Indra Dassanayake

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.

Career

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.

In 2020, Dassanayake received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India for her contribution to North Indian Literature & Education in Hindi. It was also the first instance a Sri Lankan received the award since 2002.