Hara Prasad Shastri, Sanskrit scholar, historian and archivist, remembered most for his discovery of the Charyapada, was born on this day. His family name was Bhattacharya, but he was conferred the title Shastri for his knowledge of Sanskrit.
Born in Khulna, Bengal, he studied at Sanskrit College and Presidency College in Calcutta. He was principal of Sanskrit College and later the first head of the department of Bengali and Sanskrit at Dhaka University. He was president of Asiatic Society and Bangiya Sahitya Parishat and honorary member of Royal Asiatic Society in London.
He had been introduced to research by Indologist Rajendralal Mitra, following which Shastri began to collect old Bengali manuscripts and to visit Nepal.
In 1907, during his third visit to Nepal, he discovered the manuscripts of Charyageeti or Charyapada; 50 verses written on palm leaves, at the royal library of Nepal. His research established Charyapada as the earliest examples of literature in the Bengali language.
Other than scholarly works in Bengali and English, he wrote two acclaimed novels in Bengali. He died on November 17, 1931.