Satya Vrat Shastri

Satya Vrat Shastri
Born 29 September 1930
Occupation scholar, academic, poet, literary critic
Nationality India
Alma mater Punjab University, Banaras Hindu University
Genre Sanskrit
Notable awards 1968: Sahitya Akademi Award
2006: Jnanpith Award
Spouse Prof. Dr. Usha Satyavrat
Website
satyavrat-shastri.net

Satya Vrat (or Satyavrat) Shastri (born 29 September 1930) is a highly decorated Sanskrit scholar, writer, grammarian and poet from India. He has written three Mahakavyas, three Khandakavyas, one Prabandhakavyas and one Patrakavya and five works in critical writing in Sanskrit. His important works are Ramakirtimahakavyam, Brahattaram Bharatam, Sribodhisattvacharitam, Vaidika Vyakarana, Sarmanyadesah Sutram Vibhati, and "Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures" in seven volumes.[1]

He is currently an honorary professor at the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was the Head of the Department of Sanskrit and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Delhi, where he was the Pandit Manmohan Nath Dar Professor of Sanskrit (1970–1995).

During his career he has won many national and international awards, including, the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, given by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1968 for his poetry work, Srigurugovindasimhacharitam,[2] then in 2006, he became the first recipient of the Jnanpith award in Sanskrit language (conferred in 2009 by his disciple and Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn).[3][4]

Education

Prof. Shastri received his early education under his father, Shri Charu Deva Shastri, a renowned scholar. Thereafter, he moved to Varanasi, where he studied under Pandit Shukdev Jha and Dr. Siddheshwar Varma.

He received his B.A. Hons. and MA in Sanskrit from the Punjab University, and his PhD from the Banaras Hindu University.[5]

Career

He joined the University of Delhi soon after, where for the next forty years of his teaching career, he held important positions as the Head of the Department of Sanskrit, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Satya Vrat Shastri was also the Vice-Chancellor of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri, Orissa, and a visiting professor at the Chulalongkorn and Silpakorn Universities in Bangkok, as well as the Northeast Buddhist University, Nongkhai, Thailand, the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, the Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He also taught Sanskrit to Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn [1977–1979].[6][7][8]

Satya Vrat Shastri has written many important poetic works in Sanskrit, the most important being his rendition from Royal Thai into Sanskrit, of the Thai version of the Ramayana, viz., Sri-rama-kirti-maha-kavyam, upon royal request, and with a Foreword by the Princess of Thailand. His current research projects are the Sanskrit inscriptions and Hindu temples in Thailand, Kalidasa Studies, a critical edition of the Yogavasishtha, the Sanskritic vocabulary of South East Asia, and the Rama story in South East Asia.

In 2009, he became the only Sanskrit poet to win the (2006) Jnanpith award, for his contributions to the enrichment of the language, and conferred by his former disciple, Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhon.[4][9][10]

Honors and awards

International

National

Academic Writings

Literary writings

References

  1. ↑ 41st and 42nd Jnanpith Awards, Official Press release
  2. ↑ Sanskrit Awards Sahitya Akademi Award Official listing.
  3. ↑ "Sanskrit poet gets Jnanpith award". The Times of India. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Sanskrit's first Jnanpith winner is a 'poet by instinct'". The Indian Express. 14 January 2009.
  5. ↑ Brown, Richard. Journey with a Savant. ISBN 0-684-82125-7.
  6. ↑ "Recent News". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 20 November 2005. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
  7. ↑ The Nation Newspaper (6 August 1998). Professor to a Princess. The Nation (Thailand).
  8. ↑ "Professor Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri was appointed as Visiting Professor of Indian Studies in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok". Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  9. ↑ "Sanskrit poet conferred Jnanpith award". Press Trust of India. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  10. ↑ "Jnanpith Award presented". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.

External links