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Dr. Pradeep Rai Mehendiratta
Born on 15th November 1931 in Village Lodhran, Multan (Punjab), Pakistan to Shri Parmaram Mehendiratta and Smt. Mathura Devi. Dr. Mehendiratta’s father died four days before his birth. On August 15, 1947, at the tender age of 16 he migrated by himself from Pakistan traveling in goods train from Kahror Pakka, Lodhran (Punjab), Pakistan arriving at Batala (Punjab), India via Attari (Punjab), India and reaching Kurukshetra (Haryana) on 18th August 1947.

After staying in Kurukshetra for seven months doing odd jobs like weaving cots made from jute, selling tea, halwa and pakora (sweets and savories) and as coolie (porter) at Ambala Cantt for six to eight weeks, he moved to village Saniana in Uklana District of Haryana, now in Hisar where he opened a grocery shop.

Early education was done at Jat High School financed by running the grocery shop. Not able to fund his schooling, the Headmaster, Shri Brahma Swaroop Bhatnagar made arrangements for his stay with the District Public Prosecutor in Hisar who took care of his stay, meals, and dress. During 1949 he got a summer job to sprinkle water on the Khas windows and doors of the Air India Radio Headquarter in New Delhi on 8 hours a day.

After passing intermediate exam from Santana Dharma College, Hisar in 1952 he did six months training as a Tracer at the Central Waterpower Commission, Govt of India, Bikaner House, New Delhi and later got absorbed there itself as a Tracer.

After working for a few months, he moved to Ambala to stay with Shri Devraj Choudhury, Assistant Editor, the Tribune as he could not afford to pay the rent. Shri Choudhury helped him to get a job at Oriental Science Apparatus Workshop in Ambala as a typist attached to the Marketing Manager, Mr. Chopra on a salary of Rs. 60/- per month.

During 1953-54 he got a clerical position in a government department in Rajpura (Punjab) and learnt shorthand for a year by going to Ambala every day. Finally, he found a job through UPSC in the Ministry of Irrigation and Power, Govt of India, initially in Amritsar and then he was transferred to Delhi.

In 1962 Dr. Mehendiratta joined the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) as an Executive Officer. AIIS is now a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States where scholars actively engage in teaching and research about India, with offices in Delhi, Gurugram, Kolkata and Pune and language program centers across the country. While in service, he joined MBA and passed with Distinction from the first batch of the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. In 1983, he completed his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Professor Dhool Singh, Professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Business Management from the Kurukshetra University. His Ph.D. dissertation resulted in a publication titled University Administration in India and the USA (1984) which refers to the case studies conducted in India and the University of Illinois. Through his hard work and dedication, he became the Director General and Vice President of AIIS. On retirement in 2004, he was made the Vice President (Emeritus) of AIIS.

Dr. Mehendiratta built the National Campus of AIIS in Gurugram, Haryana, India in 1998 on land allotted to the Institute by the Government of Haryana on subsidized rates. The AIIS’s campus in Gurugram houses two internationally renowned unique research centers, (1) The Center for Art & Archaeology, which houses a Photo-archives of 150,000 images and a library of 75,000 books and journals on art, archaeology, and architecture of India and South Asia and (2) The Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology, which houses a Sound archive consisting of 39,000 hours of folk music of India and a library of 25,000 books and journals on Indian music. For his contribution to the scholarly communities of India and the United State of America, the Board of Trustees of the AIIS dedicated the AIIS Gurugram Campus to him.

Dr. Mehendiratta ensured that the photo-documentation of the monuments and antiquities from Haryana, covered in the Photo-archives of the Center for Art and Archaeology, are also made accessible to the scholars and interested visitors in other archives of the State of Haryana. In 2011 he gifted a set of about 4000 mounted and labeled photographs to the Dharohar Museum of the Kurukshetra University and the digital copies of the same were deposited in the State archives of the Department of Culture, Haryana. The Department of Culture, Government of Haryana also gave a maintenance grant to the Center in 2014.

Dr. Mehendiratta was a consultant for several Research and Educational Institutions such as Vrindavan Research Institute. His writings include two books, Coming to India and to Delhi – The Gateway to Modern India for Foreign Scholars, published by Promilla & Co Publishers and the other University Administration in India and the USA published by Manohar Publications and Essays on Taxation and Labour Relations in India. He was also the publisher of 14 volume Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture, a publication of AIIS and authored by Padma Bhushan Professor Madhusudan Dhaky, Director Emeritus of CA&A, and several other renowned Indian and American scholars.

Dr. Mehendiratta contributed immensely to Indian Studies in American Universities, and for the preservation of Indian art, archaeology, and ethnic music.

Over the last six decades, Dr. Mehendiratta has inspired multiple generations of scholars in America to pursue research studies in India ranging from anthropology to zoology, which has led to publication of over 3000 books on Indian studies. He established 16 language teaching programs in India where American students can further their skills in spoken and written Indian languages.

In recognition of his tireless efforts AIIS brought out a commemorative volume in his honor titled “Pradeep-Index to Facilitation and Commemoration volumes” edited by Shri Jagadish S. Yadav and published by Manohar Publications in 1990.

An endearing leader, Dr. Mehendiratta’s farsightedness ensured sustenance of the AIIS and its two centers – CA&A and ARCE even through droughts of funding for Indian Studies. Despite spectacular professional achievements, Dr. Mehendiratta will be most remembered for his humility, generosity, compassion, and commitment to enrich all those who crossed his path.

Dr. Mehendiratta breathed his last on January 28, 2022, in Gurugram. Every fellow and staff of AIIS owes a great debt to Dr. Pradeep R. Mehendiratta.