Rewa Prasad Dwivedi

Rewa Prasad Dwivedi was born in Nadner[1] (22 August 1935;[2]), on the banks of the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh, to Pandit Narmada Prasad Dwivedi and Lakshmi Devi. He was orphaned when he was about eight years old. After completing basic education in Sanskrit in Madhya Pradesh, he traveled as a teenager to Varanasi to study Sanskrit at Banaras Hindu University.[3] Despite poverty, he excelled in Sanskrit language and literature in both the traditional system at Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan,[4] and modern system at Faculty of Arts[5] at Banaras Hindu University. His primary teacher and mentor was Pandit Mahadev Shastri. Dwivedi obtained a Sahityacharya title and a M.A. degree in Sanskrit from Banaras Hindu University. He received a PhD from Ravi Shankar University, Raipur,[6] in 1965, and a D.Litt. from Jabalpur University in 1974.[7]

Dwivedi's main area of work is in Sanskrit Sahitya (literature), but he is an expert in the Sanskrit language disciplines of Navya-nyaya (logic), Darshana (philosophy), and Vyakarana (grammar), as well as the scripts of Brahmi, Sarada and Nagari.

Dwivedi is emeritus professor of Sanskrit at the Banaras Hindu University,[8] Varanasi, India, where he taught Sanskrit Literature from 1969 to 1995. He was Dean, Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya and Dharm Vijnan[9] for three 2-year terms between 1979 and 1989, and multi-term Head of the Sanskrit Literature Department at this faculty. He was also a Member of Banaras Hindu University's Executive Council as well as its Academic Council. Before joining Banaras Hindu University, he taught Sanskrit literature in various roles in India's central state Madhya Pradesh's colleges in Raipur and Indore. Dwivedi has served on various national policy-making bodies for Sanskrit education in India.

In the early 1980s, Dwivedi organized the World Sanskrit Conference at Banaras Hindu University. He traveled to the US, Canada, and Europe to participate in other World Sanskrit Conferences as part of Government of India's delegation, American Oriental Society Meeting,[10] and in personal capacity to conduct manuscript reviews at institutions such as Harvard University's Houghton Library.[11]

Dwivedi is the founder of a non-profit institution Kalidas Sansthan in Varanasi.[12] [13] This institute has published books in Sanskrit literature.[7] After retiring from official role at Banaras Hindu University, Dwivedi continues to read, research and create literature daily in his personal study and library,[14] where he also teaches students from the nearby campus[15] of Banaras Hindu University, or elsewhere, free of charge.

Acharya Dwivedi's life and contributions have been captured in several published books,[16][17][18][19] several PhD theses at major universities,[20][21][22][23] as a part of United States Library of Congress South Asia literary project,[24] two documentaries by India's major literary institutions, and several social media recordings.

• Sanatanasya kavyavaibhavam ('the glory of sanatana's literature'): a Sanskrit monograph on Acharya Dwivedi, published by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan,[16] depicting salient nature of his works on Sanskrit poetics.
• Sanskrit Sahitya ke Vatvriksha ('the banyan tree of sanskrit literature'): A compilation of various perspectives on Acharya Dwivedi's works, life and contributions. A volume released at a 2018 National Symposium on Acharya Dwivedi, organized by Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts.[18][17]
• Dr. Rewa Prasad Dwivedi, Vyaktitva and Krititva ('personality and creativity of Rewa Prasad Dwivedi'):[19] a book on the life and creativity of Acharya Dwivedi's works, basis of a PhD thesis at University of Rajasthan,[20] Jaipur, India, 1991.
• Arvācīna Saṃskr̥ta mahākāvya-paramparā meṃ Revāprasāda Dvivedī ke mahākāvya:[25] a 2016 book describing 'Rewaprasad Dwivedi's epics in the modern tradition of Sanskrit epics'.
• The United States Library of Congress has captured Acharya Dwivedi's works, and recordings on its South Asian Literary Recording Project in 2016.[24]
• Two of India's premier national institutions, Sahitya Akademi and Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, have each prepared full-length documentaries on Acharya Dwivedi's life sketch and literary contributions in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
• Social media has several recordings of Acharya Dwivedi's speeches and life, as well as reviews by others, in Sanskrit and Hindi.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]

Dwivedi's literary efforts fall into three major categories: original literature, new literary principles and theorems, and preservation of past literature for future generations. Dwivedi has written over 13,000 verses in 3 epics and 14 lyrics, 2 plays, and 5 books on his original new theories on Sanskrit literary principles and theorems. No other Sanskrit literature scholar is known to have made more diverse original contributions.[36][37][38]

Dwivedi is the youngest winner of Certificate of Honour by President of India (1978), at age 43.[39] He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit,[40][41] three Ratna awards and the P.V. Kane Gold Medal from The Asiatic Society of Mumbai.[42][43] The Asiatic Society of Mumbai also awarded Dwivedi its Honorary Fellowship.[42]

Mahamahopadhyaya PV Kane Gold Medal awarded to Acharya Dwivedi by the historic Asiatic Society of Mumbai, 1983.

• A United States Library of Congress web-page dedicated to Acharya Rewa Prasad Dwivedi's literature and voice recording of his own literature: LOC Overseas
• A national one-day seminar hosted by India's Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts on the life and works of Acharya Reva Prasad Dwivedi: http://ignca.gov.in/events/sanskriti-samvaad-shrinkhala-9-varanasi-mahaopadhayay-acharya-reva-prasad-dwivedi/
• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sanskrit Literature (pp 427–429), by, J.N. Bhattacharya & Nilanjana Sarkar, ISBN 978-81-8220-780-6, 2nd Edition, 2016; Global Vision Publishing House: http://globalvisionpub.com/globalbooks/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=sanskrit&product_id=2475
• https://indcat.inflibnet.ac.in/index.php/main/theses: Online catalog of publications, theses, etc. of major Indian Universities.