Sukama Acharya

Sukama Acharya is a Sanskrit scholar and principal of the Vishvavara Kanya Gurukul at Rurki in Rohtak district, Haryana, known for her work in girls’ education. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2023, from Haryana ^[1].

Training in Sanskrit

Sukama was born on 1 October 1961 ^[2]. At the Shrimad Dayanand Aarsh Vidyapeeth, Gurukul Jhajjar, she took the Shastri degree in Sanskrit in 1978, the Vyakaranacharya in Sanskrit grammar in 1980 and the Vedacharya in Vedic studies in 1984 ^[2]. In 1987 she earned a PhD from Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar for a study of the Vedic deity Indra ^[2].

Gurukuls for girls

Feeling that modern schooling gave young people too little moral and spiritual grounding, she decided to devote her life to educating girls in the gurukul tradition of Vedic and scriptural learning alongside the regular syllabus ^[2]. In 1988 she and her colleague Sumedha founded the Shrimad Dayanand Kanya Gurukul Mahavidyalaya at Chotipura in Uttar Pradesh, which they ran together until 2017 ^[2].

In 2018 she opened the Vishvavara Kanya Gurukul near Rohtak so that girls in Haryana could study in the same way ^[2]. It teaches from the post-primary stage up to graduation, with special attention to Sanskrit grammar and literature ^[2]. She has chosen not to marry so that she can give all her time to her students ^[2]. Graduates of the gurukul now teach Sanskrit in schools, colleges and universities ^[2].

Her honours include the National Vedavidushi Award in 2014 and the Sanskrit Seva Samman of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan in 2018 ^[2].