P V Naganatha Sasthri, (1867 to 1939) a.k.a Thanjavur Naganatha Sastry was a distinguished Sanskrit Scholar and a lawyer of no mean repute. He is the son of Vengu Sastry. They were originally from PudhukottaiIn fact the estate that the Vadapathimangalam family own is due to this man’s excellent presentation of the Hindu law of adoption to the Privy Council. This case is seminal in the legal interpretation and the case is called “Sundaratthanni vs. Ramanuja”.
P.V.Naganatha Sasthry – (1867 – 1930)
Recalling an incident on this great man’s legacy.
C.R Natarajan (Grandson of Shri Naganatha Sastry) was a close friend of K Rajagopal, brother-in-law of V S T. His father Kuppuswamy Mudalair was active in the management of the Thiru Arrooran Sugars. When CRN was in Beardsells, he met him to get business for Jute bags.During the conversation he realized that CRN was the grandson of P V Naganatha Sasthri, connecting the parentage. He called the person in charge of purchases and told him in Tamil, "In future you must give business to Natarajan as long as he is in Beardsells. Do not worry about the price". After the purchase clerk left , Kuppuswamy Mudaliar told me that the estate they enjoy is due to Naganatha Sasthri's exposition of Hindu Law. We always talk about the sins of the fathers, here is the munificence of the grandfather!
P.V.Naganatha Sastry was to Married to Meenakshi ammal (1875 to 1925) (Daughter of Muthuswamy Iyer of Madurai. See details in Madurai section).
They had 11 children. The below is taken from the Genealogy tree done by shri Naganatha Sastry’s son shri T.N.Muthuswamy.
a. Mohambal married to Subba Iyer of Thirukargavoor.
b. T.N.Vaidhyanathan married to Pichammal (Pichammal was the daughter of Venkatarama Iyer –founder of Madura college & also T.N.Vaidhyanathan’s maternal uncle)
c. T.N.Kalidasan married to Saraswathi
d. Chellammal (a.k.a Cadavasal Patti) married to Cadavasal Rama Iyer (refer to Cadavsal family in the subsequent sections)
e. T.N.Muthuswami (Geology Professor,Presidency college,Annamalai University,Saugar University M.P)
f. Parvathy married to Duraiswami
g. Kamakashi married to Umayalpuram Muthuswamy
h. Lakshmi married to R.Jayaramana
i. T.N.Subramaniam (The child died when he was 5 years old)
j. Gowri married to R.Appuswamy
k. T.N.Viswanathan married to Savithri
CRN mama studied in Presidency college in Madras. The Head of Geology department was one T N Muthuswamy Iyer, his mother Chellammal [aka Lokanayaki] - younger brother [Naganatha Sastry’s son]. T N Muthswamy’s son T M Venkatraman, also studied in Presidency college
TN Muthusamy Iyer, shifted to Annamalai University at Chidamabaram as HOD, Geology Dept after a stint at Presidency college. Prof. Muthuswamy was in Annamalai in his last incarnation as professor. He had a stint in Sagar University after Presidency and before that was in Engineering College, Guindy.
There is one little gem that CRN mama recalls always.
His paternal grandfather C R Kunjithapatham Iyer and maternal grandpa PV Naganatha Sasthri were good friends, perhaps class fellows in Law. There was a talk of CDL patti (lokanayaki) being "reserved" for CDL Ramaiyer, but when they compared horsocopes, it was found that CDL patti was born in Aayilyam Nakshathram and that was not conducive to the longevity of the mother in law. The matter was shelved. Senior CRK Iyer lost his wife. One fine day CRK Iyer came from Nagappattinam to see PV Naganatha Sastri and told him that the only impediment for the marriage is not there any more and the alliance should be firmed up.
Apart from CRN hearing of this incident from his mother, his maternal uncle T N Viswanathan, who incidentally was the son-in-law of Mayavaram Srinivasa Sarma (Sundappa's father) used to quote his father as saying," Senior CRK [grandfather of CRK/CRN] was a wonderful man. Economically and socially he occupied a very enviable status. This was an example of his graciousness".
CRN mama found in Boston a copy of PVN Sasthri's treatise on Sanskrit grammar.
What a life they must have lead !!.
3 comments:
Received via mail from Shri Natarajan:
dear sunderasan,
I went through, your blog, its a splendid job done by you, on the contrary , i am in the process of forwarding these to my uncles, and their children, for their updates, just to add the branches to this family tree, I give below the branches of the late Prof T.N.Muthuswamy iyer's, children and grandchildren,
late Muthuswami iyer, was the retired professor of geology, from various universities, he got married to late Rajalakshmi, who bore him 4 children, 2 daughters and 2 sons, out of which one named Kuruvi died very young,
the eldest of them was Meenakshi, my late mother, she was a good veena exponent, and a winner of gold medal at a performance at the Madras music academy madras. His 2 sons are, Sri T.M . Naganath, who retired as the Area manager Alitalia Italian Airlines, and is also a Cavalier of the Italian government , for his contribution towards Italy, being a Honorary consul for Italy Madras, His younger brother is Sri T.M. Venkatraman, alias Tucker as he is known in the family circles, he is a retired commercial manager Indian airlines Madras. Both of them though aged live in Chennai. excepting my Mother Meenakshi who is no more,
I reckon this info could possibly expand the branches of the family tree, nevertheless I am forwarding this blog of yours to my uncles,& their family for their contribution, which I am sure will widen the family tree, for the future generations to remember their ancestors
I hope to send you more outputs for your blog, keep up this good work God bless you!.
kind regards
natarajan
Dear Sri Sundaresan,
Many thanks for your splendid write up. In fact, I was trying to trace out one of Sri Sastri's works on Siddhanta Kaumudi (which I would call as his masterpiece) when I came across this reference to your blog.
I would like to make one request - to you and also to the larger family - to reprint his works. They are of such great value that it is sad to see that his works can only be had in reference sections of very few libraries. I think the best way to honour his memory is to keep his works alive as that he is where he will live and breathe for more years to come.
To my knowledge, all of his works, including his masterpiece on 'Siddhanta Kaumudi' is out of print.
Kind Regards, AR
(ramachandran@gmx.net)
Comments received from Shri C.R.N in response to Shri A.R.Ramachandaran's inputs.
Sir, My mother and her siblings would have been thankful to you for your comments on my maternal grandfather. My mother was the third child of Naganatha Sasthri. There is no one of that generation alive now. I live in SanDiego and about ten years back, I was browsing in a rare books niche in Boston, McIntyre and Moore and found the first volume. When I was in India, I ltried to get the 2nd volume to complete the set but Motilal Banarasidas said that it is out of print. I have not given up my quest.
I must confess that I do not believe that any of us have knowledge of Sanskrit to appreciate the monumental work of our ancestor except to take pride, for no contribution of ours!
If you do not consider me impertinent or importunate, please advise your antecedents. I will communicate your views to my cousins. I do not expect Motilal Banarasidas will be interested in a reprint as it may not be economically viable. My nephew Sundaresan (Shyam) suggested digitalizing the two volumes but I do not wish to get into copyright infringement issues,
I look forward to hearing from you.
I am endorsing a copy to Shri Shyam, so that my comments are included in his blog.
Warm regards
c r natarajan
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