Korada Mahadeva Sastri
Korada Mahadeva Sastri | |
|---|---|
Linguist, Author | |
| Born | Korada Mahadeva Sastri 29 December 1921 Machilipatnam, India |
| Died | 11 October 2016 (aged 95) Tirupati, India |
| Occupation | Professor of Telugu & Linguistics: Annamalai University, S.V. University, S.K. University, and Cologne University |
| Education | M.A. (Economics and Indian History), M.A. (Comparative Philology), M.A.(Telugu), D.Litt. |
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Madras, Madras University, Calcutta University |
| Notable works | Historical Grammar of Telugu, Descriptive Grammar and Handbook of Modern Telugu, Vyakarana Deepika, Telugu Desya Vyutpatti Nighantuvu, Andhra Vangmaya Parichayamu, Thus Spake Gandhi |
| Spouse | Saraswati |
| Relatives | Korada Ramachandra Sastri, Korada Ramakrishnaiya, korada Subrahmanyam |
| Website | |
| thekorada | |
Korada Mahadeva Sastri (29 December 1921- 11 October 2016) was an Indian linguist. His classic work Historical Grammar of Telugu was the first systematic study on the development of Telugu Language. It provides a survey of the historical development of the Telugu Language from the earliest times. This work helped decipher some Indus Valley seals. He was a founder member of the Dravidian Linguistics Association of India. He was awarded the 2011 C.P.Brown award and Sri Kalapurna award for his lifetime achievements.
Mahadeva Sastri hails from a family of renowned scholars: he was the son of Korada Ramakrishnaiya, the first Telugu scholar to work systematically on Comparative Dravidian Linguistics, the great-grandson of Korada Ramachandra Sastri, author of the first original Telugu play 'Manjari Madhukariyamu'. His academic lineage is equally impressive: he was a student of world renowned linguists Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Sukumar Sen, Kshitish Chandra Chatterji at Calcutta University, and famous historian K.A. Nilakanta Sastri at Madras University.
Mahadeva Sastri was highly influenced by the erudition of his father and his teachers, the speeches of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and the personality of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi with whom he worked closely as a volunteer (1946-1948) at the Charka (spinning wheel) Center in Karolbagh, Delhi. He participated in Gandhiji's evening prayers at Birla House on Albuquerque road, later renamed Tees January Marg.