Shakambari Jayal (Juyal): The First Woman Historian of Uttarakhand

Historians of Uttarakhand -1

                                       Bhishma Kukreti

       Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) is first woman Historian of Uttarakhand. There is a long list of famous historians of Uttarakhand who were her disciple as Dr Pushpesh Pant, Dr Shekhar Pathak, Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dr. Dharampal Manral , Madan Chandra Bhatt and many more.

       Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) was niece of ex Prime Minister of Tehri Riyasat Chakra Dhar Juyal. Shakambari Juyal was born in 1924. She died in Jaipur (Rajasthan) at the age of 86. The forefather of Shakambari Juyal belonged to Pauri Garhwal and her father was settled in Dhakrani, Dehradun. . Her father Chandra Datt Juyal was a government officer in Almora. She was born after her parents returned from Shakmbhari Temple pilgrim, Saharanpur and they named her as Shakambhari. She took her basic education in Dehradun. Her two brothers Vidhudhar and Nalnidhar Juyal were IAS officers.

 Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) passed graduation and post graduate from Banaras Hindu University. She passed her M.A (History) in the subject- Medieval India (Madhyakalin Bharat). Dr Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) got her PhD under the eminent historian Dr Ramashankar Tripathi. Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) started her teaching carrier from Vasantan Degree College. Later on she was appointed as Assistant professor of DBS College Nainital. Later on she became professor at Government College Ranikhet and retired from there. Shakambari Juyal married with a Gujrati scholar Dr Gautam Dwivedi.

  Credit goes to Dr Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) for initiating history research in Nainital College. When Dr Juyal became head of department, she worked hard to make the library as research oriented library. She approached UGC for providing books and encyclopedias for the History libraries and got help from UGC.

  She also initiated to have history exhibition in Nainital and it was a successful history exhibition. Afterward, She also arranged two more History Exhibitions in Nainital. Dr Jayal (Juyal) initiated research in Kumaon and found many new unknown aspects of Kumaon archeology and history of Kumaon. She started ‘Kumaon Sangrahlaya’ in Nainital. Dr Shakmbari Jayal (Juyal) initiated various reseahces on History of Kumaon and also supported scholars as Prayag Joshi.

 Dr Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) was supporter of cultural history than Formal history, journalistic history, and archeological history.

 Dr Shakambari Jayal (Juyal) published many history articles in history journals. Her book ‘The Status of Women in the Epics’ was published in 1966. The book got very good comments from historians.

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai 13/10/2014

                   Reference

Dr Madan Chandra Bhatt, 2011, Uttarakhand ki Pratham Mahila Itihaskar Dr Shakambari Jayal (Juyal), Shailvani Samarika, Kotdwara