It is gratifying to note that the All-India Kashiraj Trust is bringing out a Commemoration Volume (in two parts) containing the articles by the late Prof. Dr. R. C. Hazra, the doyen of Puranic Studies. The first part contains articles on the Puranas and the Vedas; the second part (which is in the press) contains articles on Dharmasastra, Sanskrit literature, Vyakarana etc.
Dr. Hazra was born in 1905 in the District Dacca (now in Bangladesh). He passed B. A. (Hons) and M. A. in Sanskrit (standing first in both the examinations) in 1929 and 1931 respectively. He earned his Ph. D. in 1936 under the guidance of Dr. S. K. De for his thesis 'Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs' and D. Litt. in 1947 for his 'Studies in the Upapuranas, Vol. I'.
Dr. Hazra started his career as a Lecturer in Sanskrit and Bengali in the Jagannath Intermediate College, Dacca in 1931. He served as Lecturer (1939-49) and then as Reader in Sanskrit (1949-51) in Dacca University.
After migrating from Dacca Dr. Hazra joined the Department of Post-graduate Studies, Sanskrit College, Calcutta as Associate Professor of Smrti and Purana (1951-54) and worked as Professor in this Department from 1954 till his retirement in 1972.
Prof. Hazra was awarded by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, the S. C. Chakravarty medal in 1973 for his contribution 'Ancient Indian language with special reference to Smrti and Purana' and the Naresh Chandra Sengupta medal in 1980 by the same Institution.
Prof. Hazra was associated with several Institutions. He worked (i) as a member of the Editorial Board of the 'Cultural Heritage of India' (Vol. II) (a publication of the Rama Krishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta); (ii) as a member of the Publication Committee in the Asiatic Society, Calcutta; (iii) as a member of the Anthology Compilation Committee, Sahitya Academy, New Delhi and (iv) as a member of the Editorial Board, All-India Kashiraj Trust. He worked jointly with Dr. S. K. De, Dr. U. N. Ghoshal, Dr. A. D. Pusalker, Dr. R. C. Majumdar and others in preparing a few works of outstanding merit. In 1964 he was elected Fellow of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.
Dr. Hazra left for his heavenly abode on May 10, 1982.
Dr. Hazra had identified himself with the Puranic Studies. Nowhere else we can find that exhaustive treatment of individual Puranic Works (the Puranas and Upapuranas) as we find in his learned articles published in various Indological journals. These articles written in a period of more than 30 years represent thesaurus of information on historical, cultural, linguistic and other aspects of Puranic Studies. His essays dealing with the Upapuranas (which, according to him, are more than one hundred) are undoubtedly of special scholarly significance. One can confidently assert that Prof. Hazra rescued the entire Puranic literature from oblivion and neglect. He was really an unquestioned Guru of all modern scholars interested in Puranic Studies.
Thus, it is quite in the fitness of things that the All-India Kashiraj Trust should have thought of bringing out a Commemoration Volume in honour of Prof. Hazra, the torch-bearer of Puranic Studies in this century, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to this field.
We are thankful to Mrs. Jayanti Biswas, daughter of Prof. Hazra, who, with a view to perpetuating the memory of her father, authorised the Trust to publish the articles of Dr. Hazra in a book form. She not only supplied us with the reprints of the articles but also took the trouble of preparing 'the personal history of Dr. Hazra'.
Vedas (1212)
Upanishads (505)
Puranas (632)
Ramayana (758)
Mahabharata (368)
Dharmasastras (166)
Goddess (513)
Bhakti (251)
Saints (1536)
Gods (1308)
Shiva (389)
Journal (181)
Fiction (61)
Vedanta (375)
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