Keshavram Kashiram Shastri

Keshavram Kashiram Bambhaniya (Gujarati (ISO 15919): Keśavarāma Kāśīrāma Śāstrī), also known as K. K. Shastri, 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

Shastri completed his school up to matriculation (conclusion of secondary education) and then was taught Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and Vedānta by his father, Kāśīrāma Karaśanajī Śāstrī (Bāṁbhaṇiyā). He then spent 1923 as a teacher in Caṁdavāṇā, a village near Mangrol, Gujarat, following which he served as a part-time teacher in his father's Sanskrit school. He then spent 11 years as an assistant teacher in Coronation High School in Mangrol.

In 1936 he moved to Ahmedabad and became an editor of Prajābaṁdhu, a Gujarati weekly, and in the following year joined the Gujarat Vernacular Society as a researcher. In 1939, he began teaching postgraduate courses on Apabhraṃśa and Old Gujarati literature. In 1944, the University of Bombay gave him permission to give M.A. exams, and in 1955 gave permission to advise PhD students and taught at the university for 42 years. He also served as an adjunct professor at Balabhai Damodardas Women's College in Ahmedabad from 1961 to 1971. Since 1960, he served as an honorary professor at the B. J. Institute of Learning in Ahmedabad.

He was a mentor to the current Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modi.

Achievements

File:K K Shastri Educational Campus Ahmedabad.jpg

K K Shastri Educational Campus, located in Maninagar, is named after him

In 1952 he was awarded the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak (Ranjitram Gold Medal) by the Gujarat Sahitya Sabha for his lifetime research on Gujarati literature and grammar.

Death

He died September 9, 2006, in Ahmedabad at the age of 101.

Books

Shastri's prominent publications are as under,

• (collaborative)