T. Ganapati Sastri

Mahamahopadhyaya T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī (1860–1926) was a Sanskrit scholar who was editor of the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, and discovered the plays of Bhasa.[1] He was also the principal of the Sanskrit college for some time, around 1903.[2] His father name is Ramasubba Iyer. He was born at Taruvai in Tirunelveli District in 1860 A.D[3]

T. Ganapati Sastri

While touring Kerala searching for Sanskrit manuscripts, he came across a palm-leaf codex in Malayalam in a village near Trivandrum. Although they carried no name, he deduced based on internal evidence that they were by the same author, and concluded that they were the lost plays of Bhasa.[1] This produced a sensation in the scholarly world,[2] and Ganapati Sastri's work was widely applauded.[4] This has been considered "the most important event in the twentieth century Sanskrit literary scholarship".[5]

He was involved in bringing to light several other Sanskrit works as well. He discovered and edited the Trivandrum edition of the Arthashastra in 1924–25, with a Sanskrit commentary by himself.[6] He pointed out that the name was more likely Kauṭalya,[7] which has since been supported by other scholars.[8] Sastri, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by University of Tübingen, Germany for his edition of Bhasa plays.[9]

He also wrote Bharatanuvarnana, a history of India.[10]

Sastri's contribution to architectural text is notable. His presentation of MayaMata is one of the rare texts to be found on the ancient Vedic text. His work has been further translated, interpreted and built upon by many authors, including Bruno Dagens.[11]

  1. ^ a b Venkatachalam 1986.
  2. ^ a b Indian culture: journal of the Indian Research Institute, 1984
  3. ^ The contribution of Kerala to Sanskrit Literature; K.Kunjunni Raja; University of Madras 1980; Page 257
  4. ^ Gaṇapatiśāstrī (1985), preface.
  5. ^ Sisir Kumar Das (1995), History of Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi, p. 48, ISBN 978-81-7201-798-9
  6. ^ Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1985), The positive background of Hindu sociology: introduction to Hindu positivism (reprint ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-0-89581-819-5
  7. ^ Gowen, Herbert H. (1929). ""The Indian Machiavelli" or Political Theory in India Two Thousand Years Ago". Political Science Quarterly. 44 (2): 173–192. doi:10.2307/2142992. JSTOR 2142992.
  8. ^ Trautmann 1971:67 'T. Burrow ("Cāṇakya and Kauṭalya", Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 48–49 1968, p. 17 ff.)
  9. ^ "Oriental Research Institute and Manuscript Library". www.keralauniversity.ac.in. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  10. ^ Sahitya Akademi (1968), Contemporary Indian literature: a symposium (2 ed.), Sahitya Akademi
  11. ^ /https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.23940