>Marcocapelle at 12:31, 5 June 2021

2021-06-05T12:31:26Z

New page

{{for|Gujarati writer|Hariprasad Shastri}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hara Prasad Shastri
| image = Haraprasad Shastri (1853-1931).jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{date of birth|1853|12|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Khulna]], [[Bengal Presidency]]
| death_date = {{date of death and age|1931|11|17|1853|12|6|df=y}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Academic, orientalist
| spouse =
}}

'''Hara Prasad Shastri''' ({{lang-bn|হরপ্রসাদ শাস্ত্রী}}) (6 December 1853 – 17 November 1931), also known as '''Hara Prasad Bhattacharya''', was an [[India]]n academic, [[Sanskrit]] scholar, [[archivist]] and historian of [[Bengali literature]]. He is most known for discovering the [[Charyapada]], the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.<ref name=banglapedia>{{cite book |last=Chowdhury |first=Satyajit |year=2012 |chapter=Shastri, Haraprasad |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shastri,_Haraprasad |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref>

==Early life==
Hara Prasad Shastri was born in Kumira village in [[Khulna]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] (now in [[Bangladesh]])<ref name=banglapedia/> to a family that hailed from [[Naihati]] in [[North 24 Parganas]] of the present day [[West Bengal]]. The family name was Bhattacharya, a common [[Bengali people|Bengali]] Brahmin surname.

Shastri studied at the village school initially and then at [[Sanskrit College]] and [[Presidency College, Kolkata|Presidency College]] in [[Calcutta]] (now Kolkata). While in Calcutta, he stayed with the noted Bengali scholar and social reformer, [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]], who was a friend of Shastri's older brother [[Nandakumar Nyayachunchu]].<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name = "Bose612">{{cite book| editor=Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose (eds.) | year=1998 | title=Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan | volume=Vol. I | edition=4th | publisher=Sahitya Samsad | pages=612–613 | isbn=81-85626-65-0| author=edited by Subodhchandra Sengupta.}} {{in lang|bn}}</ref>

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 [[Master of Arts|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.<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name = "Bose612"/>

==Professional career==
Hara Prasad Shastri held numerous positions. He became a professor at the [[Sanskrit College]] in 1883. At the same time, he worked as an Assistant Translator with the Bengal government. Between 1886 and 1894, besides teaching at the Sanskrit College, he was the Librarian of the Bengal Library. In 1895 he headed the Sanskrit department at Presidency College.<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name = "Bose612"/>

During the winter 1898-99 he assisted Dr. [[Cecil Bendall]] during research in Nepal, collecting informations 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 historical introduction by Cecil Bendall (including description of ''[[Gopal Raj Vamshavali]]'').<ref>{{Cite book|last=Durbar Library (Nepal)|url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/40208823.html|title=A catalogue of palm-leaf & selected paper mss. belonging to the Durbar library, Nepal|last2=Shastri|first2=Hara Prasad|last3=Bendall|first3=Cecil|last4=Bengal (India)|date=1905|publisher=Printed at the Baptist mission Press|location=Calcutta|pages=Historical Introduction, p. 1|language=en|oclc=894231596}}</ref>

He became Principal of Sanskrit College in 1900, leaving in 1908<ref>[http://www.sanskritcollege.co.in/aboutus_main.htm Official website of Sanskrit College] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827163508/http://www.sanskritcollege.co.in/aboutus_main.htm |date=27 August 2013 }}, ''Principals of Sanskrit College</ref> to join the government's Bureau of Information. Also, from 1921 to 1924, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Bengali and Sanskrit at [[Dhaka University]].<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name = "Bose612"/>

Shastri held different positions within the [[Asiatic Society]], and was its president for two years. He was also President of [[Vangiya Sahitya Parishad]] for twelve years and was an honorary member of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]] in London.<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name = "Bose612"/>

==Works==
Shastri's first research article was "Bharat mahila", published in the periodical ''[[Bangadarshan]]'' when he was a student. Later, Shastri became a regular contributor to the periodical, which was then edited by the noted Bengali author [[Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay]], authoring around thirty articles on different topics, as well as novel reviews. He was first introduced to research by [[Rajendralal Mitra]], a noted [[Indology|Indologist]], and translated the Buddhist Puranas which Mitra included in the book ''The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal''. Shastri was also Mitra's assistant at the Asiatic Society, and became Director of Operations in Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts after Mitra's death.<ref name=banglapedia/><ref name="Bhatacharyya">{{cite journal| last=Bhatacharyya | first=Ritwik | title=Time-citations: Haraprasad Shastri and the 'Glorious Times' | journal=Cerebration | url=http://www.cerebration.org/ritwikbhattacharyya.html | access-date=12 April 2008}}</ref>

Shastri was instrumental in preparing the Catalogue of the Asiatic Society's approximately ten thousand manuscripts with the assistance of a few others.<ref name=banglapedia/> 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 ''[[Charyageeti]]'' or ''Charyapada'' manuscripts.<ref name=banglapedia/> His painstaking research on the manuscript led to the establishment of ''Charyapada'' as the earliest known evidence of Bengali language.<ref name=banglapedia/> Shastri wrote about this finding in a 1916 paper titled "হাজার বছরের পুরোনো বাংলা ভাষায় রচিত বৌদ্ধ গান ও দোঁহা” (Hajar bochhorer purono Bangla bhasay rochito Bouddho gan o doha) meaning "Buddhist songs and verses written in Bengali a thousand years ago".<ref name = "Bose612"/><ref name="EIL">{{cite encyclopedia| author=S. D. | year=1987 | title=Charyapada (Bengali) | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature | volume=Vol. 1 | publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] | isbn=81-260-1803-8 | pages=646– }}</ref>

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.<ref name=banglapedia/>

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''.<ref name = "Bose612"/>

His English works include: ''Magadhan Literature'', ''Sanskrit Culture in Modern India'', and ''Discovery of Living Buddhism in Bengal''.<ref name = "Bose612"/>

He also discovered an old [[palm-leaf manuscript]] of [[Skanda Purana]] in a Kathmandu library in [[Nepal]], written in [[Gupta script]].

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/shastri_h_p H P Shastri] at the [[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]
* [https://www.sanskritcollegeanduniversity.org.in/ Sanskrit College new website]. Viewed in August 2020.

{{Bengal Renaissance}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shastri, Haraprasad}}
[[Category:1853 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:The Sanskrit College and University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Indian Sanskrit scholars]]
[[Category:Indian archivists]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Presidents of The Asiatic Society]]

Hara Prasad Shastri - Revision history

>Marcocapelle at 12:31, 5 June 2021