Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava, more commonly known as A.L. Srivastava, born 16 September 1899, in Andhana, Uttar Pradesh, died 12 July 1973, in Agra district, was an Indian historian specialising in medieval, early modern and modern history of India.
Life and work.
Srivastava studied history in Lucknow where he completed his Ph.D. (Doctor of philosophy) in 1932, and in Agra and Lucknow where he achieved D. Litt. (Doctor of Letters, 1938/1945) while writing works concerning the three first Nawabs of Oudh (Awadh) in the 18th century (see article Nawabs of Oudh). Besides English and his mother tongue Hindi, he mastered Persian, the language at court and of diplomats, and Urdu while commanding a working knowledge of Sanskrit, Marathi, Rajasthani and Punjabi. For reading Arabic sources he asked for advice from Muslim Maulwis.
In 1917, he was married to Phool Kumari (1904-1973); the couple had three sons and three daughters.
In 1927 he passed his M.A. and got a job at the Government College, Udaipur. In 1932 he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Lucknow (the first Ph.D. degree holder in the history of this faculty). In 1934 he became head of the Dungar College, Bikaner, in 1938 he was promoted to D. Litt. by the University of Agra.
In 1943, Srivastava was appointed head of the history department at D.A.V. College, Lahore. In 1946, he was given additional charge of the professorship and head of history department, Panjab University, Lahore. In August, 1947, he was appointed professor and head, history and political science department, Agra College, Agra and retired from this Institution on 30 June 1962.
Srivastava published in English as well as in Hindi. As his "Guru" in history he named Prof. K. R. Qanungo, while he recognized the Bengali historian Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1959) to be the "greatest authority on the history of India".
He died, aged 74, from stomach cancer.
Srivastava was a recipient of the Sir Jadunath Sarkar Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta (1953) for his research in medieval Indian history. He was a contributor to the Encyclopædia Britannica and to the Bengali and the Marathi Encyclopaedias of Calcutta and Poona (see list above) and founder respectively &amp; chief editor of two research journals, "Agra College Journal of History" and "Uttara Bharati Journal of Research". As an academic &amp; professor he supervised about 30 students during their Ph.D. and D.Litt. degrees.
References.
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