Ahmed Hassan Dani (1920-2009)

7/27/2019 Ahmed Hassan Dani (1920-2009)

1/7

AHMED HASSAN DANI: (1920-2009)Author(s): Luca M. Olivieri

Source:East and West,

Vol. 59, No. 1/4, BON: THE EVERLASTING RELIGION OF TIBET.TIBETAN STUDIES IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR DAVID L. SNELLGROVE (December 2009), pp.379-384Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29757820.

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2/7

AHMED HASSAN DANI

(1920-2009)

Ahmed

Hassan

Dani,

archaeologist,

Professor

Emeritus

at

Quaid-e

Azam

University,

Islamabad and

Honorary

Director

of theTaxila

Institute

for

Asian

Civilizations,

passed

away

on

26

January

2009

at

the

age

of

88.

Time

and

place

do

not

make

a

man

a

witness

by right

of birth.

Witnesses

are

those who

actively

mark their

eras,

or

else those

through

whom

an

era

manifests itself.The

biography

of

A.H. Dani

places

him

in

the first

group.

A.H.

Dani

was

born

into

a

Kashmiri

family

in

Basna,

in

the

state

of

Chahattisgahr,

Central

Provinces,

British India. His interest in

antiquities

led him to

study

Sanskrit at

Banaras Hindu

University,

where he

was

the firstMuslim

student

to

obtain

a

MA

honours

degree

in

1944.

The

same or

the

following

year

he

began

training

as a

field

archaeologist

at

the Taxila

School of

Archaeology

under

Mortimer

Wheeler;

again

under the

guidance

of the

great

British

archaeologist,

in

1950 he

attended

the

Mohenjo-daro

School. Wheeler's

watchful

eye

had from the

outset

fallen

upon

Dani

and other

young persons,

including

F.A.

Khan,

and

they began

to

form the basic nucleus of

his

reorganization

of

Archaeological

Survey

of

India,

which enabled the British administration

to

bequeath

to

the future

States

a

comprehensive

and efficient

government

archaeological

service.

While F.A. Khan

(x)

was

beginning

his

career

in

West

Pakistan

(in

the late

1950s

he

became

the

Director

General of

the

Department

of

Archaeology

Museums

of

Pakistan),

Dani,

already

an officer of the

Archaeological

Survey

(first

osting

to the

Taj

Mahal,

Agra)

was

posted

to

the

East

Pakistan

in

1947.

In

1949 he

was

promoted Superintendent-in-Charge.

These

were

years

of

transformation,

in

which

the

Department

of

Archaeology

of Pakistan still

borrowed

its

positions,

nomenclature and

management

from

the old

Archaeological

Survey.

In

this

sense,

as

Dani

left the

service

in

the

early

1960s,

it

may

be said that

if

he

ever

belonged

to

the

structure

that would later be known

as

Department

of

Archaeology

and

Museums

(DOAM),

it

was

only

for

a

few

years,

above all

in

theDhaka

period

(1950-1962)

when,

as

well

as

the

university

chair,

he held the

post

of

Curator of theDhaka

Museum.

In

1950

he

was

appointed

Assistant

Professor

(History)

at

Dhaka

University.

In

1955

he

received

a

PhD

at

the

Institute

of

Archaeology

of

University

College

of London.

It

was

precisely

in

the

university

that

Dani

was

to

find the

environment

most

favourable

to

the

expression

of his

capacity.

In addition to

study

and

research,

he also had a

genius

for

organization

and

dissemination,

as

well

as

being

an

interlocutor

open

to

civil

society.

His work

as a

scholar

capable

of

embracing

vast

areas

of

history

and

archaeology

and of

combining

a

scientific

approach

with

an

interest

in

popularization, clearly

emerges

from the

long

list of

his

monographies

(2):

Bibliography

of

theMuslim

Inscriptions

of

Bengal

(1957),

{l)

See F.A.

Khan

obituary,

this Volume.

(2)

uring

the

past twenty

ears

his

publisher

was

generally

ang-e

Meel of Lahore.

[i]

379

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3/7

Prehistory

and

Protohistory

of

Eastern

India With

a

Detailed

Account

of

theNeolithic Cultures

(1960),

Dacca:

A

Record

of

Its

Changing

Fortunes

(1962),

Indian

Palaeography

(1963),

Alherunis Indica:

A

Record

of

the

Cultural

History

of

South

Asia

about

AD.

1030

(University

of

Islamabad, 1973),

Indus

Civilization:

New

Perspectives (Quaid-i-Azam University,

Islamabad,

1981),

Thatta: Islamic

Architecture

(Institute

of

Islamic

History,

Culture

Civilization,

1982),

Chilas:

The

City

of

Nanga

Parvat

(Dyamar)

(1983),

The

Historic

City

of

Taxila

(Centre

for

East

Asian Cultural

Studies,

1986),

Perspectives of

Pakistan.

National

Institute

of

Pakistan Studies

(Quaid-e-Azam

University,

1989),

History

of

Northern

Areas

of

Pakistan

(Historical

studies,

National

Institute

of

Historical and

Cultural

Research,

1989),

A

Short

History

of

Pakistan,

Book One:

Pre-Muslim

Period

(University

of

Karachi,

3

editions,

1967, 1984,

1992),

Peshawar:

Historic

City

of

the

Frontier

(2nd

Revised

edition,

1995),

Human

Records

on

Karakorum

Highway

(1995),

Central

Asia

Today

(1996),

New

Light

on

Central

Asia

(1996),

Romance

of

the

Khyber

Pass

(1997),

History

of

Northern

Areas

of

Pakistan

(Up

to

2000

AD)

(2001),

Historic

City

of

Taxila

(2001),

History

of

Pakistan:

Pakistan

through

Ages

(2007).

To

the above works

must

be

added the

two

volumes

published by

UNESCO

of which

Dani

was

the co-editor:

History

of

Humanity,

Volume

III,

From

the

Third

Millennium

to

the

Seventh

Century

BC

(1996)

and

the first of the

six volumes of

History

of

Civilizations

of

Central

Asia

(1992).

He

was an

able

organizer

of

museum

displays

(1947-1949,

Verandra

Museum,

Rajshahi;

1950-1962,

Dhaka

Museum;

1962-1971: Peshawar

Museum,

Lahore

Museum;

1993:

Islamabad

Museum).

He

often held

management

positions

on

committees and

scholarly

societies

where,

as

an

important

interlocutor,

he

was

able

to

bring

the

needs of research closer

to

civil

society.

His

many

posts

include: 1950:

Secretary

General

of the

Asiatic

Society

of

Pakistan;

1955:

President of the

National

Committee for

Museums;

1970:

Chairman of the Research

Society,

University

of

Peshawar;

1979: President

Archaeological

and Historical

Association

of

Pakistan;

1992-1996:

Advisor

on

Archaeology

to

the

Ministry

of

Culture;

1994-1998:

Chairman

of National Fund

for

Cultural

Heritage;

1978-2007:

Director,

and later

Honorary

Director of the

Centre for the

Study

of the Civilizations

in

Central

Asia

(from

1997: Taxila

Institute of

Asian

Civilizations,

TIAC).

It is

apparent

from his

many

publications

and

scholarly

positions

that his

early

career

was

centered

in

Dhaka while

the

later

stages

were

organized

from

Islamabad. The central

phase

of his

career

was

spent

at

Peshawar,

to

which

university

Dani

was

called

in

1962. This

is

probably

the

explanation

of

the

pause

mentioned earlier.

It

represented

Dani's

most

intense,

if

not

his

most

fruitful

period

as

a

field

archaeologist.

It

coincides

with the

creation

of

the

Department

of

Archaeology

of the

University

of Peshawar

which,

in

the short

space

of

a

few

years

was

to

become the

cutting

edge

of

archaeological

studies

in

Pakistan.

Here

Dani

not

only

lectured: here he succeeded in

setting

up

a school of studies

and,

together

with his

pupils,

who

later became

professors

in

the

same

Department,

he

promoted

important

excavation

campaigns

in

theNorth

West Frontier

Province.

In

1958,

while

Dani

was

still

in

Dhaka,

F.A.

Khan,

now

Director

General

of

DOAM,

invited

Mortimer

Wheeler

to

resume an

old

excavation

programme

at

Charsadda

(scheduled

for

1947)

(3).

This led

to

the

discovery

of

part

of the

ancient

city

of Pushkalavati.

However,

(3)

See

the

introduction

nM.

Wheeler,

Ch?rsada.

A

Metropolis

of

the

NW

Frontier,

xford 1962.

380

[2]



4/7

this

extremely

important

excavation

was

not

followed

through

and all

we

know

about the

site

is

contained

in

the

extremely

succinct

results

of the

excavation of five trenches

(4).

In

1963

Dani

resumed the

project, focusing

in

particular

on

the artificial

mesa

of

Shaikhan-dheri,

just

North

of the

high ground

of

Bala-hisar,

where Wheeler's

excavations

had been carried

out.

The

photographs

accompanying

the

report

(5)

betray

the

Dani school of field

archaeology:

it

is

impossible

mistake the

military

precision

of the

camp,

with the

paths

marked with chalk

on

to

which

carefully

aligned

tents

open

-

the order

learned

at

the Taxila

School

of

Archaeology

under Wheeler's

guidance?

Also the

excavation of

Shaikhan-dheri,

in

which the

British

archaeologist

F.R.

Allchin

had been

invited

to

participate,

was

unfortunately

interrupted

after the second

campaign.

His

working

group

at

the

University

of Peshawar

focused

on

several different

fields,

all

linked

to

the

major

themes

of

the

regional archaeology

of

the

NWFP.

The fieldwork

reports

were

published

in

numerous

monographic

issues

of the

journal

conceived

by

Dani

for the

Department

of

Archaeology

of the

University

of

Peshawar,

Ancient

Pakistan

(6).

His

working

team

carried

out

initial

excavations

of

a

rock

shelter

at

Sanghao,

between

Mardan and

Buner,

the

finds

relating

to

which

were

initially

attributed to the Palaeolithic

{Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

I,

1964)

and then

in

the

early-historic

age

urban settlement

at

Shaikhan-dheri

(Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

II,

1965-66).

Dani

then

gradually

moved

slightly

northward,

to

the

Lower

Dir

valley,

a

region

adjoining

Swat.

Here,

in

the

meantime,

the

IsMEO

Archeological

Mission

led

by

Giuseppe

Tucci

had

begun

(1956)

multiple

excavation activities.

In

Dir,

in

the

area

around

Timargarha,

the theme

of

the

protohistorical

necropolises

was

tackled,

while

in

the

meantime,

the

Italians

had

performed

extensive excavations

in

Swat;

in

the

same

area,

also

a

large

settlement

dating roughly

to

the

same

period

was

excavated

at

Balambat

(Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

Ill,

1967).

Later,

Dani's

team

concentrated

on

the

excavation

of

several

Buddhist sacred

areas

(in

particular

Andhan-dheri and

Chatpat),

and

on

the

excavation of

the

multiphase

settlement of Damkot

(entrusted

toAbdur

Rahman) (Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

IV,

1968-69).

After

completing

his

research

in

the

area

of

Dir,

Dani

focused

his

efforts

on

the

Gomal

plain,

D.I.

Khan,

(Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

V,

1970-71),

but the

results

of

the

excavation

of

the

pre-Harappan

site

of

Rahman-dheri,

the

most

important

of the

plain,

will be

published

by

F.A.

Durrani,

who

replaced

him

at

the

head

of the

Department

of

Archaeology,

and Farid Khan.

Dani's

strategy

consisted of

organizing

thematic

working

campaigns

with

a

grand

deployment

of forces for

the duration

of

a

campaign

(generally

one

season).

For

instance,

the

(4)

In

recent

years,

the

excavations have been resumed within

the framework

of

an

Anglo-Pakistani

project;

see R.

Coningham

L Ali, Charsadda. The British-Pakistani Excavations at the Bala Hisar,

Oxford 2007.

(5)

Published

in

the

Journal

of the

University

of

Peshawar,

Ancient

Pakistan,

Vol.

Ill,

1965.

(6)

Ancient

Pakistan

should be

considered

a

journal

(or

rather

a

research

bulletin),

although,

because

of the

monographic

nature

of

nearly

all

its

volumes,

initially

dited

by

Dani

himself,

and then

by

his

successors,

is

generally

considered

in

Pakistan

as a

series and cited

as

such

(after

a

long

pause,

the

last

issue,XVI,

2005,

dedicated

to

Farid

Khan,

came

out

last

year;

the

new

issue

(XVII)

is

in

preparation).

Prof.

Nasim

Khan

of the

Department

of

Archaeology

of the

University

of Peshawar

recently

set

up

a new

journal,

Gandh?ran

Studies,

of

a

miscellaneous

rather

than

monographic

nature,

dedicated

to

historical

research.Volumes

I,

II

and

III

have

already

been

published.

[3]

381



5/7

season

of the Buddhist

excavations

involved

the simultaneous excavation of several

sites,

while another

group

explored

the late-ancient

fortified

settlements.

At

the end of each

campaign,

as we

have

seen,

a

prompt

excavation

report

was

published

in

Ancient

Pakistan.

For

the Italian

archaeologists working

in

Swat,

three

excavation

reports

are

particularly

important:

the

one

dedicated

to

the Shaikhan-dheri

excavations

(Vol.

II),

the

one on

the

excavations

performed

in

Dir in

protohistoric necropolises

(Vol.

Ill)

and

the

one

dedicated

to

the

excavations

carried

out

in

Buddhist sacred

areas

and

late-ancient

settlements,

again

in

the

Dir

area

(Vol.

IV).

These consist

of three of the

main

topics

tackled

in

parallel

(although

not

simultaneously)

also

by

the Italian

Mission

in

Swat

under the direction of

Domenico

Faccenna:

the urban settlements

(Udegram,

Barama,

Barikot),

the

protohistoric necropolises

(mainly

Katelai and

Loebanr),

the

sacred

areas

(Butkara

I, Panr,

Saidu

Sharif).

Also

in

other

aspects,

of the Italian

research,

such

as

the documentation of the

Buddhist

rock

sculptures,

Dani

promoted

activities that

broadened the

scope

of the Italians'

work,

such

as

the

discovery

of the

Dir

sculptures.

The

interpretationsproposed by

the

two

working groups

in

different

occasions

diverged

but

the scientific discussion

was

although always

marked

by

great

mutual

respect.

Dani

was

indeed

one

of the

foreign

guests

invited

by

IsMEO

to

Rome

in

1982

to

the

presentation

of

the

Domenico Faccenna's final

report

on

the Butkara

I

excavations. To

acknowledge

the

profound

scientific bonds

linking

him

to

IsMEO,

the

Institute

nominated

Dani

Honorary

Member

in

1986.

In

the final

phase

of

Dani's

career

we

find him

working

in

Islamabad,

where he

set

up

that

splendid

institute

represented

by

the

present-day

TIAC,

now

directed

by

Ashraf Khan.

In

1967 the

University

of

Islamabad

(later

the

Quaid-i

Azam

University)

was

authorized

by

the

Ministry

of

Education,

Government

of Pakistan

to

establish

a

Research

Centre

for the

study

of

the Civilizations of

Central Asia. The

guiding

spirit

behind this idea

was

actually

A.H.

Dani,

who

was

later able

to

dedicate himself

to

it

full

time,

in

particular

after

retiring

from

teaching

in

1980.

The

Centre,

under

Dani's

guidance,

became

a

participating

member

of

UNESCO,

representing

Pakistan

in

the

country's

programmes

on

Central

Asia.

In

UNESCO

there

was

a

proposal

to

expand

the

scope

of the

Centre

and make

a

comparative

study

of the civilizations

of the

whole of

Asia. With the

consent

of the

Government

of

Pakistan,

Quaid-i-Azam

University

accepted

the

proposal

in

1997 and thus the

name

of the

Centre

was

changed

to

Taxila

Institute

of

Asian

Civilizations

(TIAC)

exactly

30

years

after

its

birth and

was

deemed

to

be

a

constituent institute of the

Quaid-i-Azam

University

(7).

The

flexible

structure

of the

Centre and

TIAC enabled

Dani

to create

a

dense network

of

high

level relations and

exchanges

with

the

principle

fellow

scholars of

the

Republics

of Central

Asia and

Russia

(still

USSR),

Afghanistan,

China,

Mongolia,

India

and

Iran.

The

activities

centering

around these

relations

are

reflected

in

the

contributions

to

the

Centre's fine official

bullettin,

the

Journal

of

Central

Asia,

the

present-day Journal

of

Asian

Civilizations

(8),

and

in

the research

activities,

such

as

the

well-known

Silk

Route

UNESCO

Expedition

of

1990

1991.

The

interest

in

Central

Asia

also underlines

a

geopolitical

conception

on

which

many

(7)

Today

TIAC

is

actually

also

a

post-graduate

training

entre

for

hD

students.

(8)

The last

issue of

thebullettin

(Vol.

XXXI,

nos.

1-2,

July

nd

December, 2008),

is

monographic

and

it

is

entirely

dedicated

to

German

ethnographic

and

anthropological

research

in

Northern Pakistan

('Masters

of

Understanding:

German

Scholars

in

the Hindu

Kush and

Karakoram,

1955-2005').

382

[4]



6/7

of

Dani's historical

reconstructions

are

based.

In

this

conception,

both

in

the

past

and

in

the

present,

the focus

of the

cultural,

strategic

and

commercial

interests

of

the lands South

of

the

Karakorum-Himalaya,

from the

Harappan

civilization

to

modern

Pakistan,

was

always

Central

Asia.

This

was

the

direction taken

also

by

Dani's last

large-scale

archaeological

and

epigraphical

enterprise

-

the

co-direction with

Karl

Jettmar

of

the Pak-German

Study Group

in

Karakorum,

starting

in

1980. The

project

arose

out

of

an

idea and the

early

research

conducted

by

a

Karakorum

veteran,

K.

Jettmar,

but found

an

extraordinary

support

in

Dani

(9).

To

give

a

concise

description

of the

aims

and

results

of this

project

is

no

easy

matter.

In

the

ultimate

analysis

it consists

of

a

work

of

documentation,

study

and

the

publication

of

tens

of thousands

of

inscriptions

(also

in

Chinese

and

Hebrew)

and

engravings

(from

prehistory

to

historical

and late-ancient

times)

found

along

the

upper

course

of

the

Indus,

along

the

routes

linking

Kashmir,

Tibet,

the

Pamir

area,

ancient

Gandhara,

Swat,

and

so

on.

Today

these

routes

are

partially

followed

by

the

modern

Karakorum

Highway,

the

opening

of which

marked

the

beginning

of

Jettmar

and Dani's

project. Today

the

project

is

being

continued under

the direction

of

H.

Hauptmann

and

the

series of

monographic

publications

in

German and Urdu

is

now

quite

voluminous

(10).

In

the

years

of the research

in

Karakorum,

there

were

less

occasions

for

meetings

between Italian

archaeologists

and

Dani.

Then,

unlike

today,

Swat and the

Upper

Indus

appeared

to

be

two

separate

worlds.

In

spite

of

this,

there

were

some

occasions for

contact

with the Italian

Mission.

In

those

years

Umberto

Scerrato had

begun

to

work

on

documenting

the

wooden

mosques

of

Upper

Swat and

the

Kohistan

valleys.

Also

on

this

subject

Dani did

not

fail

to

give

his contribution.

Another

occasion

was

provided

by

the

important

congress

organized

by

Dani's

Centre

at

Gilgit

in

1983

(n),

attended

by practically

the

entire

Italian

Mission which travelled

to

Gilgit

directly

from

Swat.

To

confirm

the

strong relationship

between

Dani

and the Italian

Mission of

IsMEO

IsIAO,

I

recall that

Domenico

Faccenna,

particularly

in

the last

ten

years,

when his

trips

to

Pakistan

became much

less

frequent

and

then

impossible,

whenever

we

were

leaving

for

Pakistan,

never

failed

to

remember

us

to

pay

visit

to

Dani,

or to

give

us

written

message

of

greetings,

or

a

book,

for

Dani.

Within

the

same

period

of less

than

six

months

A.H.

Dani,

D.

Faccenna and F.A.

Khan,

namely

the

main

figures

in

this

story,

have

passed

away,

preceded

briefly by

others.

In

short,

since

2000,

an

entire

generation

has been

swept

away.

The

task

they

have

left

us

is

a

difficult

one,

not

only

in

view of

the

promise

made

by

oriental

studies

regarding

a

historical

synthesis,

also

in view

of the conditions

currently

prevailing

in

the

fieldwhere

thewinds of

war

are

still

blowing,

but

precisely

because of

the

loss of such

figures

that

served

as

a

point

of reference

and

comparison.

To

prevent

the

field of studies

pursued by

these

Master

throughout

their

(9)

See

p.

85

in

K.

Jettmar, etroglyphs

as

Evidence

of

Religious Configuration'

in

Journal

f

Asian

Civilizations,

2008, XXXI,

l-2.This

is

an

English

translation

f

theAfterword

written

by

Jettmar

or the

first

nabridged

English

edition

of

Religionen

des

Hindukusch. The

project

of the

English

edition

was

then

bandoned

by

the

editors

(see

the

oreword

to

the

same

issue

of

the

Journal).

(10)

The

last

volume

(Band

9)

of

the series

Materialien

zur

Arch?ologie

der

Nordgebiete

Pakistans

(Die

Felsbild

Station

Thalpan

IV,

by

D.

Bandini-K?nig)

came

out

in

Summer

2009.

(n)

International

Conference

on

Karakorum

Culture,

Gilgit

24-30

September

1983,

the

proceedings

ofwhich

were

published

in

four

issues

of

the

Journal

of

Central

Asia, VII,

1-2,VIII,

1-2.

[5]

383



7/7

lives

(and

I

specifically

add

also

K.

Jettmar

and

M.

Taddei

to

these

brief

pages)

from

falling

prey,

as

a

direct

result of the

exploitation

of

the

present

conditions,

to

rank

amateurs

and

art

merchants,

to

uncertain

provenances

and

private

collections,

is

the task of those who

are

left,

but above

all

of those

who

remain

faithful

to

their

teachings.

Post

scriptum

In

general,

this

type

of short

article is

concluded

by

a

long

list of titles

or

honours. This

has

already

been

seen

to

by

other

Journals

(12).

Here

I

shall

only

mention

that Professor

A.H. Dani

was

awarded the

title of

Knight

Commander

by

the Italian

government

in

1994.

Luca M.

Olivieri

(12)

For

instance,

the

obituarypublished by

H.

van

Skyhawk

in

the above-mentioned

monographic

issue

of

Journal

f

Asian

Civilizations

(XXXI,

1-2,

pp.

367-69).

[6]

84

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Ahmed Hassan Dani (1920-2009)

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