Why is Thuravoor Narayana Shastri not mentioned as eminent Sanskrit scholar and grammarian of 18th-19th century in current articles about past Kerala Sanskrit scholars?

Last updated on 5 Mar 2023

Copied with minor link update from ravisiyer.blogspot.com on 14 Apr. 2023, first published there on March 03, 2023

To get a quick summary about Thuravoor Narayana Shastri (TNS), please visit 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 .

In my extensive Internet search on TNS, it is in the field of Sanskrit drama (Vyangyavakhya) in current day articles/books (from around 2000 onwards) that TNS is mentioned as a Sanskrit scholar scribe who converted Malayalam script Sanskrit text to Devanagari script Sanskrit text. But in current day (from around 2000 onwards) articles/books about past Sanskrit scholars and grammarians of Kerala that I got on the internet through Google search, I have not come across a single article mentioning TNS as an eminent Sanskrit scholar and/or grammarian. 

Around April 2022, I came across an interesting 2022 research paper whose text was available on the Internet. It is: Sanskrit grammarians of 19 century, https://www.anantaajournal.com/archives/2022/vol8issue2/PartA/8-1-75-716.pdf , in International Journal of Sanskrit Research 2022; 8(2): 08-10. The author is Ms. Deepa P., Research Scholar, Department of Sanskrit, Kannur University, Kerala.

At the outset, the paper states that it "mainly discusses" the "contributions of Grammarians of 19th century of Kerala". I expected to find the name of Thuravoor Narayana Shastri (TNS) in it but was disappointed to see that it did not mention him. The paper mentions A. R. Rajaraja Varma (ARRV) as "Ennakkattu Rajaraja Varma" and lists him as a noted Sanskrit grammarian of 19th century from Kerala.

In contrast to current day publications on past Sanskrit scholars from Kerala, TNS is mentioned as a noted Sanskrit scholar (from Kerala) in 20th century (and perhaps late 19th century) works as given below:

• A.R. Rajaraja Varma has referred to TNS and his Sanskrit scholarship/expertise in glowing terms in articles and/or forewords in his book(s).
• Ulloor's Kerala Sahitya Charitram praises TNS as a great Sanskrit grammarian (MahA-Vaiyaakarana) who gained fame even in distant lands.
• Keraliasamskrtasahityacaritram [History of Sanskrit Literature of Kerala] by Vadakkumkur Rajarajavarma Raja, refers to TNS as a famous (Sanskrit) scholar.
• The book, Glimpses of Sanskrit Research: A Collection of Research Papers in Sanskrit and English by E. Easwaran Nampoothiry, published in 1995 refes to TNS as eminent (Sanskrit) grammarian in the 19th century.

An additional reference for which I don't know the publication date:

• The history of (Maharaja's) Govt. Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram refers to TNS as "the celebrated scholar in Sanskrit grammar," (who became principal of the institution from 1909-1911). 

Given the above, I feel that in today's Sanskrit academic circles & literature, TNS should have at least some recognition as a Kerala Sanskrit grammarian scholar of the late 19th and early 20th century. Sadly that seems to be completely absent.

I was wondering why that could be the case. Here are some of my thoughts and views on this.

From my readings, I learned that Govt. (Maharaja's) Sanskrit college, Thiruvananthapuram was founded by Travancore Maharaja in 1889 with the trio of A.R. Rajaraja Varma (ARRV), Ganapati Sastri and TNS being a key team in executing the Maharaja's objective and running the college, with, IIRC (if I recall correctly) Kerala Varma guiding this trio. This trio also were the first three principals of the college - first ARRV, then Ganapati Sastri and finally TNS. This college seems to have been inspired by Banaras Hindu University which the Travancore Maharaja had visited. For more on the founding of this college, please visit my 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 , published in Dec. 2018, last updated Feb. 2023.

ARRV passed B.A. in Madras university in 1889 at the age of 26 as per the book (on pdf page 20/printed page number 19): Makers of Indian Literature, A.R. Rajaraja Varma by K.M. George, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219616/page/n3/mode/2up  (this book is referred to as ARRVbyKMG later on in this post). The book also mentions on the same page that ARRV became the first (European style university) graduate "in the community of Malayalee Kshatriyas", and that there was much celebration in his community on this achievement of ARRV. ARRV received a "a jewel studded gold bracelet from the [Ravi: Travancore kingdom] ruler, Sri Moolam Thirunal Maharaja".

Ravi: Hmm. If the info. is right, ARRV was the first graduate (passing B.A. in 1889) in Malayalee Kshatriyas community! That tells us a lot about how European style higher education was very limited in Kerala in 1889. Perhaps it was accessible only to persons from rich families like those from the royal families or closely connected to them. Somebody like TNS would have had no chance to do a B.A. as his family simply would not have had the money to fund such education.

The ARRVbyKMG book informs us that the "State Government" (which would be under the king of Travancore) started a "Sanskrit school (Samskrita Pathasala)" in Trivandrum in 1890 and ARRV was appointed as "as the head of the school (1890)". It goes on to say, "He got the assistance of two well-known scholars, Narayana Sastrikal and Ganapathi Sastrikal as instructors in the school." Note that Narayana Sastrikal is a reference to TNS. I think this informs us that the Maharaja's (Government) Sanskrit College of Trivandrum was initially called "Samskrita Pathasala" or something similar e.g. Sanskrit Paatashaala.

As per the above book, ARRV registered for M.A. Sanskrit examination (of Madras University) as a "private candidate". It further states, "As a part of the M.A course he had to prepare a dissertation and the subject chosen was ‘ Narayana Bhatta and His Works ’. His two distinguished colleagues helped him to an extent. Though they were good scholars of the traditional type, they had neither training nor competence to do research. They were also deficient in critical acumen." The distinguished colleagues referred to here are TNS and GS (Ganapathi Sastrikal).

Ravi: My observation is that K.M. George (KMG) does not provide references for how he arrived at the above negative conclusions regarding TNS and GS and so seems to be unfair. Such negative views that are published in a book have to be corroborated by evidence, if such views have to be taken seriously.

In a later paragraph, KMG writes that ARRV "gave tuition in English to both the Sastris, one of whom viz. Ganapathi Sastri became a reputed editor of classics." I think that is quite probable and so at that time, both TNS and GS would not have had the ability to write an English thesis or English research article related to Sanskrit language. But, in all probability, both TNS and GS would have had the ability to write Sanskrit language research articles in Sanskrit! However, the European style Madras University then may have demanded English language research articles on Sanskrit language.

How does KMG arrive at the opinion that TNS and GS "lacked critical acumen"?

As the great-grandson of TNS, I am very critical of KMG making such sweeping negative statements about TNS without providing any support for such an opinion. KMG shows a negative bias towards traditional Sanskrit scholars and KMG must be criticized for such negative bias, IMHO.

Another point to note here is that GS seems to have picked up English and gone on in later years to become an editor of classics (perhaps writing at least some of his comments in English). TNS seems to have not picked up English. Perhaps TNS preferred to stay away from European style academics of that period when English language knowledge was important, and chose to stay within his traditional Sanskrit pandit (scholar) mould and expertise. If TNS did make such a choice, perhaps that paved the way for him to become a renowned Sanskrit grammarian of that period. I mean, if he had additionally focused on English language and European higher education style publications on Sanskrit in English, perhaps it would have diluted his focus on Sanskrit grammar and reduced the time he had to study and teach it.

The ARRVbyKMG book states that ARRV passed his M.A. examination in 1891 getting the first rank in the university. Thus ARRV got good exposure to European style higher education. ARRV also had many publications. GS also seems to have published many articles & papers. I think GS had enough publications to be viewed as a Sanskrit academic scholar by European educationists (and European educational institutions as well). Note that though Travancore kingdom (and Cochin kingdom) then was a protected ally not directly under British rule, Madras was under direct British rule and seems to have had British academics running some of the higher educational institutions there. Travancore king may have felt that adopting the British/European style of higher education was the way forward for his kingdom, or he could even have been 'advised' by the British Resident to do so, and which advice the Travancore king would have found difficult to ignore given the British 'protected ally' status of Travancore. [BTW IIRC, I read that Kerala Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran wrote a Sanskrit poem in praise of Queen Victoria (for some British royal function)! I was quite stunned to read that but as I thought about it later, I thought that as 'protected ally', Travancore kingdom perhaps was expected to do such stuff and perhaps the Maharaja had asked Kerala Varma to do that.]

Now, back to TNS. In contrast to ARRV and GS, as mentioned earlier I think that TNS was a traditional paatashaala (Hindu Veda paatashaala in all probability) Sanskrit scholar who did not adopt European style academics with its focus on research publications. Perhaps he was more of an accomplished and expert teacher and perhaps a composer of some prose & poetry in Sanskrit but not somebody who sent such compositions to academic publications for review and publication on acceptance, and who may not have had the money power to publish his prose & poetry as book(s). 

Perhaps TNS had published a few articles or his prose/poetry compositions in some magazines/journals (e.g. he is known to have written one article for Vijnanacintamani magazine). But these publications may have been small time stuff and so seem to have largely or completely vanished in the mists of a century of time in a Kerala and India that have undergone massive social and cultural changes in the 20th century. Note that some archival copies of Vijnanacintamani seem to be available in some libraries in Kerala but they don't seem to be shared in digital form on the Internet. So I was not able to check the available Vijnanacintamani magazine issues for articles by TNS.

I think today's Sanskrit history scholars have to go by published literature available for reading & verification by them before they can view a person as having been a noted Sanskrit scholar of the past. If they don't find any published literature of TNS, he may not be viewed by them as a noted Sanskrit scholar of that period, even if ARRV and others in their publications have referred glowingly to TNS. I think that's why the Kannur University scholar, Ms. Deepa's research paper on Sanskrit grammarians of Kerala of 19th century does not mention TNS at all, and that's why in my Google search efforts I could not find any reference to TNS as a Sanskrit scholar and grammarian in current day research publications on past Kerala Sanskrit scholars. [One 2020 paper in a Polish journal mentioned TNS (as R. Narayana Sastral) as the editor of Sahitya Kutuhalam book authored by ARRV, in the references section. But TNS was not referred to as a Sanskrit scholar or grammarian. The paper: Poetry at the Threshold. A.R. Rajaraja Varma and the New Sanskritism, by Hermina Cielas of Jagiellonian University in the journal: Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis » 2020 » Volume 15, Issue 3 . The paper (article) abstract and pdf link: https://www.ejournals.eu/Studia-Litteraria/2020/Volume-15-Issue-3/art/16775/ .]

However, given that TNS has been mentioned a few times in 20th century works as an eminent Sanskrit scholar and grammarian, I think it would be appropriate for research scholars on Sanskrit grammarians of 20th and 19th century Kerala to at least mention that TNS has been referred to as an eminent Sanskrit scholar and grammarian but that it is not known if he published any prose/poetry/articles (in Sanskrit). I think that would be a more appropriate and fair approach rather than simply omitting mention of TNS in such research articles.