Department of Sanskrit

Year of Establishment: 1929

Adhyapaka Kashinath Dash spearheaded the teaching of Sanskrit at Ravenshaw College after his master’s degree in 1907 from Calcutta University. Later, eminent scholars Artaballabha Mohanty, Laxmikanta Choudhury and Karunakar Kar joined the department. Subsequently, the department came to offer courses in Sanskrit and Odia in 1929. Artaballabha founded a literary society called the “Prachi Samiti.” Prachi press was founded and a quarterly research journal was published under the title “Prachi” for couple of years. Artaballabha’s initiative contributed significant interest in Odia literature and laid the foundation Odia courses in the college. Laxmikanta founded “Utkal Sangeet Samaj” in 1933 to popularize the Odisi music and Odisi dance among younger educated generation through syllabus and courses of studies at Ravenshaw college. In 1938, Kunja bihari Tripathi joined the department and led to heights of glory and excellence in teaching and research, both in Sanskrit and Odia. He worked with Professor A. Master and Professor J. Brough of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), at University of London on “Early Oriya Inscriptions.” His work helped Odia language to achieve a status of classical language in 2014. After his retirement, an independent Department of Sanskrit was set up in 1968. Post-graduate in Sanskrit was intro-duced in 2013. M. Phil and Ph. D. programmes started in 2015. The current Sanskrit department re-search focuses on Sanskrit texts from various domains such as Vedas and Vedangas, Grammar and Linguistics along with classical Sanskrit literature and Poetics. Famous alumni of the Department include eminent scholars such as, Gouri Kumar Brahma and Janaki Ballabha Pattnaik.