Radheyshyam Khemka

Radhey Shyam Khemka was editor of Kalyan, the Hindi spiritual monthly published since 1925 by the Gita Press of Gorakhpur, and worked to bring classical Hindu texts to a wide readership in Indian languages. He was named for the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

From business to editing

Khemka was born on 12 December 1935 at Barahiya in Bihar, into a Marwari family from Fatehpur Shekhawati in Rajasthan ^[2]. He studied law and took an MA in Sanskrit at Banaras Hindu University ^[2]. He was deeply influenced by religious teachers, especially Swami Karpatri ^[2]. In 1956 he settled in Varanasi and started a paper business, which he later handed over to devote himself to editing, publishing and social work, taking no payment for his services to the institutions he led ^[2].

Kalyan and the Gita Press

Under his editorship more than 460 monthly issues and 38 annual special issues of Kalyan were published ^[2]. From 2014 he was president of the trust board that runs the Gita Press, and about 9.5 crore of its books were published under his guidance ^[2]. He helped modernise the press and started books for children on Vedic rites ^[2].

He set up a Vedic school in Varanasi to train scholars in ritual traditions, and helped run institutions such as the L. N. Marwari and Birla hospitals and the Mumukshu Bhawan, a home for the elderly ^[2]. He died on 3 March 2021 ^[2].