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K. A. Nilakanta Sastri

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Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri
KAN Sastri.jpg
Born(1892-08-12)12 August 1892
Kallidaikurichi, British India
Died15 June 1975(1975-06-15) (aged 82)
Madras, India
Alma materMadras Christian College
Occupation(s)Historian, Academician, professor, author
SpouseLakshmi Narasammal
AwardsPadma Bhushan (1957)
Scientific career
InfluencesS. Krishnaswami Aiyangar

Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (12 August 1892 – 15 June 1975) was an Indian historian who wrote on South Indian history. Many of his books form the standard reference works on the subject. Sastri was acclaimed for his scholarship and mastery of sources and was a recipient of the third highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Bhushan.

Career

Nilakanta Sastri was born in a Telugu Niyogi Brahmin family,[1] in Kallidaikurichi near Tirunelveli, on 12 August 1892.[2] He completed his FA in M.D.T Hindu College, Tirunelveli and his college education in Madras Christian College.[3][4]

Sastri obtained his MA by coming first in the Madras Presidency. He joined the Hindoo College as lecturer in 1913 where he taught till 1918.[5][6] He served as Professor of History, Banaras Hindu University from 1918 to 1920.[5] After that he became the Principal of the (then) newly started Arts College of Annamalai University.[7] In 1929, he was employed as Professor of History at National College, Trichy. The same year, he succeeded Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar[8] as the Professor of History and Archaeology at the Madras University,[9] a post he held till 1946.[3] He was the Professor of Indology (Currently renamed as Department of History and Archaeology) at the University of Mysore from 1952 to 1955.[3][5][9] He was appointed as the ex-officio Director of Archaeology for the Mysore State in 1954. He was also the President of the All-India Oriental Conference in the early 1950s.[10] From 1957 to 1972, he served with the UNESCO's Institute of Traditional Cultures of South East Asia, as the Director of the institute.[3][9] In 1957, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour.[1] In the summer of 1959, he was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago where he delivered a series of lectures on South Indian History.[5] Nilakanta Sastri died in 1975.[9]

Discover more about Career related topics

Niyogi

Niyogi

Niyogi Brahmin is a Telugu Brahmin subcaste native to the Indian States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but are spread throughout South India and Maharashtra. The traditional occupations of the Niyogi Brahmins are settled cultivation and priest hood. But majority of them took up various secular vocations including military activities and patwaris. They were associated with administration, economics, literature, music composing, politics, scholarly, scientific, engineering, defense and warfare careers.

Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin is a varna as well as a caste within the Hindu society. In Vedic- and post-Vedic Indian subcontinent, Brahmins were designated as the priestly class as they served as priests and spiritual teachers. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra.

Kallidaikurichi

Kallidaikurichi

Kallidaikurichi or Kalladaikurichi is a town on the right bank of the Thamiraparani river in Ambasamudram Taluk of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, a southern state of India.

Madras Christian College

Madras Christian College

Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institution from its main campus in Tambaram, Chennai.

Master of Arts

Master of Arts

A Master of Arts is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have typically studied subjects within the scope of the humanities and social sciences, such as history, literature, languages, linguistics, public administration, political science, communication studies, law or diplomacy; however, different universities have different conventions and may also offer the degree for fields typically considered within the natural sciences and mathematics. The degree can be conferred in respect of completing courses and passing examinations, research, or a combination of the two.

Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian state of Andhra state, almost whole of Tamil Nadu and some parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and the union territory of Lakshadweep. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the Presidency and Ooty, the summer capital. The coastal regions and northern part of Island of Ceylon at that time was a part of Madras Presidency from 1793 to 1798 when it was created a Crown colony. Madras Presidency was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore on the northwest, Kingdom of Cochin on the southwest, Kingdom of Pudukkottai in the Center and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the north. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay Presidency (Konkan) and Central Provinces and Berar.

Banaras Hindu University

Banaras Hindu University

Banaras Hindu Universitylisten (help·info) (BHU) is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, founded by Indian Home Rule-leaguer and Theosophist, Annie Besant in 1898. After Besant and her associates were marginalized, the university was established by Madan Mohan Malaviya with the financial support of the maharaja of Dharbhanga Rameshwar Singh, the maharaja of Benares Prabhu Narayan Singh, and the lawyer Sunder Lal. With over 30,000 students, and 18,000 residing on campus, BHU is the largest residential university in Asia. The university is one of the eight public institutions declared as an Institute of Eminence by the Government of India.

Annamalai University

Annamalai University

Annamalai University is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, medical, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. The university also provides more than 500 courses through distance education. With over 32,480 students residing on campus, it is one of the largest unitary, teaching, and residential universities in Asia, and is among the most reputed and ranked universities in India including the rankings from NIRF, QS World University Rankings, Times University Rankings, CWTS Leiden Ranking, India Today Magazine.

Archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. It is usually considered an independent academic discipline, but may also be classified as part of anthropology, history or geography.

Indology

Indology

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.

Ex officio member

Ex officio member

An ex officio member is a member of a body who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ex officio is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right of office'; its use dates back to the Roman Republic.

Mysore State

Mysore State

Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the subsequent Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's capital. When Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act in 1956, Mysore State was considerably enlarged when it became a linguistically homogeneous Kannada-speaking state within the Republic of India by incorporating territories from Andhra, Bombay, Coorg, Hyderabad, and Madras States, as well as other petty fiefdoms. It was subsequently renamed Karnataka in 1973.

Assessment

Nilakanta Sastri is regarded as the greatest and most prolific among professional historians of South India.[9] Tamil historian A R Venkatachalapathy regards him as "arguably the most distinguished historian of twentieth-century Tamil Nadu".[11]

In 1915, a Bengali historian Jadunath Sarkar, wrote an essay Confessions of a History Teacher in the Modern Review regretting the lack of acclaimed historical works in vernacular languages and stressed that efforts should be made to write history books and teach history in vernacular languages.[11] Nilakanta Sastri, who was then a young teacher in Thirunelveli, wrote a letter to the newspaper opposing Sarkar's suggestion by saying that "English serves me better as a medium of expression than Tamil – I mean in handling historical subjects. Perhaps the vernacular is not so well off in this part of the country as it should be".[11] Sastri's comments evoked sharp criticism from the nationalist poet Subramanya Bharathi.[11][12] According to Venkatachalapathy, Sastri's Tamil proficiency was not good and he relied on Tamil scholar S. Vaiyapuri Pillai for understanding Tamil literary works. Thus he was not able to analyse the changing meaning of words over time. Venkatachalapathy says, "In the professional historiography in Tamil Nadu practised in the age of K. A. Nilakanta Sastri there was rarely any interrogation of sources (except in terms of authenticity and chronology)."[13]

Sastri's A History of South India is a recommended textbook for university students of Indian history. In a preface to the 2013 reprint, historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam describes the book thus

... a classic work, which retains its importance and has never quite been replaced. It shows the author's mastery over a huge set of sources, which placed him head and shoulders above other South Indian historians of his time

Historian Noboru Karashima, who edited A Concise History of South India (2014), describes Sastri's A History of South India as an excellent book, and praises Sastri's examination of sources of south Indian history as "thoroughgoing and meticulous". However, Karashima also states that being a Brahmin, Sastri was inclined to emphasize the role of "north Indian and Sanskrit culture in the development of south Indian society", which resulted in occasional bias. Karashima notes that Sastri's book remained the only authoritative scholarly book on the south Indian history for a number of reasons: nobody could match Sastri in bringing out a similar work; attacks from Tamil nationalists deterred historians from writing such a book; and new trends in history writing made composition of works on general history more difficult.[14]

Ganapathy Subbiah (2007) of the Indian History Congress describes Sastri as "the greatest" of all South Indian historians.[15] During Sastri's period, strong language-based movements had emerged in various regions of South India. Subbiah notes that Sastri attempted to portray South India as a distinct geocultural unit, and was keen to dissolve the growth of regionalism in South Indian historiography.[16] Subbiah adds that Sastri's macro-level view of the South Indian history "revolved around Aryan-Dravidian syndrome", and this view changed with his age: in his 20s, Sastri asserted the existence of "an independent Tamil culture which flourished for centuries before it was touched by extraneous influences"; a few years later, he wrote that the culture of the Sangam period was a composite of two distinct "Tamilian and Aryan" cultures; and a decade later, he declared that "Sanskrit is the pivot of our whole culture, and [...] Tamil culture is no exception to this rule".[17] According to Subbiah, Sastri's views should be analyzed in the context of the rise of the anti-Brahmin Dravida Nadu movement in the mid-20th century: his assertions over-emphasizing the importance of Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit influence in south Indian history can be seen as "his angry and desperate response" against the Dravida Nadu secessionists.[18]

Discover more about Assessment related topics

South India

South India

South India, also known as Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, comprising 19.31% of India's area and 20% of India's population. Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse with two mountain ranges – the Western and Eastern Ghats – bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Tungabhadra, Periyar, Bharathappuzha, Pamba, Thamirabarani, Palar, and Vaigai rivers are important perennial rivers.

Jadunath Sarkar

Jadunath Sarkar

Sir Jadunath Sarkar, was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty.

Vernacular

Vernacular

A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language." It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, normally spoken informally rather than written, and seen as of lower status than more codified forms. It may vary from more prestigious speech varieties in different ways, in that the vernacular can be a distinct stylistic register, a regional dialect, a sociolect, or an independent language. Vernacular is a term for a type of speech variety, generally used to refer to a local language or dialect, as distinct from what is seen as a standard language. The vernacular is contrasted with higher-prestige forms of language, such as national, literary, liturgical or scientific idiom, or a lingua franca, used to facilitate communication across a large area.

S. Vaiyapuri Pillai

S. Vaiyapuri Pillai

Rao Sahib Saravanapperumal Vaiyapuri Pillai was a renowned lawyer and Tamil scholar. An advocate by profession, he edited and published several Tamil classics from original manuscripts. He is best remembered as the editor of the Tamil lexicon published by the Madras University in the 1920s. He was a voracious reader and had in his own private collection thousands of books in Tamil, English, Sanskrit and Malayalam. His collection also included hundreds of palm-leaf manuscripts. This collection was later donated to the National Library of India in Kolkata. .

Sanjay Subrahmanyam

Sanjay Subrahmanyam

Sanjay Subrahmanyam is an Indian historian who specialises in the early modern period and in connected history. He is the author of several books and publications. He holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at UCLA which he joined in 2004.

Noboru Karashima

Noboru Karashima

Noboru Karashima was a Japanese historian, writer and Professor Emeritus in University of Tokyo, Japan. He also served as Professor Emeritus at the Taisho University, Japan. He was a prominent scholar of Asia in the studies of south Indian and South Asian histories. He has rewritten historical accounts on medieval south India and published a number of writings.

Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin is a varna as well as a caste within the Hindu society. In Vedic- and post-Vedic Indian subcontinent, Brahmins were designated as the priestly class as they served as priests and spiritual teachers. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra.

Dravidian movement

Dravidian movement

The Dravidian movement in British India started with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar along with T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahmins representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras Presidency.

Indian History Congress

Indian History Congress

Indian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 35,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or Life Members.

Historiography

Historiography

Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches. Scholars discuss historiography by topic—such as the historiography of the United Kingdom, that of WWII, the pre-Columbian Americas, early Islam, and China—and different approaches and genres, such as political history and social history. Beginning in the nineteenth century, with the development of academic history, there developed a body of historiographic literature. The extent to which historians are influenced by their own groups and loyalties—such as to their nation state—remains a debated question.

Sangam period

Sangam period

The Sangam period or age, particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka dating back to c. 3rd century CE. It was named after the mythical and legendary Sangam academies of poets and scholars centered in the city of Madurai.

Dravida Nadu

Dravida Nadu

Dravida Nadu was the name of a proposed sovereign state demanded by the Justice Party led by the founder of the self-respect movement, E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by C. N. Annadurai for the speakers of the Dravidian languages in South India.

Source: "K. A. Nilakanta Sastri", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 16th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._A._Nilakanta_Sastri.

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Further Reading

Pandya dynasty

Pallava dynasty

Kulottunga I

V. S. Srinivasa Sastri

Maraimalai Adigal

Karikala

Ilamchetchenni

Kulasekhara Alvar

Srimara Srivallabha

Tondaimandalam
Bibliography

In all, Nilakanta Sastri authored 25 historical works mostly on the history of South India.[9]

  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1929). The Pāṇḍyan Kingdom from the Earliest Times to the Sixteenth Century. Luzac.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1932). Studies in Chola history and administration. University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1935). The Cholas. University of Madras.
    • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1955). The Cholas (revised 2nd ed.). University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1936). A comprehensive history of India. Orient Longman.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1941). Historical method in relation to problems of South Indian history. University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1945). Gleanings on social life from the Avadanas. Indian Research Institute.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1946). Further sources of Vijayanagara history. University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1948). The Tamil kingdoms of South India. The National Information & Publications.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1949). South Indian Influences in the Far East. Hind Kitabs.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1949). History of Sri Vijaya. University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1955). A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. Oxford University Press.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; H.S Ramanna (1956). Historical method in relation to Indian history.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1957). A Comprehensive History of India. Orient Longman.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1963). Development of religion in South India. Orient Longman.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1964). The Culture and History of the Tamils. K. L. Mukhopadhyay.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1964). Sources of Indian history with special reference to South India. Asian Publishing House.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1965). A great liberal: speeches and writings of Sir P. S. Sivaswami Aiyar. Allied Publishers.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; G. Srinivasachari (1966). Life and culture of the Indian people: a historical survey. Allied Publishers.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1967). Cultural Contacts Between Aryans and Dravidians. Manaktalas.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1967). Age of the Nandas and Mauryas. Motilal Banarsidass.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta; G. Srinivasachari (1971). An Advanced history of India. Allied Publishers.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1972). Foreign Notices of South India: From Megasthenes to Ma Huan. University of Madras.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1972). Sangam literature: its cults and cultures. Swathi Publishers.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1974). Aspects of India's history and culture. Oriental Publishers.
  • Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1978). South India and South-East Asia: studies in their history and culture. Geetha Book House (Mysore).
Notes
  1. ^ a b S. Singaravelu (1982). "Obituary: Professor K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1892-1975)". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 55 (1): 94. JSTOR 41492918.
  2. ^ The Modern Review. Prabasi Press Private, Ltd. 1975. p. 22.
  3. ^ a b c d Rahman, M. M. (2006). Encyclopaedia of Historiography. Anmol Publications PVT LTD. p. 346. ISBN 81-261-2305-2, ISBN 978-81-261-2305-6.
  4. ^ "Famous Alumni". Alumni Association of Delhi and North India,Madras Christian College. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d S Ganesan, ed. (1971). Professor K. A. Nilakanta Sastri felicitation volume: in commemoration of his 80th birthday. Prof. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri Felicitation Committee. pp. About Section.
  6. ^ Journal of Indian history, Volume 53. Dept. of Modern Indian History. 1975. p. 350.
  7. ^ Muthiah, S. (19 April 2004). "High school to university". The Hindu: Metro Plus. Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 12 November 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ "History". Department of History, University of Madras. Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Sreedharan, E. (2004). A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000: 500 BC to AD 2000. Orient Longman. p. 462. ISBN 81-250-2657-6, ISBN 978-81-250-2657-0.
  10. ^ Prasad, Rajendra (1984). Dr. Rajendra Prasad, correspondence and select documents, Volume 6. Allied Publishers. p. 168. ISBN 81-7023-002-0, ISBN 978-81-7023-002-1.
  11. ^ a b c d Vēṅkaṭācalapati, Ā. Irā (2006). In Those Days There was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History. Yoda Press. p. 2. ISBN 81-902272-7-0, ISBN 978-81-902272-7-8.
  12. ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, Ā. Irā (2006). In Those Days There was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History. Yoda Press. p. 3. ISBN 81-902272-7-0, ISBN 978-81-902272-7-8.
  13. ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, Ā. Irā (2006). In Those Days There was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History. Yoda Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 81-902272-7-0, ISBN 978-81-902272-7-8.
  14. ^ Noboru Karashima (2014). "Preface". A Concise History of South India. Oxford University Press. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-19-809977-2.
  15. ^ Ganapathy Subbiah 2007, p. 51.
  16. ^ Ganapathy Subbiah 2007, p. 52.
  17. ^ Ganapathy Subbiah 2007, p. 53.
  18. ^ Ganapathy Subbiah 2007, p. 55.

Bibliography

  • Ganapathy Subbiah (2007). "Sectional President's Address - Dakṣināpatha: Where does the path lead us?". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 67: 49–81. JSTOR 44147923.
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