His  academic career spans 45 years (1963-2008)  in Calcutta (1963-1977), Delhi (1977-1990), Visvabharati (1980-81), Jahangirnagar (1988-1990) and Cambridge (1990-2008) Universities, and also other institutions ( Allahabad, Banaras, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Tehran, USA, Paris and  Armidale) where he received short-term fellowships and awards. His independent archaeological field-research has encompassed the Kangra valley, the whole of the Chhotanagpur plateau, the entire alluvial belt between Bengal and Panjab,  the routes which linked the Ganga plain with the Deccan, the routes which covered the  Deccan and the southern peninsula up to Cape Comorin, Rajasthan, and southern Uttarakhand.  It  is  doubtful  if   anybody   after Alexander Cunningham  in the 19th century has so far been more familiar with India’s archaeological landscape than him. He has authored 31 books ( 2 in Bengali) and edited 18 more volumes  (4 in press), in addition to 200-odd articles and reviews. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2019. He received V S Wakankar  rashtriya samman of Madhya Pradesh government, Gurudev Ranade award of the Indian Archaeological Society, S.N.Chakrabarti medal of the  Asiatic Society of Bengal and Senerath Paranavitana award of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He also received D.Litt (Honoris causa) of M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly.