Pilgrim Shrines of India

Shri Amar Nath Khanna was born at Multan in West Pubjab in 1936. He holds a Master's degree in History and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Archaeology from the School (presently Institute) of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. Shri Khanna has had the rare opportunity of visiting and studying monuments and pilgrim shrines scattered all over the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan, Nepal and Singapore during the last about half and century. He retired as Senior Technical officer, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, in 1996 while earlier he has been working as a Senior Officer with the President of India. In 1998, he was invited again by Shri R. Venkataraman, former President of India, to work with him even after retirement. He had been the Registering officer for Antiquities in Himachal Pradesh and was associated with Shri Rajeev Sethi, Padma Bhushan, in the Aditi Exhibition curated by him in the Festival of India, U.S.A., and he Basic Human Needs Pavilion set up in Germany in 1998. He was associated with Smt. Pupal Jayaker, Adviser to Prime Minister on Heritage and Cultural Resources, in the Festivals of India held in the U.S.A. and Japan and the Year of India in France. He was a Member of the Presidential Delegations which had visited Japan in 1990 and China in 1992. From 1957, he was a member of the Archaeological Survey of India for about two decades. Shri Khanna's book Archaeology of India was published in 1981. Its revised and enlarged edition which covered Pakistan and Bangladesh also was published in 1992 and was highly appreciated among others by the President of India and Dr. Karl Khandalavala. Shri Khanna's research papers have been published in leading journals in India. Currently, Shri Khanna is Secretary, Indo-Tibetan Art & Culture study Group, New Delhi, and Executive Member, Rasaja Foundation, New Delhi.