Satish Chandra

Satish Chandra (20 November 1922 – 13 October 2017) was an Indian historian whose main area of specialisation was medieval Indian history. He is often considered as a left-leaning historian, influenced by Marxian approach.

Personal life Satish Chandra was born in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (then the United Provinces) to Sir Sita Ram, who later become the first Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, and his wife, Basudevi.

He attended Allahabad University where he earned his B.A. (1942), M.A. (1944), and D.Phil. (1948) under the supervision of R.P. Tripathi. His doctoral thesis was on the Parties and Politics in 18th century India.

Career He taught at Allahabad University, Aligarh Muslim University, Delhi University, and Rajasthan University and was the Smuts' Visiting Professor at Cambridge in 1971. He was Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. Along with S. Gopal, Bipan Chandra, and Romila Thapar, he co-founded the Centre for Historical Studies at the School of Social Sciences in JNU. He was chairperson of the centre for a few years. He was the Secretary and President of the Indian History Congress.

Through the 1970s, he served as the vice chairman and chairman of the University Grants Commission of India.

Research and ideology Chandra has been described as one of India's leading scholars of the Mughal period and one of India's most influential historians. His book, Medieval India, has been widely used as a textbook in schools and colleges around India. In 2004, his textbook was reintroduced in the national curriculum after a hiatus of six years.

Selected books Books authored

Books edited

India's Islamic Traditions, 711-1750 by Richard Maxwell Eaton, Oxford University Press 2003,