Nityanand  Shastri-Scholar for all times

 

Described as the rest jewel among the scholars of kashmiri  and one who depeles Avidya (Ignorance), Nityanand Shastri is assigned by universal acknowledgement a foremost place among the Sanskrit scholars of Kashmir of the 20" century. He was born in Srinagar at Sethu Barber Shah on July 24, 1874, in a modest Brahman family that had no special claims to any previous literary traditions and academic achievements. His father Pandil Madhav Kask was a practising Kashmir priest and mother Ambrawall a devoted wife and a homemaker. It was the hand of destiny that look Nityanand to education, learning and scholarship, a career that did not bear even the remotest affinity to the claims of his ancestral avocations.

Inspired by the spirit of traditional learning that Srinagar offered at the time, Nityanand's genius manifested in the promising dawn of his boyhood that followed into brilliant noon as a student, ultimately culminating as a scholar extraordinaire. After completing his early education in a local Pathshala, Nityanand look admission in the Panjab University, Lahore, from where he earned his degree of Visharad in 1892 followed by a degree of Shastri in 1896 Besides the regular degrees in Sanskrit, Nityanand an graduated with English securing first position in the merit list in the year 1902 and thus became the first-ever Kashmiri to do so from the Panjab University Among his batch males in the graduation were Agha Syed Hussain and Ved Lal Zutshi.

He was awarded the coveted medal of the Kashmir Dharma Sabha for high proficiency in Sanskrit and the Governor's Medal for topping the ment list of the university, in the same year. Nityanand was initiated into Sanskrit studies under the Inspiring guidance of Pandit Damodar, the most accomplished Sanskrit scholar of Kashmir of the modern times. He began his career as a teacher in the Rajya Pathshala, Srinagar But before long his services were requisitioned for higher responsibilities based on his outstanding ment and in 1916 was appointed as Professor in S.P College thun, he became the first native to hold that position. However, prior to this appointment, Nityanand Shastri had earned several other dimensions Notable among these were his meeting with the great Indian monk Swami Vivekananda during his visit to Kashmir in 1897, the caption welcome address read out in honour of the then Viceroy Lord Minto in 1906 and later his meeting with Lord Hardinge on the occasion of Aurel Stein's Knighthood ceremony held in Srinagar in 1912. Two years later, he also met Robindra Nath Tagore during the felicitation ceremony held in honour of the Nobel laureate at Srinagar in 1914.

His latent genius, perhaps, would not have unfolded in the mariner it did, had his brilliant academic credits not brought him into very close contact with many European scholars and Organ who came to Kashmir in the 19 and 20" century Among this galaxy to name only a few, were Aurel Stein, Franklin Edgerton, George Grierson, J.Ph. Vogel and Maurice Wintemitz. This association resulted in the contribution and assistance rendered by Nityanand Shastri to the publication of umpteen works of Kashmir history. language Literature and epigraphy. These include the Rajatarangini and Ancient Geography of Kashmir (with Aurel Stein, 1896-99); Vedic Concordance (with Maunce Bloomfield and Alfred Stratton, 1900); Studies in Kashmir Epigraphy (with Sten Konow, 1905) Antiquities of Chamba (with J. Ph. Vogel, 1905-10) Manual of Kashmiri Language (with George Grierson, 1912): Four volume translation and commentary of Taittiriya Upanishad (with David Brainerd Spooner, 1914) Lallavakyani (with George Grierson and Lionel Barnett, 1917); Sanskrit translation and commentary of Mahanaya Prakasa (with George Grierson, 1921): History of Indian Literature (with Maurice Winternitz, 1922) The Indian Serpent Lore-Naga Worship in Art & Legend (with J. Ph. Vogel, 1926); The Great Indian Epic-Mahabharata (with Maurice Winteriz 1927) Studies in Kashmir Shaiva text Isvara Pratyabhijna (with Franklin Edgerton, 1927% Krishnavatara Lila (with George Grierson, 1928) Dictionary of Kashmiri Language (with George Grierson, 1921-1932), Kashmir Ramayana (with George Grierson, 1930); Kashmiri and Sanskrit translation of the 17 century Spanish classic Don Quixote (with JD. Zadoo 1936); and critical and annotated edition of Nilamalapurana (with K.de. Vreese and J. Ph. Vogel, 1936) To him, also, goes the honour of publishing the first ever Primer of the Kashmir language in Devanagari script. It was published in two volumes and printed by Alpine Press, Lahore, in 1912 and 1914, respectively.

Among other distinctions that go to his credit include the founding of the first widow home in Kashmir named Vanita Ashram It was founded in 1928. In the same year Nityanand was also appointed as the Pandit to the Royal Court of Maharaja Hari Singh Previously also he held the same position in 1898 during the rule of Maharaja Pratap Singh. In 1929, Nityanand Shastri was appointed as the Member of the Committee that represented the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir Han Singh, at the First Hindu Maha Sammelan held at Rawalpindi under the presidentship of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. The other members in the Committee included Prof. Gyani Ram, his colleague at SP College, Srinagar. At the Sammelan, Nityanand, through his leaming, eloquent scholarship and humility impressed Malviyaj so much that the doyen invited him to join the Banaras Hindu University by saying" The portals of our university will always remain open for you" in 1930, Nityanand was elected as Lifetime President of the Kashmir Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad and became the Editor of the Parishad's Sanskrit journal Shree' for the term 1928-1932. During the tem, 1926-1930 Nityanand Shastri served as the Member-Secretary of the Kashmir Sanatan Dharma Sabha, Srinagar.

A scholar of world-wide fame with profound knowledge of Sanskrit Literature and Kashmir language, Nityanand Shastri had a character imbued with indefatigable industry combined with exceptional range of knowledge and interest covering almost all branches of Sanskrit research. It was through the enthusiastic excellence of his outstanding academic and scholarly achievements that he transfused a part of his intellectual spirit into the enquiring curiosity of his western collaborators who, as a result, dived deep to appreciate and understand better the old culture, history and literature of Kashmir in a manner that will hardly ever be equalled. In this association, Nityanand himself also became capable of understanding and illuminating the intellectual and social history of Kashmir.

In personal conduct Nityanand was noble minded with a kind and benevolent disposition that made him easily accessible to all, great and small, with immense stories of his exponential knowledge. His broad humanity combined with devotion to the pursuit of truth made him the teacher and man he was. As a perfect embodiment of a pragmatic scholar with a vast quantity of accurate, incisive and critical corpus of work to his credit, Nityanand never lost sight of the highest Delhi) scholarly ideals. In gathering and imparting knowledge he was the very type of a rare scholar whose time, services, books and other resources were always at the command of whoever requested for them. The hallmark of his work remains testified in the interest and capacities he created in his pupis, notable among whom are G.C Bewoor and JN. Chaudhry, both of whom rose to become chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces, T.N. Kaul, the mastermind of India's foreign policy doctrine who retired as India's Foreign Secretary, the super-spy and mastermind of espionage R. N.Kao, Pupul Jaykar the famed cultural Czarina of India and Peer Ghulam Hassan, the architect of the famous Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar.

Today these tributes to Nityanand Shastri remain as memories of his activities of mind and body Though his work may seem limited to scholarship and teaching, yet his views and influence as a teacher and scholar have reached far beyond the limits of Kashmir But great as the scholar was, the man Nityanand Shastri was greater Deservingly popular with his colleagues as well as his students, this man of learning and education and recognized as "scholar of scholars'' breathed his last on December 24, 1942, after a protracted illness caused by a paralytic stroke suffered some years earlier However, his work is sure to survive for long and his name will ever remain inscribed in the first ranks of the golden book of Kashmir's contemporary literary history. It reminds the words of Albert Einstein "On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 70th birthday "Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.

(From the Biographical Profile by Sh S.N.Pandita, Founder Member and Secretary of N.S. Kashmir Research Institute, New 

(The writer is a Jammu-based environmentalist)

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Courtesy:- Bhushan Parimoo  and  Koshur Samachar  2018, November