M. N. Deshpande

Deshpande was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family in the village of Rahimatpur in the Satara district of the then Bombay Presidency. He did his schooling in Poona and graduated with honours from Fergusson College in 1942. Deshpande did his post graduate research at the Deccan College under H. D. Sankalia on "The Cultural History of India based on Jain Canonical Literature and Archaeology" but before completion, he was selected by Mortimer Wheeler to undergo training in field archaeology in the School of Archaeology at Taxila.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqkPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT19|page=19|title=Archaeology and the Public Purpose: Writings on and by M.N. Deshpande|author=Nayanjot Lahiri|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=30 November 2020|isbn=9780190993863}}

He excavated mostly Buddhist caves in Western and Northern India, namely Ajanta, Ellora, Tabo, Nadsur, Pitalkhora, and Panhalakaji.{{Cite web |last=Lahiri |first=Nayanjot |date=2021-01-04 |title=The Public Archaeologist |url=https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/books/the-public-archaeologist/ |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Open The Magazine |language=en-GB}} He also reported on the Buddhist sites of Bahal and Tekwade in what is today Jalgaon district.{{Cite journal |last=Jadhav |first=Nilesh P. |date=2015 |title=Recent Exploration in the Middle Tapi Basin, (jalgaon District) North Maharashtra |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26264724 |journal=Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute |volume=75 |pages=93–96 |jstor=26264724 |issn=0045-9801}} During the 1958-59 season, he conducted excavations at Daimabad, which revealed a Chalcolithic Era settlement.{{Cite book |last1=Settar |first1=S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vAduAAAAMAAJ&q=mn+deshpande+daimabad |title=Indian Archaeology in Retrospect: Protohistory, archaeology of the Harrappan civilization |last2=Korisettar |first2=Ravi |date=2002 |publisher=Indian Council of Historical Research |isbn=978-81-7304-320-8 |pages=430 |language=en}}

Deshpande became an Assistant Superintendent at the ASI in 1946 and went on to retire as the Director General in 1978.{{Cite web |last=Gupta |first=Trisha |date=2021-02-07 |title=This study of archaeologist MN Deshpande's work highlights the integrity and zeal of a true scholar |url=https://scroll.in/article/986011/this-study-of-archaeologist-mn-deshpandes-work-highlights-the-integrity-and-zeal-of-a-true-scholar |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US}}

• {{cite book |last1= |first1= |author1-link=M. N. Deshpande |title=The caves of Panhāle-Kājī (ancient Pranālaka): an art historical study of transition from Hinayana, Tantric Vajrayana to Nath Sampradāya (third to fourteenth century A.D.) |date=1986 |asin=B0006EPMPS |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |location=New Delhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRNuAAAAMAAJ |oclc=923371295 |access-date=5 February 2021 |language=English}}
• [https://archives.ashoka.edu.in/paper_details/67 MN Deshpande's Papers], hosted by the Ashoka University.
• "[https://ignca.gov.in/divisionss/kalakosa/area-studies/east-asia-programme/across-the-himalayan-gap/my-tryst-with-chinese-art-m-n-deshpande/ MY TRYST WITH CHINESE ART] M. N. Deshpande | IGNCA". ignca.gov.in. Retrieved 2023-12-09.

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• {{cite book |title=Madhu: recent research in Indian archaeology and art history: Shri M.N. Deshpande festschrift |first=M. S. Nagaraja |last=Rao |publisher=Agam Kala Prakashan |year=1981}}

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{{succession box|title=Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India|before=B. B. Lal|after=B. K. Thapar|years=1972 - 1978}}

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Category:1920 births

Category:2008 deaths

Category:Directors general of the Archaeological Survey of India

Category:20th-century Indian archaeologists

Category:Indian art historians

Category:People from Satara district

Category:Scientists from Maharashtra

Category:Indian institute directors