Shripad Krishna Belvalkar (1880 – 1967) was a noted scholar and Indologist. He was the principal founder of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) at Pune, in 1917. He received his higher education from Rajaram College, Kolhapur; Deccan College, Pune and Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA. After taking this doctorate in 1907 he joined the Bombay Education Department. Later, he moved to Deccan College, his alma mater, as professor of Sanskrit. Subsequently, he worked at the Gujarat College, Ahmedabad and the Banaras Hindu University. He also served as the Basu Mallick lecturer of Vedanta in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta.
Belvalkar believed in sheer hard work. He served as the secretary
of BORI during 1915-18 and 1927-33. He became the general editor (1943) of the
Critical Edition of the Mahabharata. He edited two of its parvas – the Bhishma
Parva (1947) and the Shanti Parva (1949 -54). Earlier, he had also critically
edited Uttararamacharita of Bhavabhuti and brought out its English translation for
Harvard Oriental Series. He edited Jayanaka’s Prithviraja Vijaya from a rare manuscript
listed as Bibliotheca Indica 228, The Asiatic Society of Bengal (1914 – 23).
Amongst his various works, mention may be made of his
Systems of Sanskrit Grammar, English translation of Dandin’s Kavyadarsha, the
Bhagavad Gita and Brahmasutra Bhashya. He collaborated with Ranade in writing History
of Indian Philosophy.
Belvalkar was elected the general president of the twelfth
session of the All India Oriental Conference, Banaras in 1943. He was given an
Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Asiatic Society, London and its Mumbai branch.
The research papers of Shripad Krishna Belvalkar published
in various academic journals have been highly acclaimed for their critical and
analytical content. Some of the notable articles include – The Original
Shakuntala, Cannons of Textual and Higher Criticism as Applied to Shakuntala of
Kalidasa, Shakuntala and Some Shakespearean Heroines, Abhijnana Shakuntala and
the Bhagavad Gita and Abhijnana Shakuntala: Its Dramatic Settings.