Department of Sanskrit

The Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi, is as old as the University itself having come into existence in 1922, the year the University came into being. Initially for two years it had no Post-Graduate student. In 1924, a student in M.A. was admitted and the Department's Post-Graduate wing came into being. According to the practice then prevailing, the senior most teacher from among the teachers of the subject in the constituent colleges used to be the teacher-in-charge of the subject in the University which at that time had no staff of its own. It, however, recognized some of the senior teachers of a subject working in colleges as Readers. In Sanskrit there were three Readers: Mahamahopadhyaya Lakshmi Dhar Shastri Kalla of St. Stephen's College, Mahamahopadhyaya Harnarain Shastri of Hindu College and Dr. N.N.Choudhuri of Ramjas College. Mahamahopadhyaya Lakshmi Dhar Shastri Kalla by virtue of his seniority was the Head of the Department in the University . The Post-Graduate classes in Sanskrit were held in the St. Stephen's College at that time. Dr. N.N.Choudhuri of Ramjas College took over as Head of the Department from Dr. M.M. Lakshmi Dhar Shastri in 1949. The Department in the University properly came into being with the creation of the post of a Reader in 1953. Dr. N.N.Choudhuri of Ramjas College who was already working as Head of the Department in the University was appointed the first Reader. In 1955 another post, that of a Professor, was created. Dr. N.N.Choudhuri was appointed the first Professor. For a long time the main function of the Department had been to provide instruction in Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate courses. Research came to occupy its attention later. Dr. Ram Gopal, was the first Ph.D. of the Department in 1953-54. Even as late as the fifties, there used to be only five or six students in M.A. and one or two students in Ph.D. This continued for a number of years till there was a marked improvement in numbers in early sixties. From a small department it has now grown to one of the biggest departments in the university with some three hundred post-graduate students and one hundred fifty research scholars and about One hundred fifty teachers taking into account teachers, both in colleges and University Department.

The Department of Sanskrit has had some of the stalwarts as its members in the past Prof. Joshi is an internationally acclaimed Sanskritist who has several works to his credit written in Sanskrit, in English, in French, in Spanish and in Hindi. Having done his D.Litt. from Paris, he introduced modern European research methods in the department. He has been the visiting Professor in U.S.A. and many European & Latin American countries. He is a recipient of several awards and Gold medals including 'Certificate of Honour' from president of India and Sahitya Akademi Award. Prof. Satyavrat Shastri is another distinguished scholar who has been awarded the prestigious Gnanapitha and Padmabhusana. He is a scholar of Kavi Sanskrit also and has translated the 'Ramakiyana'