Indra Dassanayake | |
---|---|
Born | 1943[1] India |
Died | September 2019 (aged 76) Colombo, Sri Lanka |
Alma mater | University of Lucknow |
Occupation | Emeritus Professor |
Organization(s) | University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka |
Indra Dassanayake was a Sri Lankan academic, emeritus professor in Hindi, a scholar known for promoting the Hindi language and North Indian culture in Sri Lanka through educational institutions. On 26 January 2020, she was conferred the Padma Shri award posthumously.[2][3][4][5]
Dassanayake attended the University of Lucknow. After returning from India, she introduced the Hindi language into the Sri Lankan education system. She was also a professor of Hindi at the Kelaniya University. She participated in the first World Hindi Conference in 1975 that was held in Nagpur.[6][3]
In 2020, Dassanayake received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India for her contribution to North Indian Literature & Education in Hindi.[7][8][9] It was also the first instance a Sri Lankan received the award since 2002.[10]