Birthday of Rahul Sankrityayan

Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan (9 April 1893 – 14 April 1963), who is called the Father of Hindi Travelogue Travel literature because he is the one who played a pivotal role to give travelogue a ‘literature form’, was one of the most widely traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He travelled many places and wrote many travelogue approximately in the same ratio. He also famously known for his authentic description about his travels experiences, for instance- in his travelogue “Meri Laddakh Yatra” he presents overall regional, historical and cultural specificity of that region judiciously. He became a Buddhist monk (Bauddha Bhikkhu) and eventually took up Marxist Socialism. Sankrityayan was also an Indian nationalist, having been arrested and jailed for three years for creating anti-British writings and speeches.He is referred to as the ‘Greatest Scholar’ (Mahapandit) for his scholarship.He was both a polymath as well as a polyglot.The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1963.