Aditya Natha Jha Commemoration Volume- Journal of The Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (An Old and Rare Book)

Dr. Adityanatha Jha, a worthy son of the illustrious Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Sir Ganganatha Jha was one of the prominent administrators in the coveted I. G. S. His contribution towards the construction of India in Post-independence period was great. It was strangely peculiar about him that his strenuous official duties had never been able to divest him of his love for scholarship and learning. He was a stalwart among the administrative officers, an educationist, an Indologist and above all a humanist.

He was particularly involved in the growth and development of the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute, Allahabad-a memorial to his father. He was all along closely associated with all the activities of the Institute. He had played an important role in effecting the taking over of the Institute by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan as one of its five units.

The Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha owes much to Dr. Adityanatha Jha for what it is today. We have no doubt that but for his untimely demise he would have done much more for promoting the cause of Sanskrit studies.

It is to pay an humble homage to Dr. Aditya Natha Jha that we are bringing out this XXXI Volume of our journal as the Aditya Natha Jha Commemoration Volume. The work was taken up and carried through to a large extent under the care of Dr. Brahmamitra Avasthi, Reader and the then Acting Principal of the Vidyapeetha about a year and a half before. It is regretted that its publication has been delayed due to certain unavoidable cricumstances. We express our heartiest thanks to our contributors to this Volume. We owe a debt of gratitude to the members of the Editorial Board for their kind guidance in the publication of this Volume. Special mention should be made of Shri Subodha Chandra Pant, Dr. Brahmadatta and Dr. (Smt.) Maya Malaviya who with due patience and care devoted much of their valuable time to the cumbersome press-work, in addition to their own departmental work for helped in getting this volume published properly and therefore they deserve our sincere appreciation and thanks. We are also thankful to Dr. M. P. Lakhera of Allahabad University, Dr. Brahmamitra Avasthi, Dr. Goparaju Rama, Dr. Kishora Nath Jha, Dr. Jagannath Pathak, and Shree Jeeveshvar Jha who readily lent their helping hand as and when required during the publication of this volume. We express our feelings of gratitude to the authorities of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, for giving all facilities for the publication of this Commemoration Volume.

Finally, we offer our thanks to the Allahabad Block Works for the neat appearance and the prompt execution of this volume.

Dr. Aditya Natha Jha, the youngest son of Mm. Pandit Ganganatha Jha, the revered Panditji, was a notable successful educationist and administrator. Panditji's academic distinction was inherited by his second son, Dr. Amar Natha Jha, while his administrative capacity was eminently inherited by Dr.Aditya Natha Jha. I had the good luck to teach Aditya Natha Jha in under-graduate classes since he had taken Sanskrit as one of his optional subject. Aditya Natha Jha was a very brilliant student and took the M.A. degree in English. He joined the Indian Civil Services and held very distinguished posts under the Government of India. He was also the first Vice-Chancellor of the Sampurnananda Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi. For sometime, he was the Director of the Academy which trained I.A.S, officeers. A few months before his death he expressed his wish to return to Allahabad and settle here after retirement, like his father and brother, both of whom were the Vice-Chancellors of the University of Allahabad and I requested Dr. Gopala Reddy, the then Chancellor of the University and Rajyapal of Uttar Pradesh to offer him the Vice Chancellorship in 1971. I understand that the Chancellor did make an offer but God's will was otherwise as Aditya Natha Jha died of heart failure before he could leave the Lt. Governership of Delhi.

It was particularly on the persuasion of Aditya Natha Jha that the Government of India took over the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute under the direct control through the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. If he had returned to Allahabad, I would have requested the Government of India to appoint him as Chairman of the Sthaniya Prabandhak Samiti. This Institution owes a great debt to Aditya Natha Jha for his constant care and endeavour to enrich this Institution. This volume is being published as a token of our gratitude to him.

I, as Chairman of the Board of Editors of the Journal, am grateful to the contributors of the articles in this volume. Dr. (Smt.) Maya Malaviya, Dr. Brahma Datta and Shri Subodh Chandra Pant have seen the volume through the Press and I highly appreciate their services in this regard. Dr. Harihar Jha, Acting Principal has helped in bringing out this volume and we appreciate his services also.

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