Mahamahopadhyaya

Mahamahopadhyaya (Hindi: महामहोपाध्याय) is an honorific title given to prestigious scholars by the Government of India. Prior to 1947, the title was bestowed by the British Raj, and before them, by the kings of ancient India. In ancient India, a scholar that wrote works based on topics related to the shastras was granted the title Mahopadhyaya.^[1] The title Mahamahopadhyaya was bestowed on the best amongst the Mahopadhyaya scholars.^[1]

Some of the notable recipients are:

• Rewa Prasad Dwivedi (22 August 1935-), Sanskrit scholar based in Varanasi, originally from Nadner on the banks of Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh^[2]
• Haraprasad Shastri (1853–1931), Sanskrit scholar, archivist and historian of Bengali literature
• Pandurang Vaman Kane (1880–1963), Sanskrit scholar
• Jayamant Mishra (1925–2010), Sanskrit scholar
• Vedam Venkataraya Sastry (1853–1929), Sanskrit and Telugu poet, critic and dramatist
• Ram Avatar Sharma (1877–1929), Sanskrit scholar
• Datto Vaman Potdar (1890–1979), historian, writer, and orator
• Bishweshwar Nath Reu (1890–1966), historian, epigraphist, numismatist and Sanskritist
• Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi (1893–1985), Sanskrit scholar, in 1941
• Ramacharya Narsimhacharya Galagali (1892-1981), Sanskrit Scholar, Sanskrit Poet, Author of two incomplete Mahakavyam.^[3]
• Jagannath Mishra (Puri, Odisha), Sanskrit scholar
• Hathibhai Shastri, Sanskrit scholar, writer, and orator. High priest of the Kingdom of Jamnagar.^[4][5]
• T. Ganapati Sastri, Received the Mahamahopadhyaya title in 1918^[6]
• U Ve Swaminatha Iyer (1855–1942), Tamil scholar
• Pandithamani Kathiresan Chettiar, (1881-1953), Tamil and Sanskrit scholar, translator
• Gopinath Kaviraj (1887 – 1976) in 1934, Sanskrit scholar, philosopher, Padma Vibhushan (1964) ^[7]
• Acharya Gangaram Shastri (Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and only one in history from the state to be conferred the honour), (1923 - 2014), Sanskrit and Hindi scholar
• Sri Dongare Veereswara Krishna Sastry, Sanskrit Scholar
• Sri Remella SuryaPrakasa Sastry, Sanskrit Scholar, Purva Mimamsa exponent from Rajahmundry Andhra Pradesh
• Sri Sannidhanam Lakshminarayana Murthy Sastry, Sanskrit Scholar, Purva Mimamsa exponent from Rajahmundry Andhra Pradesh
• Prof. Sri Pullela Sri Ramachandrudu, Sanskrit/Telugu Scholar, Director of Sanskrit Academy Osmania University, Hyderabad
• Sri Viswanatha Gopalakrishna Sastry, Sanskrit Scholar, Nyaya exponent from Rajahmundry Andhra Pradesh
• Bhadreshdas Swami, Sanskrit Scholar
• Yogacharya Dr Ashoke Kumar Chatterjee, World Kriyayoga Master, Conferred by Tirupati Sanskrit University with title of Mahamahopadhyaya on 6 March 2013, for His 6 decades of spiritual and literary contribution and inimatable contribution to Indology.

References