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South Indian Mahamahopadhyayas - Part 3
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pazhamArnEri Sri sundara sAstrigal
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sundara sAstrigal was born in the village of pazhamArnEri near thirukkAttuppaLLi in thanjAvUr district in the forepart of the 19th Century. His parents were mahAlinga sAstri and lakshmi ammAl. He learnt kAvyanAtakAs at a young age in his own village, and later moved to mannArgudi and learnt tarkam, vyAkaraNam, pUrvOttaramImAmsA shAstrAs from mahAvidwAn sri rAju sAstrigaL, for a period of more than a decade. During that time, the mahArAjA of mysore entreated srI rAju sAstrigal to visit mysore. sAstrigal, instead, recommended his shishyA sundara sAstrigal to the mahArAjA and sent him to mysore.
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As per the directive of his guru, sundara sAstrigal proceeded to mysore, where he worked as a chief adhyApakA in the mharAjA's samskrita college for a few years. He later became the AsthAnavidwAn of the mysore samsthAnam. He was honoured with the mahAmahOpAdhyAya title by the Government of India. In the tyAgarAja vijayA authored by srI yagnaswAmi sAstrigal, it is narrated that sundara sAstrigal lived in mysore for several years, and that he was endowed with a sharp intellect and excpetional scholarship in the pUrvamImAmsA and uttaramImAmsA shAstrAs.
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​srI chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL
In the village kallidaikkurichi in Tirunelveli district made fertile by the river tAmraparNi, chandrasEkhara shAstrigal was born in 1846 as the youngest son of exemplary scholar srI rAmA shAstrigaL. Since he was a descendant of exemplary AhitAgnIs and was a nithyAgnihOtrI himself, he was also referred to as chandrasEkhara dIkshitar. Among his elder brothers. the eldest brother srI sAmi sAstrigaL was the contemporary of kAsi vidwAns srI sivakumAra sAstri and srI sItArAma sAstri, and also resided at kAsi. The other brother srI rAmasubbA sAstri was an exceptional scholar and like his father, taught several pupils shAstrAs at kallidaikkurichi. chandrasEkhara sAstrigal, along with several other students, undertook shAstrAbhyAsA under his father. He gained scholarship in nyAyA and vEdAntA in particular. He learnt English along with samskrtam, and gained scholarship in both languages.
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Upon completion of his studies, he began working as samskrta adhyApakA at the Madurai College. In a few years, his expertise won the admiration of several personages, one among whom was Justice Sir subramaNya iyer. He endorsed the exceptional teaching abilities of chandrasEkhara shAstrigal to srI V krishNaswAmi iyer who was making efforts to establish a new samskrita college in Chennai. The elder brother of srI V krishNaswAmi Iyer also endorsed sAstrigaL to his younger brother. In the meantime, chandrasEkhara sAstrigaL left madurai and began teaching at the samskrta pAtashAlA at Chidambaram. On 1st February 1906, lessons commenced at the mylapore samskrta college. chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL was appointed as chief adhyApakA as second in command to Chairman of the college srI kuppuswAmi shAstrigaL. Later, in 1911, chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL attained the chairmanship of the college. Concurrently, he served as the shirOmaNi parIkshAdhikArI and parIkshAdhikArI of the samskrta MA course at the University of Madras.
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During his tenure at the Madras samskrta college, his noteworthy pupils were nUraNi ananthakrishNa shAstrigaL (later recipient of the mahAmahOpAdhyAya title), padmanAbha shAstrigaL, pakshitIrtham T V rAmachandra dIkshitar, venkatEsa dIkshitar, sUryanArAyaNa sAstri, and srIvatsa sOmadEva sarmA.
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The Government of India honoured chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL with the title mahAmahOpAdhyAya. shAstrigaL attained sivapadam on February 10, 1918. His yearning to embrace sannyAsA during his final times just like both his brothers had, never came to fruition. chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL was an exceptional AchAraSIlA and nityAgnihOtrI until the end, and was endowed with a clear and profound intellect, dignity, discipline and capability.
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srI lakshmaNa sUri​
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In a village named punalvEli in Tirunelveli district of Tamilnadu, lived mutthusubbaiyer. He was an exceptional poet and author in both samskritam and tamizh. He was referred to as 'mutthusubba kavi'. He was proficient in vyAkaraNam and vEdAntam. The text 'samkshipta rAmAyaNam' that he compiled was later published by his son lakshmaNa sUri. In his lifetime, mutthusubbayyar authored and published texts such as vEdAnta nAtakam, vEdAnta kIrtanam etc. In August 1859, his son lakshmaNa sUri was born. lakshmaNa sUri undertook basic lessons from his father in his childhood. He later learnt from subbA dIkshitar who lived in kadayam village.​
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In 1896, lakshmaNa sUri was appointed samskrta adhyApakA at St. Peter's College in Thanjavur, where he worked till 1907. When classes ended at that college, he began teaching at the Pachaiyappan High School in Chennai. Noteworthy among his students in Thanjavur were late mahamahOpAdhyAya kuppuswAmi sAstrigaL who later came samskrita professor at the Chennai Presidency College, and late K. bAlasubramaNya iyer of Chennai.
While living in Thanjavur, lakshmaNa sUri had the inclination to compile texts, compose kAvyAs, and writing commentaries. He authored and published a commentary on IsOpanishad titled IsOpanishad kArikA. He also authored and published a commentary on the mAndUkya upanishad. mannArgudi sri rAju sAstrigaL has praised in five samskrita SlOkAs that "the verses in the kArikAs composed by lakshmaNa sUri (composed as per the import of the upanishad bhAshyAs of srI bhagavadpAdAL) are clear in their meaning and are useful to all seekers". In 1903, mysOre diwAn Sir K sEshAdri aiyar who visited Thanjavur, was very impressed on listening to the upanishadkArikAs of lakshmaNa sUri, and honoured him with the title 'sUri'. Since then, lakshmaNa sAstrigaL became "lakshmaNa sUri".
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​While working as a teacher in Thanjavur, he authored:
-'akara', a gloss on the nAtakA anargarAgavam of murAri
-commentaries 'saraLA' on uttararAmacharitam and 'ujjvalA' on mahavIracharitam, texts by bhavabhUti
-gloss 'chUdAmaNi' on nAtakA vENIsamhArA of BhattanArAyaNA
-gloss 'tattvAlOkA' to the forepart of rAjasEkharA's bAlarAmAyaNA
-gloss 'parimaLA' on the first two chapters of the nAtakA pArijAtamanjarI
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In the journal Indian Antiquary, Dr. Hultch, a Professor at the Halle University in Germany has praised lakshmaNa sUrI's commentaries on kAvyAs thus: 'lakshmaNa sUrI is a commentator comparable to mallinAthA. His commentaries are wholesome and deeply intellectual'.
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He has also authored the texts bhArata sangraham, naLOpAkhyAna sangraham, rAmAyaNa sangraham. His first prose text was BhIshma vijayam. This text is further decorated by the notes of vEdamayyangAr (then teacher at Pachaiyappan High School), and the translation by nellaiyappa iyer (then Headmaster of ettayapuram High School).
lakshmaNa sUri has composed several kAvyams. His first kAvyam was viprasandEsam, about the message that rukmiNi sent to krishNA through a brahmin. His other works include manassandEsam (gurustavam), gayatrI rAmAyaNam (in sragdharA viruttam), aksharamAlikA rAmAyaNam, venkatEsa stavam, karuNakam, prapannaviBhIshaNam, GeorgedEva shatakam etc. He has also authored nAtakA texts such as dilli sAmrAjyam, poulastya stavam, gOshayAtrA. His final kAvyam BhagavadpAdABhyudayam is a condensation of the biography of AdishankarA. lakshmaNa sUrI has also helped college students to a great extent by writing notes on:​
-a part of the kAvyAlankAra sUtravrittI by vAmanar,
-a part of the tenth adhyAyA of mamaTA's kAvyaprakAsA,
-the first two usvAsAs of harshacharitA,
-a part of tilakamanjari.
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Eminent personalities such as Sir PS SivaswAmi Iyer, Sri V KrishNaswAmi Iyer had great respect and admiration for lakshmaNa sUri. Several of his short texts were incorporated into the syllabus of the University of Madras. The title mahAmahOpAdhyAya was bestowed upon him while he lived in Chennai. The Madras Presidency government also provided him a sum of money as an award.
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lakshmaNa sUri who was endowed with fame and knowledge and who published around 48 texts in the categories of kAvyam, prose, stOtram, commentary, compilation etc. attained sivapadam in Chennai. He was an exceptional scholar in samskritam, vyAkaraNam and oratory. His prose was remarkable. In condensing itihAsAs and has performed a great service to seekers. He led a dignified and simple personal life. His second son TL VenkatrAmayyar was an exceptional scholar in sangItam and samskritam and became a Judge at the Supreme Court of India.
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Sri Desikacharyar​
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In mid 19th century, srI dEsikAchAryAr was born in tirupatI as the son of vaishnavaite brahmin scholar gOpAlAchAryAr living in tirupatI, originally belonging to kapisthalam near kumbhakONam. dEsikAchAryAr learnt vaishNava vEdAnta granthAs from lAtapuram gOpAlArya mahAdEsikan and later from kOdanDappatti swAmi. He himself imbibed the tattvA texts of other belief systems. He learnt tarkashAstram from purasai rangAchAryAr of tirupati.
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A samskrta college had been established and run by trustees of tirupati temple. mahant prayAgadAs appointed dEsikAchAryAr as chief panditA of the college. During dEsikAchAryAr's tenure there, prativAdi Bhayankaram ananthAchAryaswAmi entitled 'jagadguru' was touring North India and reached kAsI. The scholars of kAsI told him that unless he won over them in vEdAntavAkyArthA debate, he was unqualified to hold the 'jagadguru' title. ananthAchAryA swAmi wrote to tirupati mahant and brought dEsikAchAryAr to kAsI. dEsikAchAryAr easily won over the kAsI vidwAns in debate. ananthAchArya swAmi made kapisthalam dEsikAchAryAr sit atop an elephant and organized a procession through the streets of kAsI, and honoured him.
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dEsikAchAryAr, upon returning to tirupati from kAsI with fame, was then invited to kAnchIpuram, and was taken atop an elephant in procession through the main streets of vishNukAnchi by the scholars and personages of kAnchIpuram as well as VV srInivAsayyangAr, S varadAchAryAr, tirucchi AV gOpAlAchAryAr and others. There, dEsikAchAryAr was honoured with the title 'vijayadwajam'. The British Indian government honoured him with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'. He was among the exceptional vidwAns who lived with fame and shed his mortal coil during the early part of the 20th Century.
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The significant texts he authored were - vyAsasiddhAnta mArthAnDam, aDhikaraNaratnamAlA, kAryADhikaraNa usvAsam, nyAyasiddhAnta bhUmikA, shatakOTi khanDanam, purushasUkta BhAshyam, siddhAnta traya sangraham. He was an adept speaker of samkrtam, and his samskrtam discourses were easily understandable and captivated listeners.
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lakshmIpuram srI srInivAsAchAyAr​
srI srInivAsAchAryAr belonged to the tirupati nallAn chakravarti lineage. At a young age, he studied vaishnava vEdAntam under srI virakta rAghavAchArya swAmi who had been residing at kOdanDappatti, and undertook BharasamarppaNam unto him. Later, he learnt kAvyam and nAtakam from shatAryar. Later he went to Mysore and learnt several shAstrAs from tarkasimha kastUri rangAchAryAr, attained great scholarship in mImAmsA shAstrA. He then was appointed dhAnAdhikAri at Mysore Palace and made his permanent residence in Karnataka.
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His research mindset led to his authoring several texts. In 1928, he authored and published mAnamEyOdayaslOkavArttikam. His 1933 publication darsanOdayam established several vaishNava siddhAnta tattvAs and contains the foreword by the late President rAdhAkrishNan. In mImAmsashAstrA, he has authored sabaraBhAshyabhUshaNam, adrShtaparIkshA, AgamasAram, mAnamEya rahasya vivaraNam, among others. In admiration of his scholarship, the British Indian government bestowed upon him the title mahAmahOpAdhyAya.
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srI R V krishNamAchAryAr
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srI RV krishNamAchAryAr was born in 1878 in rAyampEttai, east of tiruvayyAru. His lineage bore the name 'chakravarti'. His parents were venkatEsa ayyangAr and lakshmi ammAL. Even at a young age, he was greatly interested in learning samskritam and malayALam. He learnt samskrita grammar from pudhu agrahAram subbarAyAchAr, srImushNam subbarAyAchAr, mImisal narasimhAchAr, thirupputkuzhi gOpAla tAtAchAryAr. He took charge as a malayALam tutor at the St. Joseph's College in Tiruchirappalli. As he was an expert in samskritam, he began associating with the vAnI vilAs publishers in srIrangam. This association spanned several decades. While he was in Tirucchi, he undertook education in vEdAntA under kOzhiyAlam swAmi. While working in tirucchi, he used to travel to kumbhakONam every Friday evening, lear mImAmsA sAstram on Saturday and Sunday, and report back to work in tirucchi Monday morning.
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He ran a Tamil magazine 'kALidAsa'. He also worked as deputy editor for the samskrita journal 'sahrdaya'. In 1917 he took charge as samskrita professor at the Government College, Kumbakonam. He worked at the college for sixteen years at this college and won the admiration of its principals RM Statham, P rAjagOpAlayyar, A chakravarti etc. Once when the Chairman of the University Commission satyamUrthy came to the college, mindful of krishNamAchAryAr's age and scholarship, satyamUrthy went to the professor's room personally, instead of inviting him over, and discussed several issues regarding sanskrit education.
krishNamAchAryar was not only attentive to the educational attainments of his students but was also a strict disciplinarian towards them. Mostly he did not resort to holding books in his hand while teaching kAvyam, since he already knew several kAvyams by rote. He used to interlace his teaching with humour and explaining concepts accurately. His students were enthusiastic and attentive in class, and were appreciative of krishNamAchAryAr's expertise in making them understand exceptional kAvyAs well. The author of this book was also privileged to be a student of samskrit under this illustrious teacher.
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Along with scholarship in grammar, he was endowed with a sharp intellect and skills. He was an adept fiddle player. He ensured that his children undertook music tutelage under exceptional sangIta vidwAns. When at leisure, he used to sing kIrtanAs melodiously. Even on the day before his demise, he listened to melodious renditions of srI sadAsiva brahmEndrAL's mAnasa sanchararE and vEdAnta dEsikA's hamsa sandEsA.
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krishNamAchAryAr was a prolific book collector and lender. In his residence, he had assembled a reader's room that housed texts and palmleaf manuscripts in samskritam, malayALam, telugu, kannadam etc. Books were his lifelong companions. Even after losing vision in an eye, he did not give up on his reading habit.
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He was skilled at making his students act in samskrita plays. He himself played the role of kaNva maharishi in the play shAkuntaLam. He was active in preparing his students for oratory in the meetings of the college samskrita samAjam and had them write articles for the college magazine.
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​His oratory was replete with humour and witticisms. After he had completely lost his eyesight, a long-lost friend arrived, and krishNamAchAryAr recognized him by his voice, and remarked humorously, "I do not have vyaktivivEkam (the title of a text; meaning here is 'cannot distinguish / cannot ascertain form'), now; but I do have DhvanyAlOkam (the title of a text; meaning here is 'understanding with the help of hearing voice') now".
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In praise of krishNamAchAryAr's samskritam skills and wit, kaLLikkOttai jAmoodiri awarded him with the titles 'tarkAlankAra vidhyABhUshaNa', and 'aBhinavabhatta BhANa', and presented him with a gold medal. He was awarded the title 'paNditarAja' by the Prince of the kochi kingdom in 1933, also the year of krishNamAchAryAr's retirement. He was awarded the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya' in 1934 by the Government of India. In 1942, he was awarded the title 'vidhvan maNi' by the Shankaracharya swAmigal of the srI kAnchI kAmakOti peeTham.
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Among the several texts he authored, a few significant ones are:
anyApadEsa shatakam
vANI vilApam
suBhAshita shatakam
harsha charita shatakam
dashakumAracharita sangraham
laghu kAdambarI
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Apart from these, he has also authored 'archAvatAra vaibhavam' in malayALam, and ten tamil texts. He has also compiled nyAya vyAkaraNa texts. This mahAvidwAn attained vaikunThA on September 4, 1943 (suBhAnu AvaNi suklapaksha tritIyA).
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In 1949, Professor krishNamAchAryAr's framed photograph was unveiled by the mAdhva mEnOn, the minister for Education of the Chennai Presidency, in the Government Arts College, kumBhakONam. It is noteworthy that Sri kAnchI AchAryAL's honorary epistle sent on the occasion, and the letters of eminents such as srI chintAmaN dEshmukh (Finance Minister of India) etc. had praised the samskrita expertise of krishNamAchAryAr.
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SrI panchApakEsa shAstrigaL
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panchApakEsa shAstrigaL was born in the latter part of the 19th Century in the village of pazhamArnEri of thanjAvUr. He learnt tarka shAstram and vEdAntam from mahAmahOpAdhyAya sundara sAstrigaL, an exceptional vidwAn who had been a student of mannArgudi sAstrigaL. panchApakEsa sAstrigaL was a relative of Chennai's famed advocate and politician Sir Sivaswami Iyer. A fellow tutee of panchApakEsa shAstrigal was srI rAmaswAmi sAstri who later became the AsthAna vidwAn of srI kAnchI shankarAchArya swAmi maTham.
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In 1906, panchApakEsa sAstrigal accepted the position of a Professor of vEdAntA at the Mylapore samskrita College, where he taught masterfully for eight years. Among his students were nUraNi ananthakrishNa shAstrigal, pakshiteertham rAmachandra dIkshitar, venkatEsa dIkshitar etc who all became eminent scholars. The kochI maharAjA, learning of the scholarship and excellent tutorship, appointed him as a tutor at his ThripuNithurA samskrita college, where shAstrigal taught for three years. He had also taught in the Mysore Kingdom for a while. The Government of India honoured him with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'.
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It is considered that he did not publish any of his writings during his lifetime. However, he had apparently written down notes towards the development of a text in line with brahmAnandar, condemning nyAyabhAskaram of anantAzhwAr. Upon panchApakEsa shAstrigal's demise, kochi mahArAjA parIkshith tambirAn and panditarAja vEdAnta vAgeesa srI subrahmaNya shAstrigal together compiled the notes of panchApakEsar and published the contents under the title 'brahmAnandeeya BhAvaprakAsam' in 1961.
srI anantakrishNa shAstrigaL
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anantakrishNa shAstrigaL was born in nUraNi agrahAram of pAlakkAd in 1886. His father subrahmaNya vAdyAr was of a celebrated vaidIka lineage in the village. In 1899, he enrolled in the vEdasAstra pAtashAlA at chittoor that was part of the kochi samasthAnam, where he learnt vEdam and samskritam for five years. Later, in February 1904, he enrolled in Chidambaram sAstrapAtashAlai and learnt vyAkaraNam and tarkasAstram for two years under mahAvidwAn harihara shAstrigaL.
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In 1906, he moved to Chennai and learnt vEdAntam from mahAmahOpAdhyAya panchApakEsa shAstrigaL and srI vEnkatasubbA shAstrigaL at the Mylapore Samskrita College. He also learnt from srI chandrasEkhara shAstrigaL. He participated in the advaita sabhA parIkshA at kALahasti in 1910, and won tOdA and two shawls in appreciation. In 1911, he assumed tutorship at the Tirupati Samskrita College, where he worked for six years. In 1917, he was appointed the Principal of the kallidaikurichi samskrita college, where he worked for only three years.
In 1917, he was appointed postgraduate lecturer at the University of Calcutta, and performed this duty excellently for thirty long years. In July 1947, he resigned from this post and involved himself in public service. In 1948, he assumed leadership of classes on Bhagavad gItA and vAchaspatIyam at the Bombay Bharatiya vidyA bhavan. Later, he spent his years discoursing on Bhagavad gItA, mahAbhAratam etc and presiding over purushasUkta, srIsUkta, atirudra hOmAs towards public welfare.
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While he was working at the University of Calcutta, the Government of India honoured anantakrishNa shAstrigaL with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya' on June 3, 1927. srI kAnchI kAmakOti pIThAdhipathi has also honoured him with the title 'shAstra ratnAkaram'. He was also bestowed with the titles 'vEdAnta vishArada', 'mImAmsA ratnam', among others. He worked as an examiner at the Universities at Calcutta, kAshI, allahAbAd, pAtnA, AndhrA etc.
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Among the several texts he authored, a few significant ones are:
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advaita chintA kaustuBham
karmapradIpam with his own commentary praBhA
vEdAnta pariBhAshA with his own commentary
advaita dIpikA
advaita mArtAnDam
vEdAnta rakshAmaNi
sanAtana DharmapradIpam
sogandhya vimarsam
advaita tattvashuddhi
chaturgranthi
brahmasUtra BhAshyam with nine commentaries
mImAmsA shAstra sangraham
nyAyAmruta advaita siddhi
shataDhUshaNi-parIkshaNa / shataBhUshaNI
Bhagavad gItA BhAratIya darshanAnicha
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He was unparallelled in samskrita debate and oratory. He spent his final years at nUraNi, his birthplace.
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A chinnasvAmi shAstrigaL
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He was born at mandakuLathUr agrahAram on the banks of river bAhU in pOLUr tAluk, nOrth Arcaud, on vaikAsi 10, virOdhi year 1889. He undertook kramAnta-vEdhAdhyayana under his father appAswAmi sAstrigaL who was a shatkarmaniratA. With an aim to undertake vEdAnta vichArA, he learnt kAvyam, nAtakam, alankAram, vyAkaraNam etc from karpoondi vEnkataramaNa sAstrigaL and enrolled in college in 1907. There, he learnt mImAmsA shAstram from mahAmahOpAdhyAya venkitasubbA shAstrigaL and mahAmahOpAdhyAya kuppusvAmi shAstrigaL, and vEdAntam from mahAmahOpAdhyAya chandrashEkhara shAstrigaL. Even as a student, he gained the conviction that he had to propagate mImAmsA shAstram by way of teaching and inquiry into mImAmsA granthAs. Impressed by chinnasvAmi's teaching abilities, mahAmahOpAdhyAya kuppuswAmi shAstrigaL recommended that the former be appointed as assistant professor at the tiruvayyAru samskrita college.
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chinnaswAmi shAstrigal gained several students while at the above position. Among his students were sri bAlasubramaNya sAstrigaL who later became the Principal of Mylapore samskrita college. Later, chinnaswAmi shAstrigaL worked for a while as a Professor at the jaipUr samskrita college. In 1918, he was appointed Professor at kAshi hindu vishva vidhyAlayA and became a pioneer in the propagation of mImAmsA shAstram in North India. Several sishyAs attentively learnt mImAmsA shAstram from him. Upon hearing of his exceptional teaching, panditAs who taught at other colleges approached him to have him teach them mImAmsA shAstram, chinnasvAmi shAstrigaL didn't mind his difficulties, and taught them at his residence. This made the authorities of samskrita institutions in North India accept shAstrigaL as a member of their respective committees.
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In 1939, shAstrigaL was appointed Principal of the srI vEnkatEswara Oriental College where were worked for a year. In 1940, he was appointed Head of a division of kAshi hindu vishva vidyAlayam which made him resume teaching in kAshI. While in kAshI, he edited and published
mImAmsA granthAs such as mImAmsA kaustuBham, toutAdi tamatathilakam, bruhatI
ApastamBha shrauta sUtram
ApastamBha grhya sUtram
ApastamBha DharmasUtram
dhANdya mahAbrAhmaNam
bOdhAyana DharmasUtram
madhvatantra mukhamarDhanam
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He has written a commentary sAravivEchanI for the mImAmsA nyAya prakAsA. His text tantra siddhAnta ratnAvaLi was authored in 1944, to help students understand uttrashatkapadArtha jnAnA.
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In 1940, in recognition of his scholarship, the Government of India bestowed upon him the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'. In 1942, sAstrigaL was honoured with the title 'shAstra ratnAkara' by the srI kAnchI kAmakOti pIThAdhipathi.
While being a member of all the senates in the kAshI sarvakalAshAlA, he worked as an examiner at the Universities of AndhrA, lakshmaNapuri, allahAbAd, aNNAmalai, madrAs, and punjAb, and at the samskrita college examinations at kAshI, Bihar, Calcutta, Mysore, and Jaipur.
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In 1947, he was appointed lecturer of mImAmsA at the University of Calcutta. In 1951, he was appointed as an examiner of dharmashAstrA at an institute named prAchInasaBhyatA vimarsam founded by the West Bengal government, where he worked as a Professor for three years. He presided over the annual celebrations of several samskrita samAjams in North India. Furthermore, he presided over the vEda viBhAgA at the prAchyavidyA sammELanA at Darbhanga, and stressed on the necessity of vEdAs through his lecture. He also composed small praBhandhAs on the imports of a few mImAmsA and shrautapadAs.
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His demise on August 11, 1956, was a great loss to the world of samskritam. Even during his very last days, he was engaged in serving the cause of samskritam, as he was proofreading the second edition of the Ramayana published by the Madras Law Journal Press.
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srI T Ganapati shAstrigaL
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Ganapati shAstrigaL who spent most of his life in Kerala, was born in 1860. Even at a young age, he became interested in sAhityam and vyAkaraNam, and focused on learning them. Appointed as curator of the Thiruvananthapuram Manuscripts Library, he involved himself in composing kAvyAs and research. he attained fame through his research on the nAtakAs of mahAkavi BhAsA.
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He composed commentaries on BhAsA's nAtakAs and published them. He has written a commentary on kautilyA's arthashAstrA. He has authored and published a text srI moola charitram that describes the history of the Travancore rulers. In 1892, the thulABhArA celebration of the Travancore King took place, during which gold and precious gems equivalent to the weight of the king were distributed equally among vidwAns. In praise of this celebration, Ganapati Shastrigal composed 'thulA purusha dhAna kAvyam'.
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He composed a short kAvyA named arthArtha chitramaNimAlA explaining alankArA. His other works include sEtuyAtrA varNanam on the holy rAmEsvaram yAtrA, and BhAratAnuvarNanam on the history of BhAratA. Ganapati Shastrigal was honoured with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya' by the Government of India. He passed away at the age of 66 in 1928, after a lifetime of service to samskritam.
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srI narasimhAchAryAr
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narasimhAchAryAr was born in the 19th century at kudavAsal, about 10 miles south of kumBhakONam. He learnt tarkashAstram and vEdAntam from nAvalpAkkam ayyA narasimha tAtAchAryAr. He was skilled in lucidly explaining the concepts of sAnkhyA and pASupatA. He was actively involved in propagating divya praBhandam among the masses. He has written a commentary on certain parts of svAmi dEsikan's paramathaBhangam. He was honoured with the title mahAmahOpAdhyAya. He attained fame by discoursing on scriptures across Tamil Nadu.​
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srI T srInivAsayyangAr
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He was a scholar in samskritam, and was a Professor at St. Joseph's College, TiruchirappaLLi. He was honoured with the title mahAmahOpAdhyAya. Further details about him could not be obtained.
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srI srInivAsAchAryAr
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He wrote an excellent commentary on mahAkavi kALidAsA's shAkuntaLam. He was from tiruvaheendrapuram. He was honoured with the title mahAmahOpAdhyAya. Further details about him could not be obtained.
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srI K S krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL
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He was born on AvaNi 7, Thursday, manmatha varsham 1895, in kAttupputtUr village, part of musiri tAluk, tirucchirAppaLLi. His family name was kandhAdai. His parents were vEnkatasubbarAma iyer aka swAmi iyer. He was exceptionally mischievous as a child. His upanayanam was performed when he was 7, and was enrolled in a school in kuLithalai, where he studied up-to third form. Even as a child, he had the ability to sing sweetly.
Since his family was financially deficient, he could not continue his studies further. Therefore, he was enrolled in a shAstra pAtashAlA in karUr, where he learnt kAvyam and nAtakam. His guru was mahAvidwAn BhUvarAhAchAryAr. With the intent of undergoing shAstrAbhyAsam, he travelled by foot and via train with his friend srInivAsan to tiruvayyAru and enrolled in the samskrita college there. srI kuppuswAmi shAstrigaL, who was then the Principal of the College, and srI RV krishNamAchAryAr, examined krishNamUrthi. Impressed by his smart answers, the Principal readily admitted him into the College.
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He did not study for long at tiruvayyAru either. He abandoned his studies there and enrolled in the kumBhakONam rAjA pAtashAlA. There, a rivalry occurred between him and the maNiyakkArar. He also got married around the same time. He then moved to pudukkOttai. He learnt vyAkaraNam from gOpAla shAstrigal (who was the dhAnAdhikAri of the pudukkOttai Palace) while eating a-meal-a-week at his palace. Dismayed at the infrequency of the classes, he came to maNatthittai where he coincidentally met chidambaram dhaNdapANisvAmi dIkshitar. dIkshitar examined krishNamUrthi's knowledge and was satisfied. He told krishNamUrthi, "Come to chidambaram. I shall teach you. Before you come, learn ashtAdhyAyI well", and blessed him wholeheartedly. Thus krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL went to chidambaram and studied vyAkaraNam.
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Even as a student, he skillfully taught kaumudi and nAtakam to other students. Therefore his jnAnA in vyAkaraNam incremented day by day. He was a hard-worker. He used to pull others into debates and overwhelm them. Therefore he was regarded as a miscreant. Once, Sir Sivaswamy Iyer, Judge Seshagiri Iyer and others were visiting dIkshitar. dIkshitar instructed krishNamUrthi to composed poems and to read them with warmth.
The Government of India honoured dIkshitar with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'. The Collector organized a celebration. There, krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL composed poems on the Emperor and his Guru and regaled the audience.
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Once, when the Shankaracharya of the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham was campign in mahEndramangalam, He listened to krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL's poems and bestowed monetary awards upon the latter. LakshminArAyaNa Iyer, a relative of nangavaram rAjappa iyer, provided financial assistance to shAstrigal.
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There was a vEdashAstra pAtashAlai in chittoor near pAlakkAd. krishNamUrthi shAstrigal was employed there with a monthly stipend of Rs. 15, and resided there with his wife, and learnt great texts in vyAkaraNam from ParamEswara shAstrigaL. He also attended examinations in Mysore and received monetary awards. During the time he assisted paramEswara shAstrigal in tutoring, he successfully passed examinations in pudukkottai as well. In 1924, he passed the shirOmaNi examinations. R krishNamAchAryAr who was well-aware of the oratorical and intellectual abilities of krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL, asked the chittoor pAtashAlA manager to send him to be a tutor at the rAmEswaram dEvasthAna pAtashAlA. However, shAstrigal refused the offer, saying that he would not go to work there without having learnt vEdAntam. He forewent the Rs. 25 stipend he was receiving, and went to learn prakaraNAs and prasthAnatrayI from karunkuLam krishNa shAstrigaL, at a stipend of Rs. 20 per month. He stood first every year in his examinations and received awards. When he was in chittoor, he composed a kAvyA 'satIvilAsam' and published it in a magazine named kAmadhEnu. This composition on sAvitri and satyavAn won praise. He used to compose several kIrtanAs in samskritam and perform harikathA kAlakshEpam. The extant text 'bhaktisudhAtarangiNi' has three songs composed by him while he was in Chidambaram. In 1925, he was appointed to the rAmEswaram dEvasthAnA pAtashAlA as an assistant tutor in vyAkaraNA and became Professor of vyAkaraNA three years later. His teaching abilities were praised by many.
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In 1939, Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Sringeri who was visiting Kaladi, listened to his discourse for a week, and honoured him with a shawl and monetary award.
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During the consecration of tripurasundari at the Sankara Gurukulam in Srirangam, he discoursed on spiritual matters. He was honoured with the title 'sAhityaBhUshaNam' and a shawl by the Sringeri Acharya SwamigaL. He discoursed in the presence of Sri kAnchI kAmakOti pIThAdhipathi and was honoured with twin shawls and the title 'satkathA kaNTeerava'.
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In 1954, he went to Sringeri and became an AsthAna vidwAn there. In 1955, he began permanently residing in Chennai. In 1945, he was honoured with the title 'panditarAja' and a gold medal by the kochi rAjA. He was honoured twice during the navaratri sabhA by the Thiruvananthapuram Maharaja. On 13 June 1945, the Government of India honored him with the title 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'. At that time, Lord Mountbatten and his wife presented awards to shAstrigal at the Tirumalai nAyakkar mahAl. On Independence Day in 1947, the Madras Presidency awarded a monetary award of Rs 1000, a shawl, a medal embossed with the image of a gopuram to Shastrigal along with the title 'AsthAna kavi' (Poet Laureate in Sanskrit). He taught several students in Chennai. In 1963, he received the Presidential award, as a consequence of which he began receiving Rs. 1500 per annum, and this was later increased to Rs. 3000 per annum. On August 31, 1971, he was called to kArvEt nagar by srI kAnchI kAmakOti peeThAdhipathi and was honoured with two shawls and Rs. 1500 for his service as pareekshAdhikAri to the vidhyArthees. On September 16, 1971, shAstrigal attained sivapadam on shanivArA krishNa trayOdasi thithi during pradOsha kAlA.
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srI krishNamUrthi sAstrigal, during his lifetime, was decorated with the titles 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya', 'panDitarAja', 'shAstraratnAkara', 'vyAkaraNa panchAnana', 'kavikOkila', 'vyAkaraNaBhUshaNam', 'satkathA kaNTheerava'. Several of his students became great scholars in vyAkaraNA.
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A few significant texts authored by sAstrigaL are: hamsa pushpAnjali stavam, prakrthi vilAsa kAvyam, stava ratnatrayam, satIcharitam, tripurApurANam, gururAjastavam, vaidEhI vivAham. krishNamUrthi shAstrigaL was the last scholar to receive the birudu 'mahAmahOpAdhyAya'.
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