Indra Dassanayake


Indra Dassanayake was a Sri Lankan university professor. She was one of the pioneers in introducing and promoting Hindi-language in Sri Lanka through educational institutions. On 26 January 2020, she along with veteran dancer Vajira Chitrasena was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award which is one of the highest Indian civilian awards coinciding with the 71st Republic Day of India.

Career

She pursued her higher education at the University of Lucknow and became professionally fluent with the Hindi-language. After returning from India, she introduced the Hindi-language in Sri Lankan education system. She was also a renowned professor of Hindi at the Kelaniya University. She also contributed to re-establish the Department at the Kelaniya University in 1995. She also participated in the first World Hindi Conference in 1975 which was held in Nagpur.

Honours

Indra was honoured with the prestigious Dr. George Grierson Award from the then Indian President Pratibha Patil for the year 2005 during a World Hindi Conference in New Delhi on 18 December 2007.
She received the prestigious Padma Shri award for her achievement in arts in January 2020 which was given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was also the first instance where Sri Lankan was honoured with the prestigious award since 2002.