Kalika Prasad Shukla ( sa, कालिकाप्रसादशुक्लः) (born 15 October 1921Tripathi (ed.) 2012, pp. 291–292. - 1993) was a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

scholar and poet based in

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

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. He won the

Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit The Sahitya Akademi Award is an annual award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters), to writers in 24 Indian languages. The award was instituted and first awarded in 1955. , the award carries a monetary reward of , ...

in the year 1986 for the epic poem ''Śrīrādhācaritamahākāvyam''. He was the Head of Departments of

Vedanga The Vedanga ( sa, वेदाङ्ग ', "limbs of the Veda") are six auxiliary disciplines of Hinduism that developed in ancient times and have been connected with the study of the Vedas:James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Enc ...

and

Vyākaraṇa ''Vyākaraṇa'' (, ) refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, ancillary science connected with the Vedas, which are scriptures in Hinduism.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vyakarana" in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'', Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen ...

at the

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, specializing i ...

Life

Kalika Prasad Shukla was born in the Mathia-Shukia village in

Deoria district Deoria district, one of the districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India has its headquarters located at Deoria and is a part of Gorakhpur division. It came into existence on 16 March 1946 from Gorakhpur district. History Ancient The area now ...

.Singh and Baruah 2004, pp. 1473-1475. He obtained the ''Navyavyakaranacharya'', ''Nyaya Shastri'' and ''Kavyatirtha'' degrees in the traditional (Gurukula) system of Sanskrit learning. He then obtained the ''Acharya'' (Master of Arts) degree in Sanskrit from Agra University in 1957. In 1978, he obtained the degree of ''Vachaspti'' (DLitt) from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University along with a Gold Medal. From 1957 to 1968, he taught as a lecturer in the Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya under the

Maharaja Sayajirao University The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

. He joined the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in 1968 and served there till his retirement in 1982. From 1968 to 1975 he served as a Lecturer, from 1975 to 1979 as a Reader, and from 1979 to 1982 as a Professor. He retired as the Head of Departments of Vedanga and Vyakarana. After retiring from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, he settled in Varanasi. He took his last breathe because of brain haemorrhage on 21 June 1993 in Varanasi as per his last wish.

Major works

Kalika Prasad Shukla has authored fifteen books and more than 25 papers. His major works include−

Epic poem

* ''Śrīrādhācaritamahākāvyam'' (श्रीराधाचरितमहाकाव्यम्) (1986) – This is an epic poem in 13 cantos on the love life of

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

and

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

.Lal 2006, pp. 4158–4159.Dalal 2011, p. 384.Singh and Baruah 2004, pp. 1448-1450. The entire poem is from the perspective of Radha. The work is epical in mode with hardly any dialogues. ''Madhura Bhakti'' is the main Rasa of the poem. There is detailed poetic description of nature including the land of

Braja Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhoomi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal and Ballabhgarh in Haryan ...

, the river

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

, the hamlets, cowherds, seasons, groves, sunrise, moonrise, flora and fauna, et cetera. The work received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit in 1986 for its "innovative form, epical structure and devotional appeal".

Minor poem

* ''Sūryaśatakam'' (सूर्यशतकम्) (1983) – A poem of one hundred verses devoted to

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...

Research

* ''Vaiyākaraṇānāmanyeṣāñca Matena Śabdasvarūpatacchaktivicāraḥ'' (वैयाकरणानामन्येषाञ्च मतेन शब्दस्वरूपतच्छक्तिविचारः) (1979)

Critical editions

* ''Paramalaghumañjūṣā'' (परमलघुमञ्जूषा) (1961) of Nagesha Bhatta. * ''Kovidānandaḥ'' (कोविदानन्दः) (1963) of Ashadhara Bhatta. * ''Citramīmāṃsā'' (चित्रमीमांसा) (1965) of

Appayya Dikshita Appayya Dikshita (IAST ', often "Dikshitar"), 1520–1593 CE, was a performer of yajñas as well as an expositor and practitioner of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy but with a focus on Shiva or Shiva Advaita. Life Appayya ...

. * ''Paribhāṣenduśekharaḥ'' (परिभाषेन्दुशेखरः) (1975) of Nagesha Bhatta. * ''Vaiyākaraṇasiddhāntamañjūṣā'' (वैयाकरणसिद्धान्तमञ्जूषा) (1977) of Nagesha Bhatta. * ''Kāśikāvṛttiḥ'' (काशिकावृत्तिः) (1985) of Vamana and Jayaditya. Six volumes of the commentary on

Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas=Descript ...

Aṣṭādhyāyī The (Devanagari अष्टाध्यायी) is a grammar that describes a form of an early Indo-Aryan language: Sanskrit. Authored by Sanskrit philologist and scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 500 BCE, it describes the language as cu ...

. With Dvarikadasa Shastri.

Commentaries

* The commentary ''Jyotsanā'' on the ''Paramalaghumañjūṣā''. * A commentary on the third canto of the ''Candraprabhācaritam''. * A commentary on the fifth canto of the ''

Kumārasambhava ''Kumārasaṃbhavam'' ( sa, कुमारसम्भवम् "The Birth of Kumāra") is an epic poem by Kālidāsa. It is widely regarded as the finest work of Kālidāsa as well as the greatest kāvya poem in Classical Sanskrit. The style o ...

m''.

Awards and recognition

Awards

* 1986. ''Vishishta Puraskar'' by the Sanskrit Akademy of Uttar Pradesh for outstanding contribution to Sanskrit literature. * 1986. Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit for the work ''Śrīrādhācaritamahākāvyam''.

Recognition

Shukla is known for his creative writing skills and is acclaimed as a poet of great distinction. Roshen Dalal wrote that the ''Śrīrādhācaritamahākāvyam'' is a "rare, high quality Sanskrit works of the twentieth century." K. Krishnamoorthy wrote about him−

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shukla, Kalika Prasad 1921 births 1993 deaths Writers from Varanasi Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sanskrit Sanskrit poets Indian Sanskrit scholars 20th-century Indian poets Poets from Uttar Pradesh Scholars from Varanasi