Nadoja Dr. S R Ramaswamy is a renowned journalist, writer, art critic, environmentalist, and social activist. He has authored over fifty books and thousands of articles. He was a close associate of stalwarts like D. V. Gundappa, Rallapalli Anantakrishna Sharma, V Sitaramaiah, and others. He is currently the honorary Editor-in-Chief of Utthana and served as the Honorary Secretary of the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs for many years.
The letters also contain valuable discussions on grammar, stylistics and poetics. DVG the natural poet has occasionally composed entire letters in verse (K V Pu...
Let us look at a few instances that illustrate these traits. The self-effacing DVG protested against having a special issue of a literary magazine dedicated to...
[The following forms the Editors’ Introduction to DVG through Letters, a volume published by the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, Bengaluru, to mark th...
ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಮುಂಜಾವಿಗೂ ಹಿಂದಿನಿಂದಲೇ ಸಮಸ್ತ ಹಿಂದು ಜನಾಂಗದ ಅಂತರಂಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಮರ್ಯಾದಾಪುರುಷೋತ್ತಮನೆಂದೂ ಭಗವಂತನ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠ ಅವತಾರವೆಂದೂ ಉದಾತ್ತ ಜೀವನಮೌಲ್ಯಗಳೆಲ್ಲದರ ಪ್ರತೀಕವೆಂದೂ ಅಧಿಷ್ಠಿತನಾಗಿರ...
Speech delivered by S R Ramaswamy during the launch of four books published by Prekshaa Pratishtana: Kṣāttra: The Tradition of Valour in India, Nayana-Savana, S...
The novel ‘Mandra’ by S. L. Bhyrappa which appeared in 2002 is unique in several respects. It is woven around music and musicians. It is not only a tour de forc...
Connoisseurship Gorur’s experiences in the Pension Office and his description of the splendorous Narasiṃhasvāmī jātrè[1] are rich with rasa. Malligèhaḷḷi’s ba...
Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar attained fame in Kannada literature by his creative nonfiction writings and hundreds of stories that have humour as their mainstay. Amon...
V Si. and Shastry always got their writings reviewed by the other. They would exchange ideas and opinions, mainly for their own clarity. Those were the years of...
Note: This is the transcript of the Keynote Address delivered at the beginning of the lecture series titled Exemplars of Indian Wisdom from Karnataka, which was...
Expertise in Gamaka Subrahmanya Shastry’s skill at gamaka was one of the many things that brought him a lot of fame. He had a keen ear for music from a very yo...
Tenderness of Mind Sarma would never accept any opinion only on the ground that it was being followed from ancient times. This didn’t mean that he would oscill...
Personality Subrahmanya Shastry had a tall, sturdy, and handsome figure. He was radiant and could attract the onlooker’s attention even when he was in the mid...
The Kannada literary world was familiar with two works of the poet Janna[1], namely - Anantanātha-purāṇa and Yaśodhara-carita. Shastry published yet another wor...
High-water Mark of Critical Examination The forewords that Sarma wrote to some of the books in Telugu and Kannada have turned out to offer an excellent, holist...
Powerhouse of Genius Sarma received awards for many of his Sanskrit and Telugu works. Śrī Mahīśūra-rājyābhyudayādarśaḥ, his classical poetry composition about...
Subrahmanya Shastry seemed to have had quite a long relationship with the Skānda-mahā-purāṇa. This was probably the earliest of the works he had taken up. He ha...
Music Practice In 1909, during the birth anniversary ceremony of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, there was a music recital by Bidaram Krishnappa in the Royal Court of...
On 29th August 1959, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan visited Mysore to inaugurate the All India Conference on Philosophy. Subrahmanya Shastry wrote the following v...
Perception A small episode will help us gauge the greatness of Sarma’s scholarly lineage that resulted in the culturing of his mind. In some context, Śrī Kṛṣṇa...
Childhood and Education Subrahmanya Shastry lost his father when he was just about seven or eight years old (c. 1913). He received his early lessons in the Sa...
Richness of Emotion V Si. said these words appreciating Sarma’s style of singing – “There may be many who can exhibit their learning in a seminar on musicology...
Reminiscences of Olden Days Sarma’s narration of the life and actions of the yesteryear scholars was fascinating. This was one such incident he shared from his...
Introduction It must probably have been the mid-1950s. There was a public event at the National High School, Bangalore. A.N. Krishna Rao was presiding over the...
Generosity of Personality Masti was not particularly affluent. His earnings were not much compared to what government officials earn today. He felt that whatev...
Literary Feats At the behest of H. H. Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, there was an āśu-kavitā competition held in 1925 at Mysore in which the participating poets had t...
Masti’s life was extremely organized; his work was meticulous, immaculate, and accurate; he kept a track of all his activities and an account of all his expense...
“There is a dire need for the rejuvenation of connoisseurship. The number of connoisseurs in the society must increase. The tastes and opinions of people need t...
Poetry in Hosagannaḍa Masti, who was inspired by the Hoysaḷa sculptures, wrote his early poems in Hosagannaḍa. Upon seeing this, T S Venkannayya remarked, “It...
‘Respected Guest’ The early life of Masti was filled with poverty and travails. His fight with penury, his days of vārānna[1], and other biographical details a...
Researcher The service rendered by Srikanta Satri as a researcher and as a professor at the University of Mysore is widely known. Sastri was not one who took r...
Masti Venkatesha Iyengar can be called the ‘Dewan’ of modern Kannada literature. Masti, who gained appreciation having served various governmental departments w...
In a play, at minimum there would be a hundred to hundred and fifty songs and verses. Their tunes would be composed on the lines of ‘Kamalākṣi nāṃ dhanyanādè,’...
Śrī-kṛṣṇa-vijayam; Compositions for Singing In the branch of the Vèllāḻa family that had settled in Srirangapatna, one Candraśekhara-śāstrī was famous. Either...
Engagement with Different Schools of Philosophy Rao’s writings on different schools of Indian philosophy are immensely valuable and provide a lot of clarity to...
Family Lineage Srikanta Sastri’s family history deserves to be mentioned here. Several among Sastri’s ancestors were eminent scholars; they had attained excel...
Concern for the Society Even a bird’s eye view of Ramachandra Rao’s literary contribution reveals that his mind always traversed the path of the highest peaks...
Adherence to the Tattva – Fundamental Philosophy The alepayoga[1] that the Bhagavad-gītā talks about was not just a topic that Rao preached. He had put it in t...
Recent research has debunked the theory—built on philological grounds—that the Aryans came to India from Central Asia or elsewhere and settled here. The person...
Studies and Teaching Ramachandra Rao’s father taught him Sanskrit grammar and also works of poetry such as the Raghuvaṃśa of Kālidāsa. He learnt the recitatio...
Kāleju Baravaṇigè (‘College Writings’) Rajarathnam gave ample opportunities to his students to showcase their talents through publications like Namma Bendre, N...
Recognition of Self Understanding and responding to the tender minds of children needs a kind of dissolution of Self. It needs an assessment of our self from a...
Bhāmaha writes the following in his Kāvyālaṅkāra “upeyuṣāmapi divaṃ sannibandhavidhāyinām| āsta eva nirātaṅkaṃ kāntaṃ kāvyamayaṃ vapuḥ ||” “Many people...
Sincerity to Values There are several institutions, which received Sharma’s ‘dohada’ (instigation for healthy growth) – Rashtrotthana Parishat, Kannada Sahitya...
Ratnana Padagaḻu(‘The Sayings of Ratna’) The literary work that firmly placed Rajarathnam in the hearts of the people of Karnataka is Ratnana Padagaḻu, which w...
A Heart for the Welfare of the Society There is absolutely no doubt that Sharma was always loyal to the tradition. There are some typical ‘norms’ connected wit...
ಮೆಯ್ ದೃಢ, ಮನಸ್ಸು ದೃಢ, ದುಡಿವೆನೆಂಬ ನಿಶ್ಚಯ ಇವಕೆ ಸಮನಾಗಿ ದೃಢವಾಗಿರುತ ನಮ್ಮ ರಾಜಣ್ಣ ಬರೆದಿರುವ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಅವೆಷ್ಟೊ! ಅವುಗಳ ಜಾತಿ ಇನ್ನೆಷ್ಟೊ! [Firm body, firm mind...
DVG Ārādhaka (A Worshipper of DVG) The respect that Sharma had developed for DVG and the love and affection the latter displayed towards him are über-worldly....
Elucidation of the Beauty of the Śāstras Sharma has helped us not only by unknotting difficult minutiae of vyākaraṇa, sāhitya, and vedānta śāstras but also by...
Feeling of Oneness Sharma took interest in getting to know the progress in the life and career of the students who had graduated from the college with a vidvat...
Sense of Humour Most of the time, Ranganatha Sharma’s mind was engaged in unknotting tough problems posed by the śāstras. But a sense of humour is something th...
Dispassion and Generosity Sharma never sought publicity. He became totally dispassionate about the job he had taken up once it was complete. He authored a coup...
A Judgement One more instance to exemplify Shastri’s verbal prowess. In a village near Bangalore, K— had taken some money as a loan from R— saying that he wou...
Meeting with Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar We have already seen how Shastri was instrumental in the establishment of a responsible government and during the agitati...
Mahāmahopādhyāya Vidvān N. Ranganatha Sharma (1916-2014), who lived amongst us until recently was known for his thoroughness in traditional knowledge and clarit...
It’s the irony of fate that on the exact day India achieved political independence—15th August 1947—Sitarama Shastri lost sight in his good eye and therefore be...
A Worshipper of Sweetness V Si. had great respect for life. He wanted to find grace in life and in literature. He picked out graceful and sweet elements from w...
Problems escalated when the leaders of the workers were fired on flimsy reasons. The cases went to the high court, the leaders requested Shastri to be a witness...
Oratory Skills One can hardly forget V Si.’s extraordinary oratory skills. It was a celebration just to listen to him speak – he was fluent in giving lectures...
Legislative Assembly Sitarama Shastri was a nominated member of the legislative assembly for a few years. He utilised that platform effectively to facilitate p...
The Vampire of Doubts V Si. had doubts at every step. “If I put it this way, this question crops up. If I say it that way, another question arises!” – This kin...
The debate took place in Sanskrit. Shastri’s argument was as follows – In the Vedic tradition, marriage is an instrument for dharma not enjoyment; so to facili...
V Si.’s World of Riches H V R Iyengar, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India had immense respect for V Si. ‘Fate has not dealt too kindly with V Sitaramaia...
A Touchstone Though we have a great deal of material connected with dharma, it is not easy to decide what constitutes dharma and what would be adharma when fac...
Sustainability Competence[1] It is well-known that the word ‘dharma,’ which has gained currency over the millennia has various shades of meaning that are diffe...
The Case The government filed a case against Sitarama Shastri and Ashvatthanarayana Rao, accusing the article published in Navajīvana to be treasonous. Shastr...
Journalist Right from his childhood days, Sitarama Shastri was interested in writing. Observing this, Krishna Shastri sent him to M Venkatakrishnayya in Mysore...
V Si.'s Skill at Teaching and Affection for Students Irrespective of the weather conditions and his own state of health, V Si. never missed a class. He always...
Equal to the Gāyatrī-mantra Vyāsa gives the Bhārata-Sāvitrī clarion call in the concluding portion of the Mahābhārata. Just as the essence of all the Vedas ass...
At the Sarada Vilas School, Mysore Students today might find it difficult to believe the state of Sarada Vilas School when V Si. joined as a teacher, in his fi...
The greatest and most expansive epic in the world, the Mahābhārata, is a unique Itihāsa treatise that captures all the prominent events of the Dvāpara-yuga[1]....
Childhood and Education During his childhood he lost eyesight in one of his eyes while playing gilli-daṇḍa[1]. By 1947 he lost eyesight in the other eye too. T...
Political acumen, rights and duties of the citizens, answerability of the government, the role of newspapers in protecting the welfare of the people – these thi...
Heavenly Friendship Masti, Bendre, Gokak, Panje Mangesha Rao, Shivarama Karanth, Rallapalli Anantakrishna Sharma, Adya Rangacharya, K V Iyer, Ka Vem Raghavacha...
A Blossomed Heart I had the privilege of knowing V Si from intimate quarters for about twenty-five years and I have been the recipient of the extraordinary lov...
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‘Hṛdayavanta’—a person of good heart, one with refined taste—is perhaps the best way one can capture the personality of V Sitaramaiah (V Si) in a single word. I...
[The legendary polymath D V Gundappa was not just a great littérateur, art critic, and connoisseur but an enthusiastic social worker and uplifter of the masses....
In the earlier era, Vedic literature was one large body of wisdom with different ṛṣis having memorized different ṛks and mantras; different mantras had become s...
The Life of Vyāsa It is in the literature bestowed upon us by Maharṣi Veda-vyāsa that we find the roots of the elements that we today identify as being unique...
DVG’s Sri Ramaparikshanam has attempted to examine and analyse the various strands of difficult questions related to Dharma by creating imaginary conversations...
Honours and Felicitations For years on end, DVG kept refusing the requests from the public and government for honouring and felicitating him. Without waiting f...
Tenderness Towards Students Lakṣmīnarasiṃha Śāstri was immensely fond of his students. Addressing those who were with him for a long time, he used to say: “Hav...
Deep Bonding with Society The source of inspiration for all of DVG’s life-work was the deep bonding he had forged with society. This bond was not something tha...
Śrī Navīnam Veṅkaṭeśa Śāstri had supplied several sets of logical refinement to Brahma-sūtras, which were not seen in extant commentaries thereon. Because...
The foundational pillar of DVG’s fearless attitude was his characteristic transparency and abstinence from seeking anything. At no point in his life did he use...
“On one occasion Vidvān Anantakṛṣṇa Śāstri (a towering scholar of the league of Navīnam Veṅkaṭeśa Śāstri) began to pose a series of questions to him. Lakṣmīn...
There was no dearth of humorous instances during the Sunday study circle. Besides, it was not in DVG’s nature to waste a single opportunity that afforded a humo...
Real-life Examples He used to give real-life examples to drive home the import of a scriptural tenet. This made his lessons entertaining—a feature common to le...
The Mysore People’s Convention that convened in Bangalore in December 1919 under the aegis of the Mysore Representative Assembly was largely the result of DVG’s...
ಒರೆಗಲ್ಲು ಇಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ ನಮಗೆ ಲಭ್ಯವಿದ್ದರೂ, ಒಂದು ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಸನ್ನಿವೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದು ಧರ್ಮ ಯಾವುದು ಅಧರ್ಮ ಎಂಬ ನಿರ್ಣಯ ಸರಳವಲ್ಲ. ದ್ರೌಪದೀ ಶೀಲಹರಣದ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ದ್ರೌಪದಿಯು ಆಚಾರ...
Disseminating Dharma Once this rigorous study of the scriptures was complete, Śrī Śāstri engaged himself primarily with delivering discourses on the Purāṇas. H...
Organizer of Society One of the vows of DVG’s life was to infuse dynamism in society. He made one or the other attempt in this direction for about fifty or six...
ಋತ, ಸತ್ಯ, ಧರ್ಮ ಋತ, ಸತ್ಯ, ಧರ್ಮ – ಇವು ಪರಸ್ಪರ ಸಂಬದ್ಧ ಶಬ್ದಗಳು. ಋತ ಮತ್ತು ಸತ್ಯ, ಸತ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಧರ್ಮ – ಈ ಶಬ್ದಯುಗಳಗಳು ವೇದಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅನೇಕ ಕಡೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಕೆಗೊಂಡಿವೆ. ನಿದರ್ಶನಕ್...
Śri Ḍoṅgre Vīreśvara Śāstri who hailed from Maharashtra was Lakṣmīnarasiṃha Śāstri’s classmate during one of the batches. In later years, he served in various i...
When the world-renowned scholar, India-aficionado, and multifaceted expert on various art forms, Ananda Coomaraswamy was asked to deliver a message regarding In...
ಪುರುಷಾರ್ಥಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯ ಸಂದೇಶದ ಅಂಶಗಳು ಗ್ರಂಥದುದ್ದಕ್ಕೂ ಅಲ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿರುವಂತಹವೇ ಆಗಿವೆ. ಮುಖ್ಯವಾದ ಸಂದೇಶ – ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಥಮ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅರ್ಹವಾದ ತತ್ತ್ವವೆಂದರೆ ಧರ್ಮವು ಮಾತ್ರವ...
Public Organisations The public meeting that took place towards the end of 1919 was organized by D.V.G. In the South Indian Princely States Conference held in...
In 1931, Lakṣmīnarasiṃha Śāstri joined the Pāṭhaśālā in this Maṭha for higher studies. He was then eighteen years of age. The background of this Pāṭhaśālā requi...
The Rule of the Maharajas The situation in the states ruled by the Maharajas were not really praiseworthy. Bhopal was a Hindu-majority state as long as it was...
ಪರಂಪರೆಯ ಚಿರಂಜೀವಿಗಳ ಪಂಕ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಥಾನ ಪಡೆದುಕೊಂಡಿರುವ ಭಗವಾನ್ ವೇದವ್ಯಾಸರು ದ್ವಾಪರಯುಗದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಘಟನಾವಳಿಗಳನ್ನು ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಮಹತ್ತ್ವದ್ದೂ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ವಿಸ್ತಾರವಾದದ್ದೂ ಆದ ಅ...
The following incident happened in the 1930s, when Śrī Candraśekhara-bhāratī Mahāsvāmi adorned the Śāradā-pīṭha at Sringeri. The Mahāsvāmi’s liking for and supp...
DVG practiced journalism for an unremitting seven decades; from the beginning, he fiercely upheld the nationalistic spirit in both speech and writing. From 1913...
The long years of service that DVG rendered variously as the member of the Municipal Council (1915-16), Legislative Council (1927-40), Mysore University Senate...
Note: This is the first part of the English translation of a series profiling D.V. Gundappa's life and legacy authored in the original Kannada by Dr. S.R. Ramas...
The Exuberant Play of Upamās (Part 2) In the thirteenth chapter, while explaining the word ‘adambhitva’ (freedom from hypocrisy, sincerity), he says even when...
Bhakti-Vairāgya (Devotion-Detachment) Jñāneśvara’s school of philosophy broadly aligns with Advaita-vedānta; even so, it is not possible to pigeonhole his idea...
Jñāneśvarī – Unsullied by Time[1] Bahiṇā-bāi, the poetess rich in experiential wisdom, has rightly said that the founda...
Widespread Influence Deeply influenced by the Bhagavad-gītā, the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson kept aside much of the Christian doctrine not...
Adherence to Sahaja-karma It is evident that the central teaching of the Gītā is the performance of sva-dharma. The Gītā also speaks about the varṇa system, wh...
A popular dhyāna-śloka (benedictory verse) for the Bhagavad-gītā is as follows: bhīṣma-droṇa-taṭā jayadratha-jalā gāndhāra-nīlotpalā śalya-grāhavatī kṛpeṇa va...
Once when Rabindranath Tagore visited a large library in America, he expressed a desire to see the most prized books which were kept there. The officials there...
New Dimensions of Meaning The qualities of poetry, song, and sastra are all infused in the Gita. In the view of the Three Acaryas [Adi Sankara, Ramanuja and Ma...
The Bhagavad Gita’s Fame Rests on its Value Over centuries, commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita have been composed in various languages. However, even today, the...
Note: This is the English translation of Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy’s Kannada article titled “Giteya ananyate” published in the December 2018 edition of the “Utthana” m...
Most parts of the Vedas are allegorical and metaphorical in style. Knowledge of this symbolism is the only avenue through which the meaning of the hymns can be...
Nature and Art Artistic expression covers an immense number of forms rangi...
In a work that begins in this fashion, Bhagavan Veda Vyasa throws up his hands helplessly in despair in the end, expressing his dejection. The lesson that strik...
Complexity of Characters This selfsame impulse is visible in the characters of Duryodhana and such others in a tangential fashion. Nobody regards Duryodhana an...
The Philosophy of Virtue is Worth Pursuing The Mahabharata continues to occupy a preeminent place because it offers the great ideal of the elevation of one’s c...
Characters are Akin to Shadows The principles and tenets symbolized by the Devas and the Asuras in the Vedic lore have been clearly, vividly unraveled in the c...
yadihAsti tadanyatra yannEhAsti na tat kvacit || (Adi Parva: 56:33) That which exists in the Mahabharata exists everywhere in the world. That whic...
The following is a transcript of the author’s Presidential Address at ‘Samskriti Naimishey,’ a cultural symposium held at Bangalore on 18.08.2017. I am glad tha...