Sosale Garalapury Sastry (November 1899 – 22 September 1955) was an Indian industrial chemist known for his work on the manufacture of sandalwood soap through the establishment of the Mysore soap factory in Bangalore. This earned him the nickname of Soap Sastry. He also served as a director of industries and commerce in Mysore State. Sastry was the son of an eminent Sanskrit scholar Sosale Ayya Sastry and was educated at

Central College, Bangalore Central College Bengaluru (1858) is one of the oldest colleges in India. This college was originally affiliated to University of Mysore in Mysore State. Rev. John Garrett was the founder and first principal of the Central High School, which w ...

. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, sandalwood was auctioned by the forest department, exported mainly to Germany where sandalwood oil was distilled. This source of revenue stopped during the war and distillation in Mysore was examined by the director of industries Sir Alfred Chatterton who in turn passed on the problem to the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

which worked on a steam distillation process. Sastry was sponsored by the Maharaja of Mysore to study soap making. He went to England and obtained an MSc in chemistry at the

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

while also examining industrial soap making and then visited the United States of America. On his return, the Mysore Soap Factory was founded in 1916 and commercial production began in 1918. The oval design of the soap along with the

Sharabha Sharabha (, ) or Sarabha is an eight-legged part-lion and part-bird deity in Hindu religion, who is described as more powerful than a lion or an elephant, possessing the ability to clear a valley in one jump in Sanskrit literature. In later li ...

, a mythical elephant-headed lion logo was designed by him. This was scaled up to an industrial scale in 1916 at Bangalore and nearly 6000 pounds of oil were produced per month. The oil was sold mainly for use in perfumery and pharmacopoeia. The soap factory was constructed in 1917 with equipment made by George Scott & Sons. The factory was successful from very early on and was producing 356 tons of soap in 1935–36. Mysore_Sandal_2016

Sastry was appointed Industrial Chemist tin April 1918 and he became in-charge of the soap factory on 1 June 1918. He also examined the production of caustic soda and other aromatic distillates. Around 1936, he was appointed director of industries and commerce for Mysore State. He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science in 1934. He also served as a visiting professor at Mysore University. Sastry took a keen interest in

Kannada literature Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, which is spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script. Attestations in literature span one and a half millennia, R.S. ...

and translated two works of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

to Kannada - ''Aryaka'' (

The Vikings at Helgeland ''The Vikings at Helgeland'' (''Hærmændene paa Helgeland'') is Henrik Ibsen's seventh play. It was written during 1857 and first performed at Christiania Norske Theater in Oslo on 24 November 1858. The story takes place during the time of Eri ...

) and ''Sutrada Bombe'' (

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...

Publications

A partial list of publications includes: * * * * * *

References

External links

* Sastry, S.G. (1947
Applied Science in Asian Countries
Indian Council of World Affairs: New Delhi.
Munichandraiah, N. (2019) Origin of Sandal Soap. Elixir 5:13-15.

''Sutrada Bombe'' - translation of Ibsen's Doll's House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sastry, Sosale Garalapury 20th-century Indian chemists 1899 births 1955 deaths