Prof. Ram Nath Shastri and Dogri Renaissance

The earliest examples of Dogri Poetry are found in the work of Rama Datta Bhadwal (Dattu), a poet from the late-18th century who essentially wrote in Braj Bhaskari (language), as well as in the Poetry of Lal Ram Dhan, Ganga Ram Mathara Das and Kanshi Ram (known as Pahari Gandhi), with respect to Dogri Poetry - again, none of which can be considered a systematic Body of Poetry or Prose before the arrival of Dogri as an Official Language, with a Royal Patronage, under Maharaja Ranvir Singh's reign; when Maharaja also ordered that the then-current Dogri script be modified and improved. In fact, the Government issued all official notices and orders in both languages - Dogri and Persian - and Dogri was also used on Revenue Stamps, Postage Stamps, and Currency Notes. Additionally, a number of important works in other languages have been translated into Dogri, with Adam's Mathematical book, Lilakriti, being the first of these Examples of translations were done by Jyotishi Visheshwar. However, following the sudden passing of the great ruler of Dogri in 1886, the language of Dogri had nearly become an orphaned language. No effort was made to restore its declining status, and the dominant languages in the society were now Urdu and English.

During the middle 30's again were the times to observe the revival and reawakening of Dogri through the poetry of Pundit Har Datta such as "Adalti da dhanda", through Vishwa Nath Khajuria's one act play entitled "Achoot", through Dinu Bhai Pant's Guttalu, and through the short stories of B.P. Sathe. But this was only an insufficient and beleaguered beginning for the further development of Dogri literature, but as a result of P.R. Shastri this renaissance period began anew. He had gathered a number of like-minded and serious friends/common interests such as D.C. Prashant, Pt. Sansar Chand, Baru, Dinu Bhai Pant and Narayan Mishra, etc. and on the auspicious day of Basant Panchmi in 1944, the Dogri Sanstha was established with a solemn promise to work towards the improvement and advancement of the Dogri language. Shortly after this, at a meeting of the Sanstha, Pt. Sansar Chand Baru was elected its first president and Prof. Ram Nath Shastri was elected its first general secretary; it was Prof. Shastri who served as an inspiration and guiding force to many, most especially all the younger people with talent. So, to summarise: Dogri Sanstha initiated a systematic movement, with strong inspiration and leadership from Professor Shastri, that encourages young poets/writers of both Hindi & Urdu to begin writing in Dogri. Examples of young poets/writers who made this transition are Ved Pal Deep, Kehari Singh Madhukar & Yash Sharma. Many others (e.g B.P., J.C. Sathe & Ram Kumar Abrol) also changed their writing style to Dogri at the same time.

Coming from a family of Khajuria Brahman's, born on 15th April 1914, in the village of Madi, located close to Reasi, within Jammu Division. Sh. Gouri Shankar Khajuria, Ram Nath's Father, was an Ayurvedic physician and was well known for his work as such, but was unable to practice there and, as a result, moved to Jammu City, along with the rest of the family, and settled in the Karan Nagar Mohalla. His father wanted him to carry on his occupation so he decided to get him into a “Sanskrit Pathshala” which had been started in the premises of Ranbir High School Jammu. After completing “Prak”. This pathshala, he joined the Sh. Raghu Nath Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya in Jammu, which was at that time one of the best institutions to learn Sanskrit. He successfully completed his Shastri (Sanskrit), followed by his Prabhakar (Hindi) and B.A.M.A. (Sanskrit) from the University of Lahore, and then became a teacher at Rajput High School, in Jammu, where he taught for 5 years. During that timeframe, he tied the knot again after the demise of his previous wife. His second partner was Smt. Sushila Devi, who dedicated herself to him in every way and has been a tremendous source of inspiration.

He became a Sanskrit lecturer at Prince of Wales College (now Gandhi Memorial Science College), Jammu, where he filled the position previously occupied by the world-renowned linguist Dr. Siddherhwar Verma after his retirement. During his time working for the college, when he was asked to oversee the Hindi section (where he helped mentor several students) of the college's magazine "Tawi," he realized that the Dogra people did not have their mother tongue represented within its pages. Therefore, he thought, "I must do something about this," and thus he set out on a path toward bettering the Dogri language and literature.

As already said in the preceding paragraph he took an initiative to establish Dogri Sanstha with the help of above mentioned five stalwarts. Though previously he used to write shortstories and essays etc in Hindi only then by switching over to his mother tongue Dogri he by and by started concentrating in Dogri writing also. Consequently, the moment he began writing, he captured the essence of the Dogri Language with his enthusiasm and within a short time he became one of the most influential Dogri authors: Poets, fiction writers, essayists, playwrights, translators, etc. Through his varied contributions to the Dogri language and literature, he played a major role in the Dogri language movement and helped to educate Dogra people about the significance of their own language and literature. He retired from the University of Jammu as a professor of Sanskrit. He served as a senior fellow in Dogri at the University of Jammu from 1970 – 1975, and worked as Chief Editor of the Dogri - Dogri Dictionary Project for the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages from 1977 – 1985. This project has become landmark for the development of the Dogri language. The purpose of the dictionary project was to provide reference materials/language aids to Dogri language enthusiasts. He was one of the founding members of the Central Committee and General Council of the J&K Academy of Art, Culture, and Language. He also was a member of the Academic Council of the University of Jammu & Kashmir (it was the only University in both regions).

By stimulating the desire for a Dogri renaissance, Professor Shastri made Dogra's aware of their native tongue's richness and depth, while crafting an extensive body of literature across all genres written in the Dogri Language, ending with additional activities that fostered the language through non-literary avenues.Pursuant to his objective of developing newer notions through progressive ideals such as egalitarianism and self-worth Professor Shastri established an exemplary record of exposing the duplicity of individuals through satirical and ironic means by producing many writings that demonstrate this dichotomy. He emphasised the importance of writing about Dogra heroes who defied authority on behalf of Justice and Virtue. Overall Professor Shastri espoused a progressive philosophy steeped in Indian tradition and thought.

The ability of Professor Shastri to persuade Dr. Karan Singh resulted in Dr. Karan Singh agreeing to donate two kanals of land in Karan Nagar for the Dogri Bhawan, which is now being constructed. In 1969 similar to Prof. Shastri, he took it upon him self to approach the Chairman of Sahitya Akademi with his colleagues to get Dogri recognized as a literary language and again obtained the support of Dr. Siddheshwar Verma, Dr. S.K. Chatterjee's officer accepted the proposal.