Naheed Abidi is an Indian scholar of

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 ...

and writer. In 2014, she was honoured with

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, the fourth highest civilian award, for her contributions to the field of literature by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

Biography

Naheed Abidi was born in 1961, in a Shia Muslim

zamindari A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

family at

Mirzapur Mirzapur () is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, 827 km from Delhi and 733 km from Kolkata, almost 91 km from Prayagraj (formally known as Allahabad) and 61 km from Varanasi. It is known for its carpets and brassware industries, and the folk ...

, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Choosing

as her subject, Abidi did her graduation at the Kamla Maheshwari Degree College and secured her MA from the K. V. Degree College, Mirzapur. She moved to

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 ...

, an ancient seat of Sanskrit scholarship after her marriage with Ehtesham Abidi - an advocate in the city. Varanasi is deemed holy by the Hindu text

Garuda Purana The ''Garuda Purana'' is one of 18 ''Mahāpurāṇa'' texts in Hinduism. It is a part of Vaishnavism literature corpus, primarily centering around Hindu god Vishnu. Composed in Sanskrit and also available in various languages like Gujarati an ...

. She went on to secure a doctoral degree (PhD) from the

Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith is a public university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established in 10 February 1921 as Kashi Vidyapith and later renamed, it is administered under the state legislature of the government of Uttar Pra ...

(MGKV), a public university in the city, and published her thesis titled as ''Vedic Sahitya Mein Ashviniyon Ka Swaroop'' (''The Form of Ashvinis in Vedic Literature'') in 1993. In 2005, Abidi started working as a lecturer without any pay at

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

. Soon after, she joined the

to work as a part-time lecturer on a daily wage scheme. However, the Sanskrit scholar, known as the first Muslim female to have worked as a lecturer in Sanskrit, had difficulties finding a regular job. Her first book was published in 2008 and was titled ''Sanskrit Sahitya Mein Rahim'' - which is an account of the Sanskrit leanings of the renowned poet, Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana. This was followed by ''Devalayasya Deepa'', a translation of ''Chairag-e-Dair'', written by poet,

Mirza Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

. The third book was ''Sirr-e-Akbar'', a Hindi translation of 50

Upanishad The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

s, earlier translated by the Mughal prince,

Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank" ...

into

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. She has published a Hindi translation of Vedanta, translated into Persian by Dara Shikoh and also the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

texts by the prince. Naheed Abidi lives with her spouse Ehtesham Abidi and her two children, a son and a daughter, in VDA colony in the Shivpur area of

. She also serves as an Executive Council member at the Sampurnanad Sanskrit University.

Awards and recognitions

Naheed Abidi was conferred with

, in 2014, by the

, for her services to literature. She has also been conferred DLitt (Honoris Causa) by the

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

. Abidi met

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

on 9 September 2014 at the latter's residence and presented two of the books written by her. The meeting was announced by Modi through a photo on his

Google Plus Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus; sometimes called G+) was a social network owned and operated by Google. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google ...

page and the video of the meeting was displayed on the personal web site of the Prime Minister. In 2016, She was honored with the Yash Bharati Award by UP government at a function held in Lucknow.

Biography

Awards and recognitions

Literary contributions

See also

References

External links

Further reading