Rahul Sankrityayan was born on 9 April 1893, in Pandaha, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India. He was an Indian writer and a polyglot who wrote in Bhojpuri and Hindi.
Initially, he was a keen follower of Arya Samaj of Swami Dayananda Saraswati.[citation needed] Then Buddhism changed his life. After taking Diksha in Sri Lanka he became Rahul (son of Buddha) and also used his gotra (Sankritya) with his name and was finally called “Rahul Sankrityayan”.
He played a pivotal role in giving travelogue a ‘literary form’. He was one of the most widely traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home.
He is referred to as the ‘Greatest Scholar’ for his scholarship. He was a polymath and polyglot. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1963.
