Baldev Upadhyaya

Baldev Upadhyaya (बलदेव उपाध्याय, 10 October 1899 – 10 August 1999) was a renowned Hindi, Sanskrit scholar, literary historian, essayist and critic. He wrote numerous books, collections of essays and a historical outline of Sanskrit literature. 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.

He was born on 10 October 1899 into a Vaishnav Sanatan Dharma family of Brahmins in the village Sonbarsa in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. His father was Pt. Ram Suchit Upadhyaya, who was a great scholar of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. He had many students in Eastern India as well in Rangoon. His mother, Smt. Murti Devi, was also a pious lady. Upadhyaya's early education was in Govt. High School, Ballia, except for a session 1911–1912, when he was admitted to the 6th standard at Bengali Tola Inter College, Benares. He passed his M.A. from Banaras Hindu University (1922) and Sahityacharya from Govt. Sanskrit College, Benares.

Upadhyaya had two younger brothers Dr.Vasudev Upadhyaya, eminent historian specialisation on Gupta Period, who retired from Patna University as Professor and Head of the History Department and Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya, a Hindi Scholar with specialisation in Bhojpuri Literature, who retired from Govt. Degree College as Professor & Head Deptt. of Hindi.

He married Shivmuni Devi, daughter of Pt.Dev Krishna Ojha, granddaughter of Pt. Yogesh Dutt Ojha, a Sanskrit scholar and author of Paribhashendu Shekhar, which was published from Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi.

He had two sons: Pt. Gauri Shankar Upadhyaya, who retired as Assistant Director Social Education, U.P. Govt., and Dr. Gopal Shankar Upadhyaya. His grandson Dr. Ravindra Dube is a Metallurgical Scientist and retired Professor & Head Dept. of Metallurgy I.I.T., Kanpur.

He died on 10 August in his centenary year 1999 at Varanasi.

His students include Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Vidya Niwas Mishra, H.H. Kashi Naresh Vibhuti Narayan Singh, Sitaram Chaturvedi, Dr. Kalu Lal Shrimali, Karuna Pati Tripathi, Rewa Prasad Dwivedi, J. N. Chaturvedi, Triloki Nath Chaturvedi, and Vishnu Kant Shastri Ex. U.P. Governor.

In 1922 he was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Sanskrit at Banaras Hindu University. After serving the institution for 38 years he retired as Head of the Department in 1960. In 1968 he was again appointed as Director and Professor Emeritus of the Research Institute at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. He also served as 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 Sanskrit journal Sarasvati Sushama. He wrote many books which are the outcome of original studies and are authoritative in the respected fields. He also edited about 25 books.

• Mangla Prasad Puraskar, 1942
• Dalmia Puraskar, 1946
• Shravan-Nath Puraskara
• Sahitya Varidhi, Prayag, 1972
• D.Litt, 1977
• Certificate of Honour, Awarded by Zakir Hussain, President of India 1968.
• Kalidas Sahitya Ratna, Ujjain, 1982
• Vishva Sanskrit Bharati Award, U.P. Sanskrit Academy, 1983.
• Padma Bhushan Awarded by Giani Zail Singh, President of India, 1984.
• Umaswami Award, Kunda Kunda Bharati Ch. Trust, New Delhi, 1994.
• Mahamahopadhyaya, 1997.
• Rama Krishna Dalmiya Sri Vani Award, Ramkrishna Dalmiya Trust, New Delhi.

• "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015. 

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