Upinder Singh

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Upinder Singh

| order = Dean of Faculty

| office = Ashoka University

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1959|06|22}}

| parents = {{ubl|Manmohan Singh (father)|Gursharan Kaur (mother)}}

| spouse = Vijay Tankha

| occupation = {{hlist|Historian|Professor}}

| education = McGill University, Canada {{small|(PhD)}}
St. Stephen's College, Delhi

| children = 2

| relatives = Daman Singh (sister)

| awards = Infosys Prize

}}

Upinder Singh (born 22 June 1959) is an Indian historian who is a professor of History and Dean of Faculty at Ashoka University.{{cite web | url=https://www.ashoka.edu.in/profile/upinder-singh | title=Ashoka University: Leading Liberal Arts and Sciences University }} She is the former head of the History Department at the University of Delhi.{{cite web | url=http://www.du.ac.in/index.php?id=270&fmember=2859&cid=437 | title=Prof. Upinder Singh | publisher=University of Delhi | access-date=29 October 2012}} She is also the recipient of the inaugural Infosys Prize in the category of Social Sciences (History).[http://www.infosys-science-foundation.com/prize/laureates/2009/upinder-singh.asp The Infosys Prize in Social Sciences – History], Infosys Science Foundation

Education and professional life

Singh is an alumna of St. Stephen's College, Delhi and received a PhD from McGill University in Canada. She has a Master of Arts in history and an M.Phil. in history, both from the University of Delhi. She has a Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, with a thesis titled Kings, Brahmanas, and Temples in Orissa: an epigraphic study (300-1147 CE). She is a Professor in the Department of History at Ashoka University.

Personal life

Singh is the daughter of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister of India, and history professor Gursharan Kaur.{{cite news | url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/pms-daughter-has-nothing-to-do-with-book-on-ramayana/278188/ | title=PM's daughter has nothing to do with book on Ramayana | newspaper=Indian Express | date=28 February 2008 | access-date=29 October 2012 | archive-date=23 September 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923022543/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/PMs-daughter-has-nothing-to-do-with-book-on-Ramayana/278188/ | url-status=dead }} She is married to Vijay Tankha, a professor of philosophy and has two sons.{{Cite news|last=Raote|first=Rrishi|date=10 August 2008|title=This Singh is King of History|work=Business Standard|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/this-singh-is-king-of-history-108081001001_1.html|access-date=26 December 2021}}

Honours

Singh was awarded the Netherlands Government Reciprocal Fellowship in 1985, to pursue research at the Instituut Kern, Leiden. She was awarded the Ancient India and Iran Trust/Wallace India Visiting Fellowship to pursue research in Cambridge and London in 1999. She was also a visiting fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Singh has received the prestigious Daniel Ingalls Fellowship at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University in 2005.

She is the national coordinator for history at the Institute of Life Long Learning at the University of Delhi.

She was visiting professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, as the recipient of the Erasmus Mundus Fellowship, May–June 2010.

Controversies

On 25 February 2008, right-wing activists demonstrated at the Delhi University campus, in protest against an essay by A.K. Ramanujan titled Three Hundred Ramayanas. The activists felt the essay was offensive, and alleged that Singh was responsible for its inclusion in a list of recommended readings for the BA programme in history. The University denied the allegation and stated that Singh was "… neither the editor nor compiler of the book on Cultural History of Ancient India."

Publications

=Books authored=

{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Kings, Brāhmaṇas and temples in Orissa: an epigraphic study AD 300-1147|date=1994|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publ.|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788121506212}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Ancient Delhi|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New Delhi|isbn=9780195649192}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Mysteries Of The Past: Archeological Sites In India|publisher=National Book Trust|location=India|year=2002|isbn=9788123739793|language=en}} (for children)
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=The discovery of ancient India: early archaeologists and the beginnings of archaeology|date=2004|publisher=Permanent Black|location=Delhi|isbn=9788178240886}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Longman|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788131716779}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Rethinking Early Medieval India: A Reader|date=2012|publisher=OUP India|isbn=9780198086062}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|last2=Dhar|first2=Parul Pandya|last3=Vatsyayan|first3=Kapila|title=Asian Encounters: Exploring Connected Histories|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=9780198099802 |author-mask=With |name-list-style=amp}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Political Violence in Ancient India|date=2017|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674975279}}
{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Ancient India: Culture Of Contradictions| date=2021 | publisher= Aleph Book Company | isbn=978-9390652617}}{{cite news|url=https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/reviews/story/upinder-singhs-ancient-india-meditations-on-the-past-343691|title=Upinder Singh's 'Ancient India', meditations on the past}}

=Books edited=

{{cite book|editor1-last=Singh|editor1-first=Upinder|editor1-mask=0|title=Delhi: Ancient history|date=2006|publisher=Social Science Press|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788187358299}}
{{cite book|editor1-last=Singh|editor1-first=Upinder|editor2-last=Lahiri|editor2-first=Nayanjot|editor2-link=Nayanjot Lahiri | title=Ancient India: new research|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Delhi|isbn=9780198060284|editor-mask=With}}
Upnayan - the beginner children's educational ancient tradition in the Hindu religion scripts.

= Papers =

{{cite journal|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Amaravati: the dismembering of the Mahācaitya (1797–1886)|journal=South Asian Studies|date=January 2001|volume=17|issue=1|pages=19–40|doi=10.1080/02666030.2001.9628590|s2cid=194091154}}
{{cite journal|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|author-mask=0|title=Cults and shrines in early historical Mathura (c. 200 B.C. – A.D. 200)|journal=World Archaeology|date=September 2004|volume=36|issue=3|pages=378–398|doi=10.1080/0043824042000282803|s2cid=161320144}}