Sanskrit drama author Bhattasri Narayana Sastri (1860-1911/1918) IS NOT my ancestor Thuravoor Narayana Sastrigal (TNS)

Last updated on 19 Apr. 2023

Copied with link update from ravisiyer.blogspot.com on 14 Apr. 2023, first published there on May 27, 2020

Previously as explained in the section, "Is Bhatta Sri Narayana Sastri same as Thuravoor Narayana Sastrigal?" in my blog post: https://tnarayanasasthri.blogspot.com/2023/04/other-names-of-my-ancestor-thuravoor.html , due to close match in name and in period, I had thought that the Sanskrit drama author Bhattasri (or Bhatta Sri) Narayana Sastri (1860-1911/1918) was perhaps another name/reference to my great-grandfather Thuravoor Narayana Sastrigal.

I had noted that Bhattasri (or Bhatta Sri) Narayana Sastri was mentioned in the following books:

a) 1959 Sahitya Akademi Contemporary Indian Literature Symposium 2nd Ed., in Sanskrit literature chapter by V. Raghavan

b) Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World, Volume 1 By Gaṅgā Rām Garg, first published 1992

Both the references mentioned that he had composed 90 odd Sanskrit dramas and reference b) dated him as (1860-1911). Reference a) simply referred to him and a few others as recent South (India) writers.

I later found that no such drama attributed to Thuravoor Narayana Sastri seems to be listed in books having author indexed list of (notable) Kerala Sanskrit literature. For example, the book: Sanskrit Literature of Kerala by Dr. E. Easwaran Nampoothiri, Lecturer, Department of Sanskrit, University of Kerala, First published 1972, Second Reprint 1977, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.142461 (has PDF view/download link), seems to have just one mention of my great-grandfather, which is as follows:

In Page 86 in paper book (page 98 in PDF)
under RAJARAJAVARMA KOIL TAMPURAN - A.R. (1863-1918 A.D.)

1. Devimangalam Stotra(s) composed in 1878 A.D. included in the 'Sahityakutuhulam'. Published with an introduction by Turavur Narayana Sastri from Palaghat, 1890.
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But there does not seem to be any entry in this book, for any Sanskrit publication of Turavur (or Thuravoor) Narayana Sastri himself!

A family friend who reads Malayalam script, volunteered to go through Kerala Sahitya Charitram by Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulloor_S._Parameswara_Iyer, which seems to have been first published in 1960s (after death of Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer who died in 1949), to see if Bhattasri Narayana Sastri is mentioned there with the drama names. Note that the book has a history of Malayalam literature but also covers Kerala Sanskrit literature to some extent, and is in Malayalam script (which I cannot read). He has finished one volume and had gone through some part of the second (and final) volume, without finding Bhattasri Narayana Sastri name for Sanskrit drama. My guess is that he may not find it in the rest of the second (and final) volume.

Now Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, as reported by wikipedia page of Pandalam Kerala Varma, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalam_Kerala_Varma, had studied grammar and rhetoric (along with Pandalam Kerala Varma) under guidance of TNS. So if TNS was Bhattasri Narayana Sastri and had written 90 odd Sanskrit plays, one presumes that surely Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer would have mentioned that in his above two volume book.

Absence of TNS name in the book which seems to be almost certain now, clearly indicates that TNS was not Bhattasri Narayana Sastri, author of 90 odd Sanskrit plays, and that Bhattasri Narayana Sastri was NOT from Kerala.

Some hours ago, as I did some intense Google search and Google Books search to resolve this issue, I came across references to a Bhattasri Narayana Sastri Sanskrit scholar and drama author of the 1860 to 1911/1918 period who was based in what is now Tamil Nadu (in Kumbhakonam/Tanjore).

Given below are two of these references:

1) In the book: Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti, Volume 2, edited by Amaresh Datta, Sahitya Akademi, First edition: 1988, https://books.google.co.in/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC, on page 1107, a reference is made to plays Maithiliya and Kalividhunana by Narayana Sastri (1860-1918), described as an author of 92 Sanskrit plays. Please see pic of relevant paragraph of book below as shown in Google Books preview (cropped screenshot to show only small amount of text).

2) In the book: Sanskrit Theatre by Biswajit Sinha, Raj Publications, 2005 - Sanskrit drama - 898 pages, searching within the book for "Bhattasri Narayana" gave very useful results, https://books.google.co.in/books?id=B5MHAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Narayana+Sastri%22+Trivandrum&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22Bhattasri+Narayana%22 . It showed 3 page snippets which together conveyed that Bhattasri Narayana Sastri belonged to Tanjore district (which is in Tamil Nadu NOT Kerala), had carved a niche for himself in Sanskrit drama, had an output of 92 dramas, and bore the titles 'Bhattasri' and 'Balasarasvathi'. It mentioned that he lived from 1860-1911, and mentioned Mithiliyam and Kalividhunanam as two plays written by him.

The relevant cropped pic is given below.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

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That I think just settles the issue. Bhattasri Narayana Sastri of 90 odd Sanskrit dramas fame, mentioned in Sahitya Akademi published books (prestigious matter), was based in Tamil Nadu, and is a DIFFERENT person from my great-grandfather Thuravoor Narayana Sastri (TNS) who was based in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala as a Sanskrit teacher and scholar (grammarian).

The above covers what TNS was NOT.

[26 Feb. 2023 Update: The section below is now made almost fully, if not fully, obsolete by my post:  Summary info. about Thuravoor Narayana Shastri, Sanskrit scholar and eminent grammarian of late 1800s and early 1900s from Kerala,  https://tnarayanasasthri.blogspot.com/2023/04/summary-info-about-thuravoor-narayana.html , 26. Feb. 2023. end-Update]

What we now know for sure that TNS (Thuravoor Narayana Sastrigal) was, is as follows:

a) A celebrated scholar in Sanskrit grammar (grammarian) who became principal of H.H. Maharaja's Govt.Sanskrit College, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) in 1909, continuing till 1911. Reference: History of Maharaja's Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram,  http://61.0.248.125/dcekerala/sktpalayam/history-of-the-college/.

b) TNS was referred to by the famous Sanskrit scholar, Prof. A.R. Rajaraja Varma (ARRV), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._R._Raja_Raja_Varma, in the preface of his book Laghu Paniniyam, as his "fellow-student, former colleague and friend, Brahmasri R Narayana Sastriar, the present head of the local Sanskrit College". ARRV also (graciously) thanked ARRV's mentor, the very famous Kerala Varma, and TNS for advice and encouragement in writing the book. Ref: Laghu Paniniyam by ARRV, https://archive.org/details/LaghuPaniniyamARRajarajaVarma.

c) ARRV's Sahitya Kutuhalam book "is a collection of some of the early poems of A.R. published with suitable notes by the scholar Thuravoor Narayana Sastrikal" (TNS). Ref: Page 49 of the book: A. R. Rajaraja Verma by K.M. George, Publication date 1979, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219616/page/n1.

d) The well known Kerala literary figures, Pandalam Kerala Varma,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalam_Kerala_Varma, and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulloor_S._Parameswara_Iyer "learnt grammar and rhetorical figures under the guidance of Thuravoor Narayana Shastri" (TNS).
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalam_Kerala_Varma, and within that wikipedia page:
[1] A. Mohanakshan Nair (2013). Mahakavyas of Pandalam Kerala Varma: A Study. [The hyperlink provided is: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/10603/7532 which shows that it is a Ph.D. thesis by now Dr. A. Mohanakshan Nair submitted in 1993 to Mahatma Gandhi University, Department of Malayalam Literature. The thesis is available for download (in parts) and seems to be mainly in Malayalam.]

e) TNS has been named as the 1915 Sanskrit transcriber from Malayalam palm leaf manuscripts of originally 9th/10th century possibly, commentaries (dhvanis) - Tapatīsaṃvaraṇa-dhvani and Subhadrādhanañjaya-dhvani - on two dramas - Tapatīsaṃvaraṇa and Subhadrādhanañjaya - of same time period, all of which were created in ancient Kerala. Ref: K.G. Paulose's book, Vyaṅgyavyākhyā: The Aesthetics of Dhvani in Theatre published in 2013, https://books.google.co.in/books?id=LzCNzSTekCEC , https://www.amazon.in/Vyangyavyakhya-Aesthetics-K-G-Paulose/dp/8124606994.

What TNS may have been but about which we are not sure as of now:

i) A poet who composed perhaps some small poems. Family handed-down accounts state that he composed and chanted/sang verses in praise of the then king of Travancore (in modern-day Kerala), and was rewarded for it with gold ornaments.

ii) [26 Feb. 2023 Update: TNS does not seem to have been the person mentioned in this point. For more, see my post: Other names of my ancestor Thuravoor Narayana Sastrigal like R. Narayana Sastri and Turavur Narayana Sastri, and books mentioning them,  https://tnarayanasasthri.blogspot.com/2023/04/other-names-of-my-ancestor-thuravoor.html , last updated on 25 Feb. 2023 end-Update.] Young lad Krishnamoorthy (born in Tamil Nadu in 1871) who later became Swami Swayamprakasa Brahmendra Saraswathi, http://anantahimalayas.blogspot.com/2014/12/shri-swayam-prakasha-avadootha-swamigal.html, seems to have been taught Sanskrit in Thiruvananthapuram by TNS. TNS was reported to be an "expert in Sanskrit,Veda sastra & advaitha philosophy" and an editor of "brahmavidya" magazine where he wrote about sanadhana (sanathana) dharma. Ref: http://www.learnkolam.net/2015/04/ava-dootha-swamigal-sri-dattatreya.html.

iii) TNS is reported to have contributed article(s) to Sanskrit journal/magazine Vijnanacintamani, Pattambi.

iv) TNS may be the author of "Mārkaṇḍēya caritam" by "E Nārāyaṇa Śāstri", https://www.worldcat.org/title/markandeya-caritam/oclc/749999887,  published by "Calicut : L.S. Ramaier, 1910." and held in the British Library, St. Pancras, London. [The E initial in the author name could be a mistake for R.] The contents are described as "Sanskrit songs and slokas in Malayalam script with translation into Malayalam", which I think would fit in very well with the known profile of traditional (Vedic) Sanskrit scholar that TNS was, and I am quite sure TNS would have been fluent in Malayalam too.
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When I shared an earlier version of above contents of blog post with a former Professor of Mechanical Engineering of IIT Madras, he wrote me (and was OK with public sharing of it):
Extensive study and search. Highly zealous inquiry. You have to tell today's research scholars how to do literature search. If you think fit you can write a book on this. Great effort.
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I responded (slightly edited):
Sir, your words are very encouraging and valuable to me. Thank you so very much. I think that as you are a former Professor of Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras, you have an appreciation of the effort involved in this Internet-based literature search that I had to do. I think the zealousness and motivation needed to do such literature search can only be properly appreciated by those who have done similar literature search either as part of their academic research work, or as part of non-academic research work like my research work in the field of spirituality & religion in general, and in this case on my traditional Sanskrit scholar (sastrigal) ancestor.

I was thinking about your book suggestion about TNS including the way in which I searched for information about him. It is a very interesting one. After some thought, I feel that before seriously considering a book on TNS, a next phase or phases of research are needed, in his native place of Thuravoor, and in physical book libraries in Kerala, and perhaps elsewhere too if a book related to him is available there. [BTW recently I had established contact with a descendant of TNS living in Thuravoor and broached possibility of exploring for more information on TNS with his family elders.] Now in this COVID-19 pandemic, these other phases cannot be taken up properly, even if somebody is willing to do the groundwork. After the COVID-19 pandemic comes under control, I will explore the possibility of somebody/others helping me by doing the groundwork part of that work. If that works out successfully and we get some reasonable additional information about TNS, including some pic(s) of his and some poems or other works of his, perhaps, that would be the right stage to consider writing a book on him and how we got the information on him, I think. Thanks sir for your valuable suggestion, which led me to consider this possibility in the future.

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