Satya Vrat Shastri

Born on 29th September, 1930, Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri received his early education from his father, the renowned Sanskrit grammarian Charu Deva Shastri. He got record marks in B.A. Hons. and M.A. Sanskrit from the Punjab University and received University Medals. After doing Ph.D. at the Banaras Hindu University he joined the University of Delhi where during the forty years of his teaching career he held positions of Head of the Department of Sanskrit and Dean, Faculty of Arts. He was also Vice-Chancellor of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri, Orissa. He has attended and chaired a number of national and international conferences and delivered more than a hundred lectures in Europe, North and South America, Southeast Asia and the Far East. He is the founding editor of two research journals: Indological Studies and Srijagannathajyotih... Both a creative and a critical writer, he has published three Mahakavyas, three Khandakavyas, a Prabandhakavya and a Patrakavya with a total of six thousand stanzas in Sanskrit of his original composition which have become subject matter of M. Phil., Ph.D. and D. Litt. degrees in Indian Universities. Besides, he has published a number of critical works, 120 research articles and numerous reviews. The persevering efforts of Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri have paid him rich dividends. He is the recepient of thirty-nine national and international Awards and Honours. In the Citation for the Honorary Doctorate the Vice-Chancellor of the Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand had described him as "a living legend in the field of Sanskrit".