Naheed Abidi

Naheed Abidi Biography

Dr. Naheed Abidi is a Sanskrit scholar and writer. She was honoured with Padma Shri by government of India in 2014 for her overall contributions to Sanskrit language, literature, research and education. As a lecturer and professor, she has worked with some of the leading colleges and universities of India such as Banaras Hindu University, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith etc. She has authored many books such as Sanskrit Sahitya Mein Rahim, Devalayasya Deepa, Sirr-e-Akbar etc. Apart from original books, she has done numerous translation works including a Hindi translation of 50 Upanishads, Vedanta, Sufi texts and many more.

Naheed Abidi was born in 1961, in a Muslim zamindari family at Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. She completed her graduation and master’s degree in Sanskrit, both from her hometown. She got married to advocate Ehtesham Abidi and moved to Varanasi. She took PhD from the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith in 1993. She published her thesis work, Vedic Sahitya Mein Ashviniyon Ka Swaroop. She started her professional career in 2005 as a lecturer without any pay at Banaras Hindu University. Then she joined Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, and worked as part-time lecturer for a daily remuneration of 100 rupees. As she belonged to Muslim community, and completed Sanskrit studies, she found it difficult to get a permanent job. She is perhaps the only Muslim female Sanskrit scholar from the country.

Her first book Sanskrit Sahitya Mein Rahim was published in 2008. The book accounted the life of Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana, an unheralded persona for being a Sanskrit poet. She was invited to Rashtrapati Bhawan to personally gift this book to President of India, Kalam. In 2014 she met Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India and presented two of the books written by her. She was honoured with Padma Shri the same year.

Published: September 29, 2018

Updated: September 29, 2018