Balram Shukla (; born 19 January 1982)
is an academician, poet and author based in
New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
.
He is a self-taught scholar of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
and Indian literature.
He works as a professor of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
at the
University of Delhi
The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...
. He is a scholar of Sanskrit,
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
,
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
,
Persian and
Prakrit
Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...
.
He writes poetry in both Sanskrit and Persian,
and also translates Persian poetry into Sanskrit using the same poetic metres.
He has been awarded the Badrayan Vyas Award for Sanskrit in 2013 by the
President of India
The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
.
He has authored eight books.
Life
Shukla hails from Sohrauna Raja village in
Maharajganj,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
.
His father is a retired school teacher.
His initial education was at Maharajganj.
He received a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from
Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...
and
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degrees in Sanskrit and Persian from
University of Delhi
The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...
.
Shukla topped in both subjects and received the C D Deshmukh gold medal.
Shukla then received a PhD in Sanskrit grammar from the University of Delhi.
Shukla took up research in Persian after completing his research in Sanskrit.
Since 2004, Shukla has taught in various colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, including
Hindu College and
Hans Raj College.
Currently, he is a professor in University of Delhi's Department of Sanskrit.
From 2020 to 2022, he was a research fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study
IIAS Shimla. He worked on the topic, "प्राकृत कविता के चारुत्व के भाषिक प्रयोजक". His project aims to identify and explicate those linguistic peculiarities of Prakrit languages which have been exploited by poets to embellish their poetry and transcend the beauty of prior literature.
From 2023 to 2026, he will serve as the director of Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Tehran, Iran with diplomatic rank of First Secretary.
Recognition
Shukla is recognized as one of the foremost young scholars of Sanskrit today.
He is well known in India and Iran for his knowledge of Sanskrit and Persian, his expertise in Sanskrit grammar, and his poetry in Sanskrit.
He often translates Persian poetry into Sanskrit in the same metre as the original.
Shukla has translated 100 Ghazals of Rumi along with several appendices, directly from Persian into Hindi. The book was recently launched in Iran's Art Bureau in the presence of the author. Literary critics have immensely praised the book for being a pioneering work in Hindi and as a model for translation. From a review in ''The Hindu'' : "The book is a model of how translations of poetic works should be presented so that the readers may become familiar not only with the beauty of the poetry but also the richness of the literary traditions of that language, history of translations, meaning of words and basic principles of its grammar."
Shukla's Persian odes have recently been collected in a volume called "Haft Shaair az Fardaa" which contain sample-poems of 7 non-Iranian young Persian poets.
Awards and honours
Shukla has been conferred many honours.
Some of these are
*2012: Gold medal in Persian
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
course, University of Delhi.
*2012: Honoured by
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...
, the then
President of Iran
The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the head of government of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran and the second highest-ranking official, after the Supreme Leader of Iran, supreme leader. The 1980 Iranian presidential election, fi ...
, for contributions to Persian literature.
*2013:
Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman by
Pranab Mukherjee
Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...
, the President of India.
*"Pt. Pratap Narayan Mishra Yuva Sahityakara Samman" conferred by Bhaurao Deoras Seva Nyas, Lucknow on 2 October 2017
*Shukla has three Sanskrit poetry collections to his credit. One amongst them is "Parivaahah" which has been published by Sahitya Akademi Delhi ( ) This book also have been awarded with "Kalidasa Samman" by Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan in 2018.
*2021: Conferred with the “Mahakavi Kalidasa Sanskrit-Vrati National Award” by Kavikulguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Nagapur (Maharashtra).
*2022: Conferred with the “Mahakavi Kalidasa Sanskrit-Vrati National Award” by Kavikulguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Nagapur (Maharashtra).
Views
Shukla believes that Sanskrit and Persian have around 350 similar words, owing to their common origin.
Shukla says that the influence of some Persian poets like
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...
and
Hafez Shirazi is seen in the poetry of several Indian languages including Sanskrit,
as well as on Persian poets from India like
Bedil Dehalvi.
Regarding Sanskrit poetry, Shukla believes that even today, Sanskrit poetry is being composed in the same metres and on the same topics as in Vedic times, and that India has poets who can compose poetry like
Valmiki
Valmiki (; , ) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic ''Ramayana'', based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as ''Ādi Kavi'', the first poet, author of ''Ramayana'', the first epic poe ...
and
Vyasa
Vyasa (; , ) or Veda Vyasa (, ), also known as Krishna Dvaipayana Veda Vyasa (, ''Vedavyāsa''), is a ''rishi'' (sage) with a prominent role in most Hindu traditions. He is traditionally regarded as the author of the epic Mahabharata, Mah� ...
even today.
Works
Books
* Balram Shukla (2009). ''Adhunik Sanskrit Sahitya Sanchayan'' (), a Hindi research work on modern Sanskrit poetry in India. Delhi: Vidyanidhi Publication. .
* Balram Shukla (2011). ''Isq-o-Atesh'' (), a collection of Persian poems. Tehran, Iran: Midhat Publication. .
* Balram Shukla (2013). ''Bharatiya evam pashchattya vakyartha siddhanta'' (), a Hindi research work on Indian and Western theories of sentential meaning. New Delhi, India: Pratibha Prakashan. .
* Balram Shukla (2014). Hindi translation of Dawazdeh Band of
Muhtasham Kashani. Rampur, India: Rampur Raza Library. .
* Balram Shukla and Paramanand Jha (2015). ''Laghusandesham'' (), a collection of short Sanskrit poems. .
* Balram Shukla (2016). ''Parivahah'' (), a collection of Sanskrit poems. . Published by
Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...
*Shukla, Balram (2017) ‘Kavitāputrikājātiḥ’, (an original Sanskrit poetry collection) New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit sansthan,
*Shukla, Balram (Trans.)(2018) Nihshabd-Noopur (Collection and Hindi Translation of Rumi's 100 Ghazals). New Delhi : MGAHV Wardha and Rajkamal.
*
*Shukla, Balram (Ed.)(2019) Śatāvadhāniracanāsaṃcayanam (Edited 7 beautiful compositions of modern Sanskrit poet Śatāvadhānī Dr. R. Ganesh with elaborate introduction and 600 notes to the same). New Delhi : Sahitya Akademi.
*Shukla, Balram (2020, 1398hq) Zāfrān-o-Sandal () (A Collection of Persian Ghazals), Tehran: Mo,assase-e-farhangi-e-shāerān-e-Pārsīzabān
*Shukla, Balram
d.(2021) ''Paśyantī'' (A Collection of poems of 75 contemporary Sanskrit poets), Prayagraj: Raka Prakashan.
*Shukla, Balram
rans.2021) ''Nihshabd-Noopur'' (Collection and Hindi Translation of Rumi's 100 Ghazals, First paperback edition, Second Edition
December 2021''.'' New Delhi: Rajkamal Paperbacks.
Example poetry
Shukla's symmetrical (in the same metre) translation into Sanskrit of the opening couplets of Rumi's
Masnavi
The ''Masnavi'', or ''Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi'' (, DIN 31635, DMG: ''Mas̲navī-e maʻnavī''), also written ''Mathnawi'', or ''Mathnavi'', is an extensive poem written in Persian language, Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Rumi. I ...
, along with the 1898 English translation by
Edward Henry Whinfield:
A Sanskrit verse by Shukla:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shukla, Balram
People from Maharajganj district
1982 births
Indian Sanskrit scholars
Living people