Uttarakhand

• 24 Jun 2023

CM Dhami inaugurated Karpatri Maharaj Veda Shastra Research Centre

Why in News?

On June 22, 2023, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the Ved Shastra Research Center in the memory of Swami Karpatri Maharaj at Shri Raghunath Kirti campus of Central Sanskrit University, Devprayag through virtual medium from the secretariat.

Key Points:

• While inaugurating the virtual, the Chief Minister said that the Center has given this big gift to the state government, which is playing an important role in the promotion of Devvani Sanskrit. On making the center in the name of Karpatri Maharaj, he said that this will increase the importance of the campus.
• It is known that Dharma Samrat Swami Karpatri was a saint, freedom fighter and politician of India. He was born in the year 1907 AD in the month of Shravan, Shukla Paksha Dwitiya, in Bhatni village of Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, in the courtyard of Sanatan Dharmi Saryuparin Brahmin Ramnidhi Ojha and Mrs. Shivrani ji.
• In his childhood, he was named 'Hari Narayan'. He was a monk of the Dashnami tradition. After initiation, his name was 'Hariharanand Saraswati', but he was famous as 'Karpatri', because he used his Anjuli (cupped fingers) as a food vessel (kar = hand, vessel = pot, karpatri = whose hand is the utensil).
• He also formed a political party named 'All India Ram Rajya Parishad'. In view of his unique and incomparable scholarship in theology, he was given the title of 'Dharma Samrat'.
• In 1940, Swami Karpatri Maharaj re-converted people who were forcibly converted to Islam. In 1966, Karpatri Maharaj started a movement against the then government regarding cow promotion.
• On February 7, 1982, at Kedar Ghat Varanasi, his Panch Pran voluntarily merged into Mahapran. As per his instructions, his mortal body was given water samadhi in the holy lap of Shri Ganga Maharani at Kedar Ghat.