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Krishna Kanta Handique | |
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| Born | (1898-07-20)20 July 1898 |
| Died | 7 June 1982(1982-06-07) (aged 83) |
| Occupation | Professor, Vice-Chancellor |
| Language | Assamese |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Cotton College Sanskrit College and University Calcutta University Oxford University Paris University Berlin University |
| Notable awards |
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| Children | Bijoy Krishna Handique Promila Gogoi Ohoilia Gogoi |
Krishna Kanta Handique (20 July 1898 – 7 June 1982) was aSanskrit scholar, anIndologist and philanthropist fromAssam. He was a recipient of the civilian honour of thePadma Shri andPadma Bhushan.[1]
Krishna Kanta Handique was born on 20 July 1898 in aTai-Ahom family inJorhat town ofAssam, to Rai-Bahadur Radha Kanta Handique. He was educated atCotton College, Guwahati (1913–15),Sanskrit College,Calcutta (1915–17),Calcutta University (1917–19),Oxford University,Paris University andBerlin University (1920–27).[2] He also studied and learned many languages like Latin, Greek, French, German, Russian, Italian and Spanish. He is known to have known 13 languages: 8 European languages and 5 Indian languages including Pali and Prakrit.
Handique was the founderVice-Chancellor ofGauhati University for nine years (1948–57). Prior to this he was the founder Principal of J.B. College, Jorhat (1930–48) and established the Hemalata Handique Memorial Institute in Jorhat. He is well known for his munificence to literary and educational foundations. He bequeathed his massive personal library to Guwahati University making available to the public rare and valuable books in 11 languages of the world. He also gave thecopyright of all his books toDeccan College PG & Research Institute, Pune; The Jaina Samskriti Samrakshaka Sangh, Maharashtra and Prakrit Test Society, Ahmedabad.
Krishna Kanta Handique was the President ofAsam Sahitya Sabha during the Guwahati conference in 1937 at the young age of 39, President of Classical Sanskrit Section, XVI All India Oriental Conference, Lucknow in 1951 and was elected the general President of the Srinagar Session of the same in 1961.
The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Dept. issued a commemorative stamp in honor of Handique on 7 October 1983.[3] The Govt of Assam has instituted the prestigious Krishna Kanta Handique Memorial Award in his honour in the field of promotion of Sanskrit language and literature.
Handique was posthumously awarded theSahitya Akademi Award in 1985 for his bookKrishnakanta Handiqui Rachana Sambhar, a collection of 20 critical essays. For its critical insight and analytical approach, the work has been regarded as a significant contribution to contemporary Assamese literature.[3]
Handique, theSanskrit scholar is known for his three major works:
