In a rare scholarly accomplishment that has captured national attention, 19-year-old Vedic student Devvrat Mahesh Rekhe has become the first person in over two centuries to complete the solitary, oral recitation of the entire Shukla Yajurveda Madhyandina Shakha in the highly demanding Dandakram Parayana mode.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have both publicly praised the young scholar’s feat, underscoring its significance for India’s ancient knowledge traditions.
Mr Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The achievement of 19-year-old Vedamurti Devvrat Mahesh Rekhe ji has filled my heart with joy. Future generations will remember what he has done. This success will inspire coming generations.”
The Dandakram Parayana, considered the most arduous of the eight traditional modes of Vedic recitation, requires the memorising and reciting approximately 2,000 mantras in an intricate, uninterrupted pattern without reference to any text. The last recorded instance of its solitary completion in the Madhyandina branch occurred 200 years ago in Nashik by Vedamurti Narayan Shastri Dev.
Devvrat, son of Vedabrahmashri Mahesh Chandrakant Rekhe from Ahilya Nagar (formerly Ahmednagar), Maharashtra, is currently studying at the historic Vallabharam Shaligram Sangaved Vidyalaya on Ram Ghat in Varanasi. He began the intensive recitation on 12 October and concluded it with the purnahuti ceremony on 29 November, completing the entire exercise in exactly 50 days while reciting for three-and-a-half to four hours daily.
On Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath personally honoured Devvrat on the stage of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam at Namo Ghat. Earlier, the Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sringeri Sharada Peetham conferred upon him a gold bracelet and a cash award of ₹1,01,116.
Members of the Dandakram Parayankarta Abhinandan Samiti, including scholars Challa Annapurna Prasad, Challa Subbarao, Anil Kinjavdekar, Chandrashekhar Dravid Ghanapathi, Prof Madhav Janardan Ratate and Pandurang Puranik, described the achievement as a landmark in the preservation of oral Vedic tradition.
“This is not merely an academic milestone but a living demonstration of India’s unbroken guru-shishya parampara,” Prof Ratate told journalists.
The Prime Minister added that every individual who believes in Indian culture would feel proud that such rigorous sadhana continues to flourish on the sacred soil of Kashi.
Devvrat’s accomplishment comes at a time when efforts to revitalise Sanskrit and Vedic learning have gained renewed political and institutional support across the country, with Varanasi emerging as a key centre for advanced Vedic studies under various government and private initiatives.
