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'''Dr. Shridhar Vasudev Sohoni''' (1914–2002) was an eminent scholar of Sanskrit, and a noted antiquarian and numismatist. He was an officer in the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)]], and later in his career served as the Chief Secretary of [[Bihar]], [[Lokayukta]] of Bihar, and the Vice-Chancellor of [[Lalit Narayan Mithila University]] and [[Tilak Maharashtra University]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kulkarni|first1=A.R.|last2=Nayeem|first2=M.A.|last3=De Souza|first3=T.R.|title=Medieval Deccan History: Commemoration volume in Honour of Purushottam Mahadeo Joshi|date=1996|publisher=Popular Prakashan|location=Bombay|isbn=8171545793|page=x}}</ref> As a scholar, he published extensively and authored and edited several books and essays on a variety of subjects, including archaeology, architecture, Buddhism, literature, music, Sanskrit, sculpture, and administration. Dr. S.V. Sohoni was honoured with many awards and a festscrift recognised him as one of the founders of the Academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bhatt|first1=Shashikant|title=Dr. H.V. Trivedi, Dr. S.V. Sohoni, Professor A.M. Shastri Commemoration Volume: The Journal of Academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography, Vol. XVII-XVIII|date=2003|publisher=Academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography|edition=Volumes 17–18 of Journal of the academy of Indian Numismatics and Sigillography}}</ref> A festschrift celebrating his Sanskrit scholarship had already been published a decade earlier.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kulaśreṣṭha|first1=Suṣamā|title=Nāyakanāyikāguṇālaṅkāra : Kālidāsa-śrīdharī;... by Suṣamā Kulaśreṣṭha Nāyakanāyikāguṇālaṅkāra : Kālidāsa-śrīdharī; Śrīdhara Vāsudeva Sohonī abhinandana grantha|date=1993|publisher=Īsṭarna Buka Liṅkarsa|location=Dillī|isbn=9788185133539}}</ref> He was conferred D.Litt. degrees by four institutions, University of Delhi, [[Vikram University]], Lalit Narayan Mithila University, and Nalanda University. Dr. Sohoni was serving on the Regulating Council of the [[Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute]] when he died.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dhadphale |first=M. G. |date=2001 |title=Dr. SHRIDHAR VASUDEO SOHONI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694707 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=82 |issue=1/4 |pages=372–374, esp. p. 373. |issn=0378-1143}}</ref>

==Biography==
Shridhar Vasudev Sohoni was born in a [[Chitpavan Brahmin]] family in Agargule in [[Ratnagiri]] district. His father was well-acquainted with the Persian language. He grew up in [[Bombay]] and attended the Robert Cotton Money School.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Godbole|first1=Sanjay|title=Nirapekśa Samśodhaka (निरपेक्ष संशोधक)|publisher=Lokasatta (लोकसत्ता) (Mumbai), Lokaraṅga supplement (लोकरंग पुरवणी)|date=31 March 2002|page=3}}</ref> He studied for a B.A. in Economics at the [[University of Mumbai|University of Bombay]], and studied Indo-Greek and Gupta history under Father [[Henry Heras]]. In 1934, he received his B.A. and in 1936, his M.A. in Economics and History and passed the examinations with a Distinction in First Class (having won the Kanade Prize, Bai Dayakonwar Brijbhukhandas scholarship, K.T. Telang Gold Medial, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta scholarship, Sir Lawrence Jenkins scholarship, among others).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dhadphale |first=M. G. |date=2001 |title=Dr. SHRIDHAR VASUDEO SOHONI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694707 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=82 |issue=1/4 |pages=372–374 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref> He then passed the [[Indian Civil Service]] examination and went on to study at the [[University of Cambridge]]. In 1937, he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Numismatic Society]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Proceedings of the Royal Numismatic Society, Session 1937–38|journal=Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|year=1938|volume=18|page=6}}</ref> Sohoni returned to India in 1938 and served as district collector in various locations in Bihar and Orissa. In the aftermath of partition and independence, he was charged with negotiating with various princely states in Orissa.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Godbole|first1=Sanjay|title=Nirapekśa Samśodhaka (निरपेक्ष संशोधक)|publisher=Lokasatta (लोकसत्ता) (Mumbai), Lokaraṅga supplement (लोकरंग पुरवणी)|date=31 March 2002|page=3}}</ref> He played a very important role in ensuring that the [[Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library]] was retained in India after partition.

Between 1964 and 1966, he was appointed the Honorary Vice-chancellor of [[Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University]], and was later the chairman of the World Buddhist Conference in Bodhgaya in 1972.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dhadphale |first=M. G. |date=2001 |title=Dr. SHRIDHAR VASUDEO SOHONI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694707 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=82 |issue=1/4 |pages=372–374 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref> In 1973 he was appointed the [[Lokayukta]] of Bihar, and was appointed to various committees and commissions.[[Sanskrit]], [[Prakrit]], [[Pali]], English, [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Hindi]], and [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] were the languages in which he was fluent. His scholarship in Sanskrit was praised by Dr. [[Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi]], who called him " a critical and imaginative researcher of Sanskrit
literature and ancient Indian history."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mirashi|first1=V.V.|title=A new theory about the life and date of Kalidasa re-examined|journal=Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal|year=1976|volume=XIX|issue=1–2|page=23|url=https://archive.org/stream/svuorientaljourn015492mbp/svuorientaljourn015492mbp_djvu.txt}}</ref> Dr. S.V. Sohoni's name appears in hundreds of publications in most unexpected places, as seen in the chapter on South Asian cartography in the Historical Mapping section of ''The History of Cartography'' (eds. J.B. Harley and David Woodward).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schwartzberg|first1=Joseph E.|editor1-last=Harley|editor1-first=J.B.|editor2-last=Woodward|editor2-first=David|title=Geographical Mapping|date=1987|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|page=452|volume=2 bk. 1}}</ref> His numismatic expertise has been described by Mr. Sanjay Godbole, when he explained how just feeling a coin was enough for him to recognise a fake.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Godbole|first1=Sanjay|title=Sri.Va. Sohoni|agency=''Tarun Bharat'' (Pune edition)|issue=Asamanta Puravani|date=19 May 1996|page=1}}</ref> He was the chief editor of the ''Journal of Bihar Research Society'' and founder editor of ''Indian Numismatic Chronicle,'' also having served as the President of the Bihar Research Society, and Chairman of the [[Government of Uttar Pradesh]] Coin Committee from 1974 to 1977.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dhadphale |first=M. G. |date=2001 |title=Dr. SHRIDHAR VASUDEO SOHONI |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694707 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=82 |issue=1/4 |pages=372–374 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Shridhar V. Sohoni married Nirmaladevi Taisaheb Ghorpade, of the royal family of [[Ichalkaranji]] state. He had two sons, Dr. Venkatrao Sohoni, who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur with a degree in electronics engineering (1963) and at IIT, Mumbai in 1972 with a PhD in information systems. He married the writer [[Neera Kuckreja Sohoni]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ichalkaranji Jagir|url=http://www.indianrajputs.com/view/ichalkaranji|accessdate=27 June 2017}}</ref> His second son Shrinivas Sohoni entered the Indian Administrative Service in 1970, was the Secretary-General of the [[Rajya Sabha]] and retired as Secretary to the [[President of India]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dixit|first1=Sudhir|last2=Agarwal|first2=Vijay|title=Your Time Starts Now: A Book on Time Management|date=2004|publisher=Indra Publishing House|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8189107017|page=157}}</ref> His daughter, Dr. Vineeta Deshmukh, nee Padmaja Sohoni, studied at Patna University (B.A. Literature) and Delhi University (M.A., Literature), and was a Professor of English at the S.N.D.T. University in Mumbai. She was the first person in India to earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics focused on the teaching of English Language for Vocational Studies in the context of ESL in India.

==Bibliography==
===Books===
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V.|title=Ceylon, Burma, China and Russia|date=1951|location=Poona|ref=OCLC:48228386}}
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V.|title=Maharajadhiraj Dr. Kameshwara Singh memorial vol. 1|date=1962|publisher=Bihar Research Society|volume=Journal of the Bihar Research Society, 48}}
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V.|title=Maharajadhiraj Dr. Kameshwara Singh memorial vol. 2|date=1963|publisher=Bihar Research Society|volume=Journal of the Bihar Research Society, 49}}
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V.|title=Prof. Syed Hasan Askari felicitation volume|date=1968|publisher=Bihar Research Society|location=Patna}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kalzang|first1=Washul Tulku Thubten|last2=Pasadika|first2=Bhikku|last3=Sohoni|first3=S.V.|title=Excerpts from the Śūraṅgama samādhi sūtra : Ḥphag-pa-dpaḥ-bar-ḥgro-baḥi-tiṅ-ṅe-ḥdzin-ces-bya-ba-theg-pa-chen-poḥi-mdo|date=1971|publisher=Bihar Research Society|location=Patna|ref=OCLC:2648483}}
*{{cite book|last1=Mahanama|last2=Sohoni|first2=S.V.|title=Vaṃsatthappakāsinī, nāma, Mahāvaṃsaṭīka|date=1971|publisher=Nava Nālandā Mahāvihāra|location=Patna|ref=OCLC:40119669}}
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V.|title=Bāṇajayantī-nibandhāvalī : Bihāra-Rājya-Śikṣā-Vibhāgena saṇghaṭitayā samityā rājyasāhāyyena samāyojite, 1966 Khrīstābde, Mahākavibāṇabhaṭṭa-jayantī-samārohāvasare prāptānāṃ nibandhānāṃ saṅgraharūpā|date=1977|publisher=Mithilāvidyāpīṭha|location=Darbhanga|volume=Mithilā Vidyāpīṭha granthamālā : Arvācīnagranthāvalau, 5.|ref=OCLC:6627772}}
*{{cite book|last1=Sohoni|first1=S.V|title=The Ombudsman in India|date=1984|publisher=Harold Laski Institute of Political Science|location=Ahmedabad}}

===Essays===
*Sohoni, S. V. 'A note on Audumbara temple coins' in ''Journal of the Numismatic Society of India'' 4 (1942): 55ff.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Classical Concepts of Prthvi' in ''Journal of Bihar Research Society'' 51 (1965): 79–85.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Notes and Queries on Bhitari Pillar Inscription of Skandagupta' in ''Journal of the Burma Research Society'' (1969): 100.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Epigraphia Miscellanea' in ''Journal of Bihar research Society'' 42 (1975): 1–4.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Kalidāsa's Description of Vidiśā and its Environs,' ''Journal of the Bihar Research Society'' 59, part I-V (1973): 39-58.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'On Vishakhadatta's Devicandragupta' in ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'' 62.1/4 (1981): 169–192.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Kalidasa and the Geography of Central Tibet' in ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'' 63.1/4 (1982): 121–156.
*Sohoni, S. V., and G. H. Taralekar. 'Fragments of Panditaraja Jagannatha's commentary on Kavyaprakasa' in ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'' 67.1/4 (1986): 317–328.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Lokasamayakriyanuvidhana' in ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'' 68.1/4 (1987): 269–279.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Historical background of iron industry in Malwa of Bhoja's period.' ''Social Science'' 10 (1990): 104.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'Shyamala's Last Curiosity' in ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'' 71.1/4 (1990): 185–193.
*Sohoni, S. V. 'In Defence of Mayura and Bana' in ''Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute'' 53 (1993): 349–355.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sohon, S.V.}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Vikram University alumni]]

S. V. Sohoni - Revision history

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