Acharya Hazari Prasad Ddwivedi
The literary master (1907-1979)

Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi was born in Dube ka Chhapra, a remote village of Ballia district village in Uttar Pradesh on August 19, 1907. His father Anmol Dwivedi was a Sanskrit scholar. He received his early education in Sanskrit. After passing his Intermediate examination, Dwivedi passed astrology examination from Banaras Hindu University in 1930 and was awarded the title of Acharya. He then got an appointment as a teacher at Santiniketan. Here, he came under the influence of Rabindranath Tagore which helped fuel his interest in literature. Dwivedi was appointed as the Director of Hindi Bhavan at Visvabharati from 1940 to 1950.
Dwivedi was proficient in many languages such as Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and Hindi. He was also very well versed with the literature of these languages. He also had adept knowledge of Gujarati, Punjabi and English. Through his knowledge of English language, he also learnt the classics of ancient Greece and Western philosophy. A voracious reader, he was referred to as an encyclopedia of literary works.
Dwivedi has written many journals, thesis, reports and commemorative volumes on various topics. He heralded a new trend in the discipline of essay writing in Hindi literature. His writing brought out the grandeur of the rich cultural heritage of India. He believed that a nation’s true richness lay in its cultural renaissance. Some of his popular works are Patra Kala, Samachar Sampadan, Tattva Mimasa and Ramakatha. Some of his master works are Banbhatta ki Atmakatha, Anamdas Ka Potha, Punarnava and Charuchandra Lekh. Alok Parva is a collection of 27 essays which beautifully depicts the cultural heritage of ancient India and the continuity of our glorious tradition against all influences. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Annual Prize for Alok Parva in 1973. The citation of the Sahitya Akademi said that the award was bestowed upon the book “for its depth of perception and its lucid prose style”. The Akademi described the book as an outstanding contribution to Hindi literature.
He was a member of the first Official Languages Commission set up in 1955. He was also one of the founding members of Sahitya Akademi, a national organisation instituted to work actively for the development of Indian literature and to set high literary standards. He was actively associated with several literary institutions and thus promoted Indian literature through various ways.
Dwivedi won many awards and recognitions for his work. He was awarded a D. Litt by Lucknow University and the coveted Padma Bhushan in 1957. In 1960 he was offered the post of Professor and Head of the Department of Hindi by the Punjab University, Chandigarh. However, a little before retirement, he came back to Banaras Hindu University as its Rector and ultimately chaired the U.P. Hindi Academy, a position, which he held till his death in Lucknow.
A collection known as Hazari Prasad Dwivedi Collection or HPD Collection is housed at Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. This collection is housed in a separate section in IGNCA, and is accessible to scholars for reference purposes. This collection includes rare editions of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit works and a sizable collection of creative and critical writings in modern Indian languages and literature especially in Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali and Punjabi literature. It also comprises large volumes on religion, philosophy, linguistics, history, and science in general. The collection also includes journals, thesis, reports and commemorative volumes on various topics.
NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training) produced a documentary film on Acharya Dwivedi on the occasion of his birth centenary in 2007. The documentary depicts his life and work and his services to people. Acharya Dwivedi died in the year 1979.