Profiles

An apt epithet for Prof. Srikanta Sastri would be satyānveṣī – ‘the seeker of truth,’ for all through his life, he worked against all odds to get to the truth, to declare it without hesitation, and uphold it despite trials and tribulations.

Srikanta Sastri – the Person

Soṇḍekoppa Srikanta Sastri was born on November 5^th, 1904 at Nanjangud and was named no doubt after the presiding deity – Śrīkaṇṭheśvara. Both his parents hailed from illustrious families of Sanskrit and Telugu scholars, poets, and pundits.

Expertise in Gamaka

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 oscillate on grounds of logic either. He always strove to establish the superiority of the emotional world. He emphasized emotional content over literal meaning.

Although most of the aspects that Sarma noticed, we would appear to notice too, we would realize its importance only after Sarma pointed them to us.

Personality

The Kannada literary world was familiar with two works of the poet Janna[1], namely - Anantanātha-purāṇa and Yaśodhara-carita. Shastry published yet another work of Janna called Anubhavamukura, which runs to about 109 verses. The work is based on smara-tantra, i.e., kāma-śāstra. The publication of this work was an important contribution to the world of Kannada literature. It opened new doors for the study of the poet and his works.

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, holistic view of the entire subject rather than being mere introductory words of formality that appear at the beginning of the book. His forewords to books have been published as a separate volume.