History. Thereafter, he came to Udaipur, where Maharana Fateh Singh appointed him as Head of State Archaeological Department.

In 1908, Dr. Ojha was appointed as Head of Rajputana Museum, Ajmer. He worked on this post for 38 years.

Authorship

In 1894, Dr. Ojha published his Bharatiya Prachin Lipimala (the first book devoted to the palæography of India), a revised edition was published in 1918. Dr. Ojha penned Solankiyon ka Itihasa (History of the Solanki) in 1907 and Sirohi Rajya ka Itihasa (History: Kingdom of Sirohi) in 1911. In 1926, Ojha published the first book of his History of Rajputana series. Histories of the princely states of Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Dungarpur, Banswara released over a twelve-year period (1929–1941). Ojha also wrote a biography of James Tod titled Supraprasiddha itihaskara Karnala James Tod ka jivan charitra. A 1928 lecture series at the Hindustani Akademi, Allahabad was published as Madhyakalina Bharatiya Sanskriti

In 1927, the All India Hindi Sahitya Sammelan conferred the honorary degree of Mahamahopadhayaya (greatest of venerable teachers) on Ojha. In celebration of his seventieth birthday, the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad brought out and presented to Ojha a felicitation volume (containing original articles from several scholars) titled Bharatiya Anushilana Grantha.