Rama Nath Sharma (also written as Ramanath Sharma) is born in 1939 at

Chhata Chhata is a town and a nagar panchayat in Mathura district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Earlier this town was known as Chhatravan. Geography Chhata is located at . It has an average elevation of 186 metres (610 feet). Demog ...

, Ballia,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in a family of traditional

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 ...

scholars. He studied Sanskrit from his father Padmashri Paṇḍita Raghunath Sharma, the author of the famous commentary Ambākartrī on the Vākyapadīyam of Bhartṛhari. Dr. Sharma is the author of 6 volumes containing a comprehensive translation and analysis of the fundamental work on the grammar of ancient Sanskrit, the

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 ...

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

Education

He completed his early education, as well as the Undergraduate education, at Varanasi, with B.A. (1957) from Banaras Hindu University; M. A. (1959, Hindi Literature,

University of Allahabad , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

); and M.A. (1962, General Linguistics, K.M. Institute, Agra University). He received his Ph.D. (1971, General Linguistics) from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

, Rochester, New York.

Academic career

He taught Hindi Literature, and General Linguistics, at the

University of Allahabad , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

(1962–66). He joined the faculty of the

, Rochester, New York, as an assistant professor of linguistics (1971–76). He moved on to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa (1976), Honolulu, Hawaii (U.S.A.), as assistant professor of Sanskrit. He was also Director of South Asian Studies Program (1978–83), and Member Trustee of the

American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fello ...

. He served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages during the years 1997–2000. He retired as Professor of Sanskrit in 2012, is currently an Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Hawaii. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, with his wife, and regularly (September–December) visits Varanasi (India) where he has a vacation home. He travelled every summer to the family farm house at Chhata to study the Vyākaraṇa-mahābhāṣya of Patañjali. He studied the Kāśikāvṛtti of Vāmana-Jayāditya from Paṇḍit Rāmaprasāda Tripāthī, at Varanasi. Professor Sharma is internationally known for his lectures on, and studies in, the

, and Sanskrit Intellectual Tradition. He travelled to all major institutions of higher learning in India, including the I.I.T. Kanpur, lecturing on Pāṇini as a

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

(2005). He has presented papers, chaired sessions, and delivered key-note addresses, at many National-International Conferences. He presented a special Panel on Reinterpreting Pāṇini at the

World Sanskrit Conference The World Sanskrit conference is an international conference organised at various locations globally. It has been held in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Delhi International Sanskrit Conference of 1972 is considered to be the first W ...

, New Delhi (2012). He made a special presentation on, "Rule-interaction, Blocking and Derivation in Pāṇini", at the International Seminar on Sanskrit Computational Linguistics, JNU (Dec, 2010 ), New Delhi. He presented a key-note address at the World Vedic Conference (2007: Vrindavan), on "Dharma, Karma and Yoga", the three Perspectives to Way of Life, and also two Guest Lectures at the Seminar on Indian Intellectual Tradition, at the Sāhitya Academy, New Delhi (2013).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Rama Nath 1939 births Living people Sanskrit grammarians Sanskrit scholars People from Ballia district Sanskrit scholars from Uttar Pradesh