Keshavram Kashiram Shastri
Encyclopedia
Keshavram Kashiram Shastri was born on 28 July 1905 at Mangarol in Junagadh district
Junagadh district
Junagadh District is a district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Junagadh.-Geography:The district is located on the Kathiawar peninsula in western Gujarat. It is surrounded by Rajkot District , Porbandar District , Amreli District...

 of Gujarat. He was the founding leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
He was among the dignitaries who attended the first meeting of VHP in 1964 and since then continuously associated with the VHP work and was head of the Gujarat unit also.

Biography

K. K. Shastri completed matriculation from Mumbai University in 1922. Later he studied poetry, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 language and grammar. He did his Diploma in Literature from Saurashtra University
Saurashtra University
The Saurashtra University is one of the significant universities in Gujarat state in India. This university was established on 23 May 1967 in Rajkot city, the administrative headquarters of Rajkot district. Presently, 272 colleges in Amreli, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Rajkot and Surendranagar...

. He started his career in teaching as an assistant teacher of Sanskrit at Coronation High School in 1925 in Mangrol (Distt: Junagadh - Gujarat)& Left it because of Muslim Management. Later he joined Sanskrit Pathshala as a part-time teacher. He became assistant editor of Prajabandhu (Gujarati weekly) in Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...

 in 1936. He worked with Gujarat Vernacular Society and Gujarat Assembly in 1937. He joined L.D. Institute of Learning and Research in 1958. He also worked as an honorary lecturer of Gujarati at the B.J. Institute of Learning and Research. He was an associate professor of Sanskrit and Gujarati at the B.D. Women's College. He joined the Gujarat Research Society in 1961 as the honorary Regulator.

Achievements

He guided more than 19 researchers in completing their Ph. D degrees and more than 1500 other graduate students in Gujarati literature. He was regarded as a mobile dictionary of Gujarati language
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, grammar as well as Vedic literature. A guide and patron to innumerable students, followers and VHP workers, Shastriji himself was an institution. Besides 240 books to his credit, he has written over 1500 research papers in Gujarati, Sanskrit, Hindi and English.

He was conferred Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

decades back recognizing his talent and outstanding services to the Gujarati literature. He won gold medals from Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, Gujarat Itihas Parishad and Nadiyad Pushtmargiya Library and bronze medal from Gujarat Research Society.

Controversy

In 2002 Gujarat riots, he himself admitted in an interview given to Rediff.com in March 2002, rather proudly, for looting and killing of Muslims. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed a case against no of accused where Keshavram Kashiram Shastri is accused number 23 in the complaint.

http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2009/may09/cover1.html

Books

Shastriji’s prominent publications are as under,
  • Brihad Gujarati Kosh (part I&II)
  • Vanaushadhi Kosh (which is translated in 10 languages)
  • Jaisamhita (a 8800 episode book on Mahabharat)
  • Bharatsamhita
  • Shrimadbhagwat Puran (Sanskrit).
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