Vidyadhar Johrapurkar

Who is Vidyadhar Johrapurkar?

Vidyadhar Johrapurkar is a Sanskritist, social anthropologist and historian. His name is sometimes spelt as Vidyadhar Joharapurkar.

Prof. Dr. Vidyadhar Johrapurkar is from Nagpur, the ex-capital of CP Berar and accepted as the geographical capital of India. Prof Johrapurkar finished his M.A. in 1956 and Ph.D. in 1959, both from Nagpur University. He worked as Professor of Sanskrit at the Department of Education, Government of Madhya Pradesh. He taught Sanskrit at the Graduate and Post-Graduate level at Government Colleges in Nagpur, Jabalpur, Javra, Mandala and Bhopal. He finally retired as Professor and Head, Department of Sanskrit at Government College, Sivni, Madhya Pradesh.

As a child, Prof Johrapurkar was inspired to read by his grandfather Nemasav's personal library. As a youth, he joined the Jain Svayamsevak Sangh and thus entered the field of social service. His senior friend Prof Dr Shantikumar Killedar instigated his study of Indian history and social anthropology.

Nearly 100 of his scholarly articles were published in prestigious magazines such as Sanmati, Anekanta and other Jain magazines. He was interviewed more than once by Nagpur Doordarshan and Radio Nagpur.