An eminent personality of Assam, Krishna Kanta Handique was a renowned Sanskrit scholar, a philanthropist and an Indologist. He was a linguist as well as an educationist of great intelligence combined with exceptional ability and vision. A name that is synonymous to quest of pedagogic, he was the founder Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University for nine years. He knew 8 European and 5 India Languages, which comprised Prakrit and Pali. He was a person who never craved for fame, power and popularity and confined himself towards gathering knowledge. He had a strong sense of social as well as moral obligations and worked towards the betterment of education system of Assam.
Krishna Kanta Handique was born on 20th July 1898 to Rai-Bahadur Radha Kanta Handique in an Ahom family in Assam. He completed his primary education from Jorhat Govt. High School and moved to Guwahati for higher education. He joined the prestigious Cotton College in the year 1913 and studied there until 1915. He then moved to Calcutta and enrolled himself in Sanskrit College under Calcutta University. From 1920 to 1923, he pursued Masters in Modern History from Oxford University in England and from 1923 to 1927 he studied in several other Universities namely, Paris University, France and Berlin University and Germany. While in abroad, he learned a number of languages, like Greek, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Latin and Russian. He came back to Assam with a great treasure of knowledge and brought with him more than 2000 books, written in different languages.
As he belonged to an affluent family of tea-planters, on returning back to his hometown he had to learn the various techniques in order to manage the tea estates of his father. He married Hemolota Aideo, the eldest daughter of U.N. Buragohain of Nowgong. He was not in favor of the idea of joining a government job; however, he agreed to join as the founder Principal of J.B. College in Jorhat, which was formerly named Upper Assam College. It is the first ever private college of Assam and is till date one of the well-known private collages of the state. He served as the principal of the college for 17 long years. He was one of the greatest Indologist of the World and a great educationist of Assam. He wrote several articles named Anubadar katha, Spanish sahityat Romeo Juliet, German sahityat sapon natak, Greek natakar gan, Socratesar mate kavir prakriti, etc. His literary works reflect his unparallel knowledge as well as deep understanding of literature as well as other subject matters. Naisadhacarita of Sriharsa,published in the year 1934, Yasastilika and Indian Culture in 1949 and Pravarasena`s Setubandha in the year 1976 are the three major literary works of this great scholar.In the year 1948, Krishna Kanta Handique was made the founder Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University and served there for 9 years until 1957. He is also the founder of Hemalata Handique Memorial Institute in Jorhat in memory of his beloved wife. Handique, during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor, donated his huge personal library to Guwahati University for the benefit of the students. It consisted of rare and valuable books in about 11 different languages, which were made available to public for reading. He was also nominated as the President of Axom Xahitya Xabha in the year 1937, which was held at Guwahati. He became the President of Axom Xahitya Xabha at a very young age of 39 and is apparently the youngest President of this literary society of Assam. In the year 1951, he was elected as the President of Classical Sanskrit Section, XVI All India Oriental Conference of Lucknow Session and in the year 1961 he was elected as the general President of the Srinagar Session.
Prof. K.K. Handique was a scholar of great distinction, a pioneer Indologist and a philanthropist whose life epitomized an era marked by sacrifice, diligence and devotion to high principles. He is well known for his munificence to literary and educational foundations in the state of Assam. On 7th June 1982 the great scholar of Assam passed away and on 7th October 1983, The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department issued a commemorative Stamp in honor the renowned educationist. The state Government of Assam has established the Krishna Kanta Handique Memorial Award in his honor, who worked hard in promotion of literature and Sanskrit language in the state.
Image Courtesy : Kamat
Image Courtesy : Kamat
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