Lectures on Patanjali's Mahabhasya (Set of 14 Volumes)

Details : 

Publisher : THE KUPPUSWAMI SASTRI RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Author : P. S. Dubtshmsnys Sastri
Pages : 5188
Cover : PAPERBACK
Dimension : 24 X 19 cm
Weight : 9.50 kg
Edition : 2017

Dr. P.S. SUBRAHMANYA SASTRI
A GIANT AMONG SCHOLARS

Dr.P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, a rare combination of occidental scientific thinking and oriental orthodox culture was born on 29th July 1890 in a remote village in Tiruchi District. He acquired unequalled mastery of both Sanskrit and Tamil language and literature. He contributed richly to both the languages as could be gathered from his various writings. The 125th Birth Anniversary of this pioneering and prolific writer was celebrated on 29th July 2015.
Sastriar was born in a family of hereditary Sanskrit scholars like Chokkanatha Makhi (17 Cent. A.D.) and Bala Patanjali. As he was not born into a rich family his scholastic life was full of troubles. He passed S.S.L.C. through the Tiruchy National High School, F .A. at St. Joseph' s College and B.A. Mathematics at SPG (later Bishop Heber's) College - all in Tiruchy. He started his professional career as a Mathematics Assistant in the erstwhile Central High School (now Srinivasa Rao Higher Secondary School), Thiruvaiyaru and National High School, Tiruchy.
His sustained enthusiasm for studies made him walk 20 kms daily from Thiruvaiyaru and back to study Sanskrit under Brahmasri Nilakantha Sastri, specialist in grammar and philosophy, residing at Kshetrapalapuram. He also learnt Nyaya and Alankara Sastra from Mm.Prof. S.Kuppuswami Sastri of the Madras Presidency College and Mimamsa from Mm.Chinnaswami Sastri of Benares Hindu University. Taught by such eminent scholars, Sastri passed Sanskrit M.A. in 1914 as a private student. He also passed L.T. through the Teachers' Training College at Saidapet, Madras.
He was appointed Professor of Oriental Studies at SPG college, Tiruchy by Fr.Gardiner in 1917 and served his alma mater till 1926. He then became the Asst. Editor, Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras in which capacity he served till 1932. He was also an editor of the Lexicon for a brief period of one month. He served as Principal, Rajah's College, Thiruvaiyaru between 1932 and 1942 and as the Head of the Department of Sanskrit of the Annamalai University between 1942 - 47.
While teaching Sanskrit, Prof. Sastri had to teach Tamil also. This paved way for his in depth study in both Sanskrit and Tamil specifically their grammars. Prof. Kuppuswami Sastri also taught him the Comparative Philology of Indo Aryan languages. All this along with his experience at the Tamil lexicon office which had galaxy of eminent Oriental scholars like Sri M.Raghava Iyengar, Sri V.M.Gopalakrishnamacharyar and Sri E.S.Varadaraja Iyer gave him inspiration to take up a systematic study of Tamil literature and grammar. With his harmonious combination of Sanskrit and Tamil study and strong footing in Comparative Philology, Prof.P.S.S. Sastri submitted to the University of Madras in 1930, the Ph.D. thesis entitled "History of Grammatical Theories in Tamil and their relation to grammatical literature in Sanskrit" independently without any official supervisor. His dissertation was the first to obtain Ph.D. degree in Tamil awarded by the University of Madras, and was highly praised by all the three European examiners Profs. Jules Bloch (France), R.L.Turner and Dr.L.D.Barnett (both from England). The study carried out by Prof. Sastri was indeed a landmark in India and outside, on matters relating to the history of Tamil Grammatical tradition. This work which established his place securely as the foremost interpreter of the ancient Tamil Grammatical tradition, saw the light of the day, through the issues of the prestigious Journal of Oriental Research (1932-35) and later in the form of the book by the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute (1934, 1997).