Gopinath Kaviraj (7 September 1887 – 12 June 1976) was an Indian Sanskrit scholar, Indologist and philosopher. First appointed in 1914 a librarian, he was the Principal of Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi from 1923 to 1937. He was also the editor of the Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala (Sarasvati Bhavana Texts) during that period. In 1964 he received the Sahitya Akademi Award, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, for his research treatise on Tantra, Tantrik Vangmaya Men Shaktadrishti. In the same year he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour given by Government of India. In 1971 he was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest literary honour awarded by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. Early life and education Kaviraj was the posthumous son of Vaikunthanath, a Bengali scholar of philosophy. He was born in village Dhamrai, in the present Dhaka District, capital of Bangladesh. After receiving his early education at Dhamrai and Kanthalia villages, he joined the K. L. Jubilee High School, Dhaka in seventh class, and studied there till tenth class. In 1906 he moved to Jaipur, where after four years he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maharaja College, Jaipur. He obtained his master's degree from the University of Allahabad. Here he studied with scholars Madhusudan Ojha, Shasdhar Tarkchudamani and others. In 1910 he moved to Devnathpura, Varanasi, and started his postgraduate studies, passing the M.A. from the University of Allahabad in 1914, with first merit position in the first class. Career The final phase of his education started at Varanasi under the guidance of Arthur Venis, who appointed him as a librarian of the Sarasvati Bhavan Library of the Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi, where he worked from 1914 to 1920. This period allowed him to pursue research in Tantra. It was at Varanasi that Kaviraj was exposed to various facets of ancient Tantric philosophy. In 1918, he met Vishuddhananda Paramahamsa, a Vedic & Tantrik Sadhu in Kashi who guided him in ancient wisdom of Tantra,Yog, Vigyan. Vishuddhanand Paramhamsa was basically from Bengal, stayed in Varanasi for a long time & belonged to the lineage of Gyanganj which is also called Siddhashram since old times and Shambhala in recent times which is near Tibet. (Reference text : Yogiraj Shri Shri Vishuddhanand Paramhamsa) In 1924 he became principal of the Government Sanskrit College, later Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi.