T.V. Kapali Sastry (3 September 1886 in

Mylapore Mylapore (also spelt Mayilapur), or Thirumayilai, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the celebrated Tamil ...

– 17 August 1953 in

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

) was an eminent

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

scholar, author, translator and disciple of

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

Biography

Sastry was born in 1886 in a traditional Vedic family at Mylapore,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. He received his early education at home in Sanskrit under the guidance of his father, who was a Sanskrit scholar at the Oriental Manuscripts Library in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

. After completing his education, he became a Sanskrit teacher at a High School in Madras. At the age of twenty he came under the influence of Ganapati Muni, a prominent disciple of

Ramana Maharshi Ramana Maharshi (; ; 30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu Sage (philosophy), sage and ''jivanmukta'' (liberated being). He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He was b ...

and great scholar and poet, who passed on his vast knowledge and learning to Sastry. The latter got deeply immersed in Vedic and Tantric studies and published books and articles in English,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and Sanskrit. After having been a disciple of Ramana Maharshi for some time, he went to Pondicherry in 1929 and became a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (

Mirra Alfassa Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or ''La Mère'', was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of ...

). He studied deeply Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and writings, especially his interpretation of the

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

which he explored comprehensively in several books.Tribute
/ref> Mother-blessing-kapali-sastry-1951

Sastry died on 17 August 1953 in Pondicherry.

Works (selection)

English

* Lights on the Veda * Sidelights on the Tantra * Sri Aurobindo: Lights on the Teachings * The Maharshi * Gospel of the Gita * Rig Bhashya Bhumika

Sanskrit

* Rig Veda Bhashya (Siddhanjana) * Matr-tattva-Prakasha * Savitri * Ahnikastava

Tamil

* Agni Suktangal * Sri Aravindar * Vennira Sudaroli

Telugu

* Matra Vakkulu

Secondary literature

* P. Raja (1993), ''M. P. Pandit. A Peep into his Past.'' Pondicherry, Dipti Publications, pp. 21–26 * S. Ranade (1997), ''Madhav Panditji''. Pondicherry, Dipti Publications, pp. 10–11 * ''Kavi Yogi Shri Kapali Sastry'', Inaugural Address of Dr. K. Venkatasubramanian, Vice-Chancellor, Pondicherry Central University. In: M.P. Pandit, ''Sat-Sang'', Vol. V, Pondicherry 1987, pp. 156-160