A sahityakar extraordinaire
Reeta Sharma

SOME people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and there are others who are born with a bag full of struggles. Though Dr Sansar Chandra falls in the second category, he strived hard to surmount the numerous hardships that came his way and made a name for himself in the field of Hindi literature.

When one is living under the rule of some foreign power, then one has to live by its diktats. Dr Sansar Chandra recounts that under British rule he was instructed to write his thesis on Sanskrit in English. "I tried my level best but it was impossible to write Sanskrit in English. There were no translations for anyokatis and alankars". His case was sent right up to England, but in vain.

Dr Sansar Chandra finally began teaching in S D College, Lahore. Soon, however, he had to face the trauma of Partition. He had to flee to his village (Mirpur, now in Pakistan) only to face a much graver challenge. One morning, he along with his wife, toddler son, aged parents and two younger brothers had to run for their lives because of a bomb blast.

"The whole village was running helter-skelter. In the confusion, I realised that we all had got separated from one another. I just had my son in my arms. I ran back in frenzy and could find only my wife, who was running in the opposite direction. Later, all my efforts to trace my parents and brothers at various refugee camps ended with the painful information that my parents had died due to the inhuman and harsh conditions at the camp. It was many months later that I got reunited with my brothers."

The painful Partition of India brought at least one relief to this teacher of Sanskrit and Hindi. Free India allowed him to write his Ph.D thesis, Hindi Kavya Mein Anyokati, in Hindi and not in English. His D.Lit thesis Alankaron Ka Manovigyanik Adhyayan later was a survey of Indian poetics, right from Bharat Muni down to the modern age in the light of psychological developments in literature." The SD College of Lahore was finally relocated in Ambala Cantonment. Dr Sansar Chandra was the first professor of Sanskrit and Hindi to have founded the Department of Hindi in this college. "People in India at that time were not interested in studying Hindi. We used to go scouting for good students from office to office, home to home.

Many learned young minds with immense potential were working as clerks. We motivated them to join the department."

Dr Sansar Chandra headed this Department of Hindi for 15 years.

It was the only department promoting Hindi, as a subject, in the Punjab. He was also the first professor to introduce research in this subject. In Haryana, at least 80 students have done their PhDs under the guidance of Dr Sansar Chandra. Credit also goes to him for accepting the challenge of supervising post-doctoral (D. Lit.) researchers. As many as 15 students have successfully attained the DLit degree. No wonder, the University Grants Commission gave him a five-year extension, as Professor of Panjab University, after his retirement.

This scholar has written books in as many as six languages. He has written and compiled 45 books of which Vidushak Ki Yaad Mein, Meghdoota of Kalidasa, Biography of Bahadhur Shah Zafar, Prominent Muslim Hindi Poets and Unforgettable Faces are a must for any student of literature.

One of Dr Sansar Chandra’s books, Vidushak Ki Yaad Mein, comprises satirical essays. Reading this book, you can call him the ‘writer for the masses’. His language flows like water that quenches the thirst to know about the meaning of life.

For instance, Ulhana speaks volumes about the selfishness in human beings. They rarely look beyond the self, and have endless desires, which are never constructive.

His book, Bharat Ke Adarsh Mahanpurush, depicts the lives of great people who walked on Indian soil. He has divided the book into three parts. In the first part, he deals with great religious and spiritual personalities like Gautam Buddha, Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Gobind Singh, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ram Tirath and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. He has also delved into the lives of social reformers who tried to remove social evils.

In the second part of the book, Dr Sansar Chandra deals with four great personalities: starting with Chanakya and King Harshvardhan, he transports you to the world of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Dr Rajendra Prasad. The third part of the book deals with eminent writers of literature. These include Kalidas, Mirza Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Prem Chand and Dr Mohammed Iqbal.

One can discuss his books endlessly. What is interesting to note is the variety of subjects he has written on. The subjects aside, his command on six languages is yet another noteworthy feature of his personality. Besides Sanskrit and Hindi, he has excelled in Punjabi, English, Dogri and Urdu. Dr Sansar Chandra’s research work as a critic has also been highly acclaimed.

Any wonder then that Dr Sansar Chandra has carved a special place for himself in the world of Sanskrit and Hindi literature. It was a rare occasion for Chandigarhians when all members of the governing body of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad, travelled all the way to Chandigarh to confer Vidyavachaspati Upadhi on Dr Sansar Chandra.

The Government of Haryana decorated Dr Sansar Chandra with the Maharishi Ved Vyas Award for his contributions towards Sanskrit language and literature. The Government of Uttar Pradesh honoured him with Souhard Samman for his book on national integration, titled Prominent Muslim Hindi Poets. The Maharashtra Academy of Bombay awarded him the Chakallas Award for his satirical writings.

Similarly, the Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrit Pracharak Mandal, Delhi, conferred on him the title of Vidya-Vachaspati for the year 2011 Vikrami; the Punjab Government declared him Shiromani Sahityakar (Hindi) for the year, 1987-88 and gave him the Sahitya Shiromani Award for Sanskrit along with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh in 1990. In fact, Dr Sansar Chandra is the only scholar to have received the Shiromani Sahityakar Award twice by the Punjab Government, for his contribution to Hindi and Sanskrit.