Hara Prasad Shastri
Hara Prasad Shastri | |
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Sanskrit College Presidency College | |
Occupation(s) | Academic, orientalist |
Hara Prasad Shastri (Bengali: হরপ্রসাদ শাস্ত্রী; 6 December 1853 – 17 November 1931), also known as Hara Prasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.[1]
Early life
Hara Prasad Shastri was born in Kumira village in
Shastri studied at the village school initially and then at
Shastri passed entrance (school-leaving) examination in 1871, First Arts, the undergraduate degree, in 1873, received a BA in 1876, and Honours in Sanskrit in 1877. Later, he was conferred the title of Shastri when he received a MA degree. The Shastri title was conferred on those who secured a first class (highest grade) and he was the only student in his batch (class) to do so. He then joined Hare School as a teacher in 1878.[1][2]
Professional career
Shastri held numerous positions. He became a professor at the
During the winter 1898-99, he assisted Dr. Cecil Bendall during research in Nepal, collecting information from the private Durbar Library of the Rana Prime Minister Bir Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, and the total registration of manuscripts was later published as A Catalogue of Palm-Leaf and selected Paper Manuscripts belonging to the Durbar Library, Nepal (Calcutta 1905) with a historical introduction by Cecil Bendall (including the description of Gopal Raj Vamshavali).[3]
He became Principal of Sanskrit College in 1900, leaving in 1908
Shastri held different positions within the
Works
Shastri's first research article was "Bharat mahila", published in the periodical
Shastri was instrumental in preparing the Catalogue of the Asiatic Society's approximately ten thousand manuscripts with the assistance of a few others.[1] The long introduction to the Catalogue contains invaluable information on the history of Sanskrit literature.
Shastri gradually became interested in collecting old Bengali manuscripts and ended up visiting Nepal several times, where, in 1907, he discovered the
Shastri was the collector and publisher of many other old works, author of many research articles, a noted historiographer, and recipient of a number of awards and titles.[1]
Some of his notable works were: Balmikir jai, Meghdoot byakshya, Beneyer Meye (The Merchant's Daughter, a novel), Kancanmala (novel), Sachitra Ramayan, Prachin Banglar Gourab, and Bouddha dharma.[2]
His English works include: Magadhan Literature, Sanskrit Culture in Modern India, and Discovery of Living Buddhism in Bengal.[2]
He also discovered an old palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in a Kathmandu library in Nepal, written in Gupta script.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chowdhury, Satyajit (2012). "Shastri, Haraprasad". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- ^ ISBN 81-85626-65-0. (in Bengali)
- OCLC 894231596.
- ^ Official website of Sanskrit College Archived 27 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Principals of Sanskrit College
- ^ Bhatacharyya, Ritwik. "Time-citations: Haraprasad Shastri and the 'Glorious Times'". Cerebration. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
- doi:10.58079/uxzv. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ISBN 81-260-1803-8.
External links
- H P Shastri at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Sanskrit College new website Archived 13 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Viewed in August 2020.