Trying to get more information about my great-grandfather, Sanskrit scholar Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal of Kerala
Last updated on 28th May 2020
Copied with link update from ravisiyer.blogspot.com on 14 Apr. 2023, first published there on November 26, 2018
Update: Readers may want to see my later post: My great-grandfather Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal, noted Sanskrit scholar in grammar, and principal of Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) from 1909-1911, https://tnarayanasasthri.blogspot.com/2023/04/my-great-grandfather-thuravoor-narayana.html , 16th Dec. 2018, last updated on 28th May 2020.I am trying to get more information about my mother's father's father - my great-grandfather - Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal, who, I have been given to understand, was a noted Sanskrit scholar in the late 19th and early 20th century in Travancore kingdom which is now part of Kerala state.
Relatives have told me that he was associated with Govt. Sanskrit college, Trivandrum/Thiruvananthapuram, as senior faculty/teacher.
I have dug up some information from the Internet about Govt. Sanskrit college, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and his position there.
1) Contact number of the college: 0471 232 2930
2) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sanskritcollegetrivandrum. This page has some pics of the college.
3) It seems that the college does not have a website that is currently online.
4) Google search gives the page below which seems to be an archived page. Unfortunately as the college does not seem to have an official website, it is pages from such unverified sites whose information we need to rely on, when it comes to Internet based search on the college.
http://61.0.248.125/dcekerala/sktpalayam/succession-list/ has a page title seen on printing it: "Succession List – H.H.The Maharaja`s Government Sanskrit College".
It shows a list of principals where the 3rd entry is:
"Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal ( 1909-1911)"
The bottom of the page indicates that the page was developed by DCE - Directorate of Collegiate Education (Kerala). It also mentions a 2018 copyright. So this seems to be information that continued to be put up in this year 2018.
5) http://61.0.248.125/dcekerala/sktpalayam/ has a page title seen on printing it: "H.H.The Maharaja`s Government Sanskrit College – Palayam,Thiruvananthapuram,Pin:695 034"
Some of the text on the page which seems to be a Home page is as follows (slightly edited to fix mostly punctuation and small grammatical possibly typo errors):
The institution was founded in 1889 by Sri Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma, one of the most renowned rulers of the state of Travancore. The Maharaja went on a pilgrimage to Banaras and he had occasion to visit the Sanskrit college there, imparting instruction in various sastras. Thus in 1889, the Sanskrit College took shape in a temple at Mitrandapuram, housed within the Fort area and was run under royal patronage. The institution enjoyed the protection of the ‘Rajashri’ for a long period of 35 years. Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma who succeeded him took great interest in the promotion and propagation of Sanskrit studies. A new building with adequate facilities was built for the College by the Government during his regime.
।।विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते।।
Attains immortality through knowledge
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्त्वा विद्ययामृतमश्नुते ।।
(ईशावास्योपनिषत् – II)
Principal’s Message
[Then it is followed by a pic of the principal - a lady named Dr. B. Prasannakumary. Note that the lady seems to have been succeeded as principal by another person in April 2016 and that the current principal seems to be Dr. K. Unnikrishnan (from 27th Sept. 2016), as per http://61.0.248.125/dcekerala/sktpalayam/succession-list/. Text after the pic of Dr. Prasannakumary is as follows (slightly edited to fix mostly punctuation type possibly typo errors):]
Education is all about creating an environment of academic freedom, where bright minds meet, discover and learn. One would experience and learn all about Sanskrit college, Trivandrum. The relentless methodological process, support and positive attitude of the teaching faculties are the key to the success of this institution. We offer UG and PG Courses for five different branches of Sanskrit language namely Jyothisha, Nyaya, Sahithya, Vedanta and Vyakarana. I warmly welcome all to learn this divine language here in this prestigious institution having a history of 125 years.
[The bottom of the page indicates that the page was developed by DCE - Directorate of Collegiate Education (Kerala). It also mentions a 2018 copyright. So this seems to be information that continued to be put up in this year 2018.]
--- end text of what seems to be an archived Home page ---
For more about Sri Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma, founder of above Sanskrit college, please see his wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moolam_Thirunal. He was the ruler of Travancore state, a Hindu kingdom in what is now part of Kerala state of India, between 1885 and 1924. I believe that Travancore kingdom was a protectorate of the British during this period. Here's the wiki page of the successor of Sri Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma, namely Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chithira_Thirunal_Balarama_Varma, who is also mentioned as a patron of the college in the above archived Home page.
My family elders have talked of King Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma presenting a gold ornament of some sort to my great-grandfather Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal, when the latter chanted Sanskrit poem/verses composed by him in honour of the King, in front of the King. As the family in later generations and years, got into some financially challenging times, that gold present seems to have got lost or got sold to help the family financially (perhaps to meet expenses of one of the daughters' marriages).
About the Isavasyopanishad shloka shared in the Home page
After Chandogya upanishad, the Isavasyopanishad has been a very important scriptural guiding light for me. In particular in 2010, I was able to have a more knowledgeable understanding of a part of it which led to clearing up a major doubt that I had with respect to Upanishads vis-a-vis the other great collection of Hindu scripture which is the accounts of the Avatars captured in Bhagavat Purana, Ramayana and Mahabharata. For Sathya Sai devotees like me, authentic Shirdi Sai literature and Sathya Sai literature are also accounts of Avatars namely, Shirdi Sai Avatar and Sathya Sai Avatar.
I am very happy to note that what seems to be the Home page of Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram, is having a shloka (verse) from the Isavasyopanishad. It is verse 11 (not verse 2). To confirm see Isavasyopanishad in Sanskrit with Shankara commentary in Sanskrit, https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/Ishaa_bhaashhya_Shankar.html. The verse can be put in Latin (English) script as:
Vidyaam cha avidayaam cha yasthathdvedobhayam saha
Avidyayaa mrityum theerthva vidyayaamrutamashruteThe English meaning of it as per Swami Krishnananda, https://www.swami-krishnananda.org/disc/disc_186.html, is:
He who knows these two – vidya and avidya – together, attains immortality through vidya, by crossing over death through avidya.In the above context, I think the right translation of vidya is eternal knowledge whereas the right translation of avidya is worldly knowledge which is emphemeral/not eternal when viewed in a larger context of cycle of life and death. In this context, I do not think that avidya being translated as ignorance is a correct interpretation/translation.
Here is wikipedia's take on vidya and avidya words in Isavasyopanishad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isha_Upanishad#Vidya_versus_Avidya. An extract from this section is given below:
Mukherjee states that Isha Upanishad in verse 11 is recommending that one must pursue material knowledge and spiritual wisdom simultaneously, and that a fulfilling life results from the harmonious, balanced alignment of the individual and the social interests, the personal and the organizational goals, the material and the spiritual pursuits of life.
[Ref: S Mukherjee (2011), Indian Management Philosophy, in The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business (Editors: Luk Bouckaert and Laszlo Zsolnai), Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0230238312, page 82.]
--- end wiki extract ---
Ravi: I find Mukherjee's statement above to be a good comment/interpretation of Verse 11.
The college's motto seems to be "Attain immortality through knowledge" and which seems to be derived from this verse of Isavasyopanishad. The knowledge referred to here, it seems to me, is Vedantic knowledge or spiritual knowledge based on Vedanta/Upanishads.
What I am looking for
1) A confirmation that Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal (who I am told is my great-grandfather) was principal of Govt. Sanskrit College, and for the period mentioned above (1909-1911).
2) I am keenly interested in knowing whether Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal wrote any books (whatever language: Sanskrit or Malayalam or something else) and if so, whether those books are available with Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram. Even if they don't have the books but have information about any of his books like book title, publisher, year of publication etc., it would be of great interest to me.
3) I also would like to know if, by any chance, a picture/portrait of Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal is available with Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram. If such a picture/portrait is available, I would be very interested in having good pictures of it, taken say by a decent smartphone camera.
I request any readers who can help me in this regard to please do so.
Today, I also sent a Facebook message to its Facebook page but that message has not been marked as read, let alone responded to, so far.
I will update this post with information that I get on this matter. Thanks.
================================================
27th Nov. 2018 Update
My cousin, whose late father's grandfather is Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal wrote me over email, "My father used to say that a portrait of his grand father was put up in the College."
Ravi: This is very useful information. Person(s) who are able to visit the college should be able to use this info. to request college staff to help them locate the portrait and then take pics of it. I thanked my cousin for the info.
----
I called up Govt. Sanskrit College twice today, 27th Nov. 2018, around noon and around 3.30 PM, at their contact number mentioned above in this post, but did not get any response.
----
A file of interest from Google Search for Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal is http://www.govtsanskritcollegetvm.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SSR-pdf.pdf. However trying to access the link gives an error "This site can’t be reached" and "www.govtsanskritcollegetvm.ac.in took too long to respond."
But I was able to access the cached copy that Google had of this document in HTML format. Here's the link to that on my browser (hopefully it will work for others too): http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:orF7mlggMqwJ:www.govtsanskritcollegetvm.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SSR-pdf.pdf
This document is of around 200 pages. The cover page states the following (slightly edited):
GOVERNMENT SANSKRIT COLLEGE
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA
SELF STUDY REPORT FOR ASSESSMENT
AND RE-ACCREDITATION
Submitted to
NATIONAL ASSESMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL
(NAAC)
MARCH 2017
--- end cover page text ---
Ravi: So it is a report submitted to NAAC which is a UGC funded accreditation body for universities and colleges administered by UGC in India. UGC is the top higher education administration body for Science, Arts and Commerce higher education institutions in India. The Sanskrit college, I think, would be viewed as an Arts stream higher education institution.
The report is dated 30th March 2017 and is submitted to NAAC by the Principal, Dr. K.Unnikrishnan.
Under a section titled, "HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE", the report states on Page 8 as follows:
"Renowned scholars such as Prof. A. R Raja Raja Varma, Dr.T.Ganapathi Sasthrigal, SriThuravoorNarayana Sasthrigal, Sri Narayan Sastri and many other famous scholars served as the principals of the college."
Ravi: Presuming that this is the report submitted by Principal, Dr. K. Unnikrishnan of Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvanantapuram, Kerala to national accreditation body NAAC, in March 2017, we can then confirm that Sri Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal was indeed the Principal of the college, and that he was a renowned Sanskrit scholar then.
======================
Further Update on 27th Nov. 2018
I was able to establish contact with Dr K. Unnikrishnan, Principal, Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He is out-of-town now and expected to be back at the college in a few days time. Once he gets back to the college, he has kindly agreed to help me regarding information about my great-grandfather Sri Thuravoor Narayana Sasthrigal's association with Govt. Sanskrit College as its Principal.
[I thank Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from what seems to be archived pages from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever. I also thank swami-krishnananda.org and wikipedia for the short quote/extract I have shared from their websites on this post.]
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