Prabodh Pandit

Prabodh Bechardas Pandit (23 June 1923 – 28 November 1975) was an Indian linguist from Gujarat, India. He published a total of ten books in the Gujarati language, along with many research papers published in various journals. In 1967, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award, and in 1973, the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, for his contribution to the study of Gujarati language and linguistics. Pandit was born on 23 June 1923, in Vala, a village in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat. He studied at various institutions, including Pritamnagar municipal school of Ahmedabad and Amreli. He matriculated in 1939 from the Navchetan High School, Ahmedabad. He initially missed out on graduate studies due to participating in the Indian independence movement of 1942, which led to him being jailed for six months. He later completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1944 in the Sanskrit and Ardhamagadhi languages, then attained his Master of Arts at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1946 in Sanskrit and Linguistics. Later, he went to London and joined the School of Oriental and African Studies, where he worked under the guidance of linguist Ralph Lilley Turner for his doctorate. There, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1950 for his research on Shadavashyak-balavabodhvritti. His interest in linguistics brought him into contact with Jules Bloch, who inspired him to study various Indian dialects.