Himanshu Prabha Ray

Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray (15 Aug. 1947) is an Indian Sanskrit scholar, historian, and archaeologist focusing on maritime history and archaeology. A recipient of the Anneliese Maier research award of the Humboldt Foundation for collaborative research and an Honorary Professor of the Distant Worlds Programme, Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, she was also a professor in the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

Until 2015, she was the Chairperson of the National Monuments Authority, under the government of India. In her recent project focusing on Indian coastal belt from Goa to Mangalore, she intends to study the history of the sea through the historical monuments dated back to European time. Himanshi Prabha Ray has published numerous books and essays on Indian and regional maritime trade and exchanges, including Archeology of Seafaring : The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period (Pragati Publications, 2002) and Coastal Shrines and Transnational Maritime Networks across India and Southeast Asia (Routledge India, 2021). She is the editor of the Routledge series of books Archaeology and Religion in South Asia.