Baldev Upadhyaya (10 October 1899 – 10 August 1999) was a Hindi and

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 ...

scholar, literary

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

and

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

. He wrote numerous books, collections of essays and a historical outline of

Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some ...

. He is noted for discussing Sanskrit literature in the Hindi language. Earlier books related to Sanskrit literature were often written either in Sanskrit or in English.

Life

He was born on 10 October 1899 in the village

Sonbarsa Sonbarsa is a Village development committee (Nepal), village development committee in Parsa District in the Narayani Zone of southern Nepal. Demographics At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 7,158 people living in 1114 in ...

in the Ballia district of

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 ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father was Pt. Ram Suchit Upadhyaya, who was a great scholar of the '' Bhagavata Puraṇa'', and his mother was Murti Devi. He had two brothers. Upadhyaya's early education was at the Govt. High School, Ballia, except for the years 1911–1912, when he was admitted to the 6th standard at the Bengali Tola Inter College,

Benares Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges, Ganges river in North India, northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hinduism, Hindu world.* * * * The city ...

. He passed his M.A. from the

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

(1922) and the Sahityacharya from the Govt. Sanskrit College, Benares. He married Shivmuni Devi, daughter of Pt. Dev Krishna Ojha, granddaughter of Pt. Yogesh Dutt Ojha, a Sanskrit scholar and author of the ''Paribhashendu Shekhar'', which was published by the Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi. He died on 10 August in his centenary year 1999 at Varanasi. He had two sons. One of his sons named Dr. G. S. Upadhyaya is retired from

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by th ...

, where he was a professor in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. Dr. G. S. Upadhyaya also had been the head of the department. Prof. G. S. Upadhyaya has died during the COVID-19 period (2020–21). The grandson of Baldev Upadhyaya named Dr. Anish Upadhyaya is currently a professor in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kanpur.

Students

His students include Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Vidya Niwas Mishra, Vibhuti Narayan Singh, Sitaram Chaturvedi, Kalu Lal Shrimali, Rewa Prasad Dwivedi, J. N. Chaturvedi, Triloki Nath Chaturvedi, and Vishnu Kant Shastri.

Major works

In 1922 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Sanskrit at the Banaras Hindu University. After serving the institution for 38 years, he retired as the head of the department in 1960. In 1968 he was again appointed the director and professor emeritus of the Research Institute at

Sampurnanand Sanskrit University Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (IAST: ; formerly Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya and Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi) is an Indian university and institution of higher learning located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is one of t ...

. He also served as the president, Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Lucknow. When he was director of the Research Institute, he was the chief editor of the book series, '' Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala'', and the

journal '' Sarasvati Sushama''. He wrote many books which are the outcome of original studies and are authoritative in their respective fields. He also edited about 25 books.Shemushi, (Ed) Vidya Niwas Mishra, Sharda Niketan, Varanasi, 2000.

Awards and honours

* Mangla Prasad Puraskar, 1942 * Dalmia Puraskar, 1946 * Shravan-Nath Puraskara * Sahitya Varidhi, Prayag, 1972 * D.Litt., 1977 * Certificate of Honour, Awarded by

Zakir Husain Zakir Husain Khan (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Born in H ...

, 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 ...

in 1968. * Kalidas Sahitya Ratna, Ujjain, 1982 * Vishva Sanskrit Bharati Award, U.P. Sanskrit Academy, 1983. *

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

Awarded by Giani Zail Singh, the

, in 1984. * Umaswami Award, Kunda Kunda Bharati Ch. Trust, New Delhi, 1994 * Mahamahopadhyaya, 1997 * Rama Krishna Dalmiya Sri Vani Award, Ramkrishna Dalmiya Trust, New Delhi

Books

Upadhyaya had chosen Hindi as his medium for writing books. There were no authoritative books on all branch of

literature in the Hindi language when he began writing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upadhyaya, Baldev People from Ballia district Banaras Hindu University alumni Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Indian male writers 1899 births 1999 deaths Scholars from Varanasi 20th-century Indian historians