Pandit Harekrishna Dhupala Sharma served the Sanskrit language and the Indian culture silently but with tremendous dedication and diligence. By profession, he was a Sanskrit teacher in a high school, but his gamut of thought was much wider than the circumference of the common mindset of a school teacher. He was a man of high thinking.
Born in Basudevapur of Bhadrak district in 1938 to pious parents late Chintamani Dhupala and Sabitri Devi, Sharma passed the Acharya examination in Sanskrit and worked as a Sanskrit and Odia teacher in the Government Boys’ High School at Unit-1, Bhubaneswar, where he continued from 1961 to 1995. He received State award as a meritorious teacher in 1995. The Bharat Vikash Parisad also felicitated him as an ideal teacher in 2006.
Throughout his life, he served the divine language of Sanskrit by imparting knowledge in the classroom, organising spoken Sanskrit camps, participating in various Sanskrit programmes in various parts of the country and, above all, by enriching literature of Sanskrit by his own writing skills. This great votary of Indian culture was invariably pained to see the debacle of the great ancient culture of Bharat by the undesirable contemporary developments in the country. He tried his best to express his pain through his writings.
Sharma received the ‘Kavi Sundara’ award by the lokabhasa Prachar Samiti in 2008 for his original writing in Sanskrit. The Sri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri also felicitated him in 2009 for his contribution to Sanskrit literature. In 2015, he was conferred with the ‘Sanskrita Kavi’ title by the Utkal University’s Department of Sanskrit.
Along with his service to Sanskrit, he also served his own mother tongue Odia by continuously writing in the language.
In 2010, he was felicitated by the Godavarisha Sahitya Sansad for best storywriter in Odia. He also received the ‘Visista Kavi Samman’ by the Saraswata Samaj for his contribution to Odia poetry.
He was a successful writer of children’s literature too. A collection of poems written by him in Odia for children has been published by the name ‘Kusumanjali’, which was selected for supply to the libraries in the State by the Raja Rammohan Rai Trust under the Odisha Sahitya Academy. Two books written by him in Odia namely “Gavaksa” and “Dharmara Dhendura Adharmara Dhwaja” are under publication.
Collections of Sanskrit Slokas written by him in praise and worship of various gods, etc., have been published under the name “Vandana Vitanam” by the Tirupati Sanskrit University, Andhra Pradesh. Besides, his books ‘Vibhavabhavabhavanam’, ‘Priti Shatakam’ and ‘Siksa Prahasanam’ are under publication.
He was deeply associated with almost all the Sanskrit and Odia organisations of the State.
The silent worker was silenced abruptly by ruthless death on January 11 when he was running 79. The mother Sanskrit lost a worthy and dedicated son at the sad departure of this good soul.
(Dr Das is Director, Academy of Yoga and Oriental Studies, Bhubaneswar)