Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi (died 27 February 2020) was an Indian independence activist,

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

scholar,

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

, and claimed

supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...

. At the claimed age of 122 years, 313 days, some Indian newspapers reported him as the oldest Indian ever.

Biography

Early life

Chaturvedi was reportedly born on 20 April 1897 in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(or in Kyatsandra in

Tumkur district Tumakuru district is an List of districts of Karnataka, administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. It is the second largest district in Karnataka by land area with an area of 10,598 km2, and fourth largest by Population. It is ...

, Karnataka state according to one report). One report also claimed an age of 121 in 2011, which would put his birth in 1890. He learned all the

Shastras ''Śāstra'' ( ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The word is ge ...

and

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

in a traditional Gurukul Kangri University in

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

. He was inspired by the life of Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati at young age and embraced

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

and its teachings for the rest of his life.

Freedom struggle and Vedic scholarship

Chaturvedi was given his title "Chaturvedi", which literally means "master of the four Vedas," for his knowledge of the Vedas. He was a disciple of

Swami Shraddhanand Munshi Ram, better known as Swami Shraddhanand (22 February 1856 – 23 December 1926) was an Indian independence activist and Arya Samaj sannyasi who propagated the teachings of Dayananda Saraswati. This included the establishment of educatio ...

at Gurukul Kangri in

, where he got his Veda Vachaspati degree (equivalent to a postgraduate degree). Chaturvedi was a contemporary of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

, whom he first met when studying the Vedas in a ''

Gurukula A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a com ...

'' in northern India. Subsequently, he became an ardent follower of Gandhian methods. He was a witness to many events in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, including being an eyewitness to the 1919

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (), also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Vaisakhi, Baisakhi fair to protest aga ...

. He was known as Gandhi's Postman, as he took down and delivered letters dictated by Gandhi addressed to the Viceroys or Governors-General. Gandhi called him 'Karnataki'.Book "Halavu Nenapugalu"

He lost the use of his right arm in 1938 while travelling with Gandhi, when the railwayman detached the last three compartments of the train as it was struggling to climb uphill. He took part in the freedom struggle and was arrested at least 31 times during the freedom struggle, landing in prisons all over the country from

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

Vellore Vellore ( ), also spelled Velur, is a sprawling city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River and surrounded by the Javadi Hills in the northeastern ...

. He was offered the post of minister in the old Mysore state by

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...

, which he turned down. He also campaigned for the unification of the state.

Later life

He continued his inspiration that he took from the life of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati of the

. He adopted a man named Arya Mitra as his son, and had three grandchildren. He never married: Chaturvedi was the first teacher of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. In 2011 he took part in the India Against Corruption campaign. He lived in Jayanagar,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and in 2010 stated he was still working for eight hours every day. This included an hour-long lecture he gave on the Vedas every Saturday. He woke up at 3 am or 3:30, going to bed by 7 pm. He advised people to "follow the instructions in the Vedas and a happy life awaits you." He practiced a strict

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

diet. He said he wanted to live to 300.

Awards

He was honoured by

Motilal Banarsidass Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House (MLBD) is an Indian academic publishing house, founded in Delhi, India in 1903. It publishes and distributes serials, monographs, and scholarly publications on Asian religions, Buddhology, Indology, East ...

for his contributions to Indology, when it celebrated its centenary in 2003. The Karnataka Sahitya Anuvada Academy gave him an honorary award for 2007–2008. In 2009 he was given a "Socio-Economic Development Teacher Award", by the Sri Kashi Sesha Sastri Charitable Trust. He was honoured by his ''alma mater'', Gurukul Kangri University, in 2010. In 2010 he was given a "Living Legend" Award by IDL Foundation at a public function where he pledged to donate his eyes. In March 2011 he was gifted a wheelchair by the IDL Foundation, sponsored by Santosh Hegde. On

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially calle ...

in 2010, he was felicitated by the Governor of Karnataka.

Books authored

Chaturvedi wrote over 40 books in the

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

and, as of 2008, was working on the publication of Vedic texts in 20 volumes. He was also announced in 2002 to be heading a project of the

to publish a 30,000-page treatise in Kannada on Veda Bhashya, and by 2009, three of the four Vedas and six volumes of the Rig Veda were released. He was the moving spirit behind the Bangalore Arya Samaj, which published the Kannada monthly magazine ''Veda Taranga''. Among his books were: * A translation of the book Satyarth Prakash of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati of Arya Samaj into Kannada (ಸತ್ಯಾರ್ಥ ಪ್ರಕಾಶ) * Rashtra Purusha Yogiraja Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati (ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ ಪುರುಷ ಯೋಗಿರಾಜ ಮಹರ್ಷಿ ದಯಾನಂದ ಸರಸ್ವತಿ) (A Biography of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati of Arya Samaj) * Vedokta Jeevana Patha (ವೇದೋಕ್ತ ಜೀವನ ಪಥ) * Yoga Pradeepa (ಯೋಗ ಪ್ರದೀಪ) * Adarsha Manava (ಆದರ್ಶ ಮಾನವ) * Rigveda Darshana (ಋಗ್ವೇದ ದರ್ಶನ) * Murtipooje Jignase? (ಮೂರ್ತಿಪೂಜೆ ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ?) * Janmagata Jati Paddhati Veda Virodhi (ಜನ್ಮಗತ ಜಾತಿ ಪದ್ಧತಿ ವೇದ ವಿರೋಧಿ) * Grace and Glory of Vedic Dharma (English) * Shanti Mattu Sowbhagya (ಶಾಂತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯ) * Vaidika Vivaha Samskara Vidhi (ವೈದಿಕ ವಿವಾಹ ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರವಿಧಿ) * Bhagawan Sri Ramachandra (ಭಗವಾನ್ ಶ್ರೀರಾಮಚಂದ್ರ) * Vedamaata Gayatri (ವೇದಮಾತಾ ಗಾಯತ್ರೀ) * Upanishad Bhashya (ಉಪನಿಷದ್ ಭಾಷ್ಯ) * Halavu Nenapugalu (ಹಲವು ನೆನಪುಗಳು) These and many of his books are published by Arya Samaj, VV Puram, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The book 'Halavu Nenapugalu' alone was published by Pustak Shaki Publications in Bengaluru.

References

External links

*
Photos of Chaturvedi honoured on 18 July 2008
.
Photos
at ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' (archived)
TOI
felicitated in Raj Bhavan, 27 Jan 2010 (archived)
Jallianwala Bagh and Chandrayana Book Release
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaturvedi, Sudhakar Year of birth uncertain Longevity claims 2020 deaths Writers from Bengaluru Scholars from Bengaluru Arya Samajis Indian Vedic scholars Indian Indologists Kannada people Kannada-language writers 20th-century Indian essayists Age controversies