New Delhi, March 27 : K.K. Birla Foundation's prestigious Saraswati Samman 2024 will be conferred upon renowned Sanskrit scholar Mahamhopadhyay Sadhu Bhadreshdas for his outstanding book Swaminarayana Siddhanta Sudha in Sanskrit.

The decision was made during a meeting of the Saraswati Samman Chayan Parishad, Chaired by Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri (Retd).

Other members of the Chayan Parishad include Prof Ramdeo Shukla, Dr Buddhi Nath Mishra, Dr Kiran Budkuley, Dr C. Mrunalini, Prof Kalidas Misra, Prof Lalit Mangotra, Maalan Narayanan, Prof Milind Govindrao Joshi, Dr Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Vijay Verma, Priyavrat Bhartia and Director, K.K. Birla Foundation, Dr Suresh Rituparna.

Sadhu Bhadreshdas, an internationally acclaimed Sanskrit scholar and an ordained monk of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), was born on December 12, 1966, in Nanded, Maharashtra.

With an illustrious academic background-including an M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt., and Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from IIT Kharagpur, he is widely recognized as a leading intellectual in Indian philosophy.

He has made remarkable contributions to preserving and promoting India's traditional Vedic knowledge system in the modern era.

For his invaluable scholarship, he has been honoured with numerous prestigious titles and has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR).

Additionally, Silpakorn University, Thailand, conferred upon him the Vedanta Martanda Award.

He currently serves as the President of the BAPS Research Institute. 'Swaminarayana Siddhanta Sudha' published in 2022, has won the Saraswati Samman 2024 and expounds on the Prasthanatrayi, presenting the complete philosophical vision of AksharaPurushottama Darshana in a simple yet profound manner that resonates with readers worldwide.

This text proves that the tradition of philosophical discoveries in India is not just a page in history, but a living tradition that still gives birth to new philosophical inventions. By reading this text, one can understand the world-conquering power of the Sanskrit language.

The power that the Sanskrit language possesses in explaining philosophical principles is found in this text.

The Saraswati Samman is a literary award instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. It is given every year for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language mentioned in Schedule VIII to the Constitution of India by an Indian citizen and published during the last 10 years. It carries an award money of Rs 15 lakh, a citation, and a plaque.

/IANS