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On June 24, 1950, The Hindu observed: "The death of Mr. R.
Anantakrishna Sastri, popularly known as Pandit R. A. Sastri, at Nagerkoil in
June 15th at the ago of 84, removes from our midst an erudite scholar. He
devoted his long life to the study and propagation of our ancient learning.
Though he came of a poor family in Aryanayakipuram near Tirunelveli, he had
at a very early age gone out far and wide in search of knowledge. One of
his patrons was the late V. P. Madhava Rao, then the Dewan of Mysore and
another was the late Gaikwar of Baroda. His learning and zeal made him
useful to several libraries and institutions in India which acquired,
through his help and influence, valuable Sanskrit manuscripts on various
branches of knowledge. Many and varied were his literary contributions
during the last 50 years. His English translations of Lalita Sahasranam and
Vishnu Sahasranama are well-known.
He was a great traveller, and went as far so the Arctic regions to see
the midnight sun on which he wrote a brochure. He later toured in Europe
and in Rome saw the Pope. In Paris he gave, at the request of Prof. Sylvain
Levi, two gramophone recordings of Vedic recitals. Simple and austere in
habits, ever active and vigorous, he kept perfect health in body and mind
to the last and gave all his time and energy to the study and teach of
Hindu philosophy and religion, In December 1949 he held Upanishad classes
in Rishikesh near Hardwar.
Pandit Sastri had heard from his teachers and knew from allusions in the
works he studied of the existence of rare and precious commentaries, the
prized possession and heir looms of an unbroken line of Pandits and
Scholars, neglected alas, by their scions lured by the glamour of the
imperial tongue and its opportunities for ambition. He felt that the day
would soon dawn when there will be a revival of interest in those palm leaf
manuscripts enshrining the glorious culture of India and he threw himself
to the task of collecting and preserving them for posterity in a spirit of
dedication with the zeal of a missionary.
For this purpose he was never tired of travelling into the most Interior
of villages, many of which were inaccessible except by foot. If it were the
marshy places in Bengal he rode over elephants and if it were the plains,
covered 30 to 40 miles on bicycle which is not attempted by everybody. The
following write-up attempts to detail his life and if it should excite our
young men to emulate the zeal with which he pursued the one aim in his
life, this brief lite-sketch would not have been written in vain.
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