Buddha Rashmi Mani

Buddha Rashmi Mani spent more than three decades with the Archaeological Survey of India before heading the National Museum in New Delhi. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Banaras Hindu University

Mani was born on 17 April 1955 ^[2]. At Banaras Hindu University he took his BA in 1974 and MA in 1976, topping his class and winning the university’s gold medal, and completed a PhD on life in the Kushan age in 1980 ^[2]. He taught at BHU and at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath from 1978 to 1984 ^[2].

Thirty years in the field

Mani joined the Archaeological Survey of India in 1984 and rose to additional director general before leaving in 2015 ^[2]. He conserved about 150 protected monuments in Maharashtra, Goa, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, and found around 200 archaeological sites ^[2].

He directed 20 excavations, at sites including Kapilavastu, Sarnath, Sankisa, Lal Kot in Delhi and Ayodhya ^[2]. His citation states that the Ayodhya excavation provided evidence used to settle the long-running court case over the site ^[2].

National Museum

In 2016 the government put him in charge of the National Museum as its director general. He was also made vice-chancellor of its teaching arm, the National Museum Institute, which was renamed the Indian Institute of Heritage in 2023 ^[2]. He retired in April 2025 ^[2].

He has written six books and about 200 research papers, and edited the Indian Archaeological Society’s journals Puratattva and Purapravaha for more than ten years ^[2].