Kalika Prasad Shukla

Kalika Prasad Shukla (Sanskrit: कालिकाप्रसादशुक्लः) (born 15 October 1921 - 1993) was a Sanskrit scholar and poet based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit in the year 1986 for the epic poem Śrīrādhācaritamahākāvyam. He was the Head of Departments of Vedanga and Vyākaraṇa at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. Kalika Prasad Shukla was born in the Mathia-Shukia village in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh. He obtained the Navyavyakaranacharya, Nyaya Shastri and Kavyatirtha degrees in the traditional (Gurukula) system of Sanskrit learning. He then obtained the Acharya (Master of Arts) degree in Sanskrit from Agra University in 1957. In 1978, he obtained the degree of Vachaspti (DLitt) from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University along with a Gold Medal. From 1957 to 1968, he taught as a lecturer in the Baroda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya under the Maharaja Sayajirao University. He joined the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in 1968 and served there till his retirement in 1982. From 1968 to 1975 he served as a Lecturer, from 1975 to 1979 as a Reader, and from 1979 to 1982 as a Professor. He retired as the Head of Departments of Vedanga and Vyakarana. After retiring from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, he settled in Varanasi. He took his last breathe because of brain haemorrhage on 21 June 1993 in Varanasi as per his last wish.