Pt. Bhagawat No More

[Guest guest]

Pt. V. B. Bhagawat, a renowned teacher and grammarian, passed away on

Monday,

9th February, at his residence in Pune. He was 86.

Pt. Bhagawat was associated with a number of Indological Institutes in Pune:

Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV), Vaidika Sa.m;sodhana Ma.n.dala,

Veda;saastrottejaka Sabhaa, Pune University, Bhandarkar Oriental Research

Institute and Praaj~napaa.tha;saalaa (Wai). He studied Sanskrit grammar in

Paa.tha;saalaas at Ichalkaranji, Wai and Varanasi. He was Principal of Shri

Balmukunda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of TMV right from its inception in 1948,

where he worked until his retirement in 1978. During his tenure as Principal

he introduced a scheme of basic Sanskrit examinations and prepared a series

of excellent primers in lucid Sanskrit called "gadya-padya-maalaa." After

his retirement from TMV, he continued to work in Praaj~napaa.tha;saalaa

(Wai) and BORI. There are several research works and articles to his credit.

Among his pupils are Ashok Aklujakar, S. S. Bahulkar, Pascale Bernede,

Saroja Bhate, Johannes Bronkhorst, Vit Bubenik, Madhav Deshapande, Pradeep

Gokhale, John Kelly, Christopher Minkowski, Iwao Shima, Stephen Thompson,

Toshiya Unebe, Toshihiro Wada,

Dominik Wujastic and so on.

For many of us, he was not only a teacher. We were very close to his family.

Pt. Bhagawat and Mrs. Bhagawat treated us like their children.

His sacred memory will always become a source of inspiration for us.

Shrikant Bahulkar

Head,

Shri Balmukunda Lohiya Centre of Sanskrit and Asian Studies,

Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth,

Pune 411 037 India.

[Guest guest]

I am indeed sad to hear the passing of Pt. Bhagawat Shastri. I

studied with him since I was in my 5th grade until I finished my

MA. The TMV and particularly the Bhagawat home was like a

second home to me. For several years, I used to sleep in the

library of the TMV so that I could get up early at 5am in the

morning and have a class with Bhagawat Guruji. At 5am, he

would call me on the intercom to see if I was awake and ready.

During my recent visit to Pune in Dec 2003, I went to see him.

He was already in a rather serious condition, not speaking a

word and not even opening his eyes. I sat next to him holding

his hand and said: "Guruji, let us read some Ashtadhyayi." He

neither opened his eyes nor said a word, but smiled gently in

response to my words. That is my last memory of him, a smiling

face. May his atman attain peace.

 

Madhav Deshpande

 

INDOLOGY, Bahulkar <bahulkar@p...>

wrote:

> Pt. V. B. Bhagawat, a renowned teacher and grammarian,

passed away on

> Monday,

> 9th February, at his residence in Pune. He was 86.

> Pt. Bhagawat was associated with a number of Indological

Institutes in Pune:

> Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV), Vaidika Sa.m;sodhana

Ma.n.dala,

> Veda;saastrottejaka Sabhaa, Pune University, Bhandarkar

Oriental Research

> Institute and Praaj~napaa.tha;saalaa (Wai). He studied

Sanskrit grammar in

> Paa.tha;saalaas at Ichalkaranji, Wai and Varanasi. He was

Principal of Shri

> Balmukunda Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya of TMV right from its

inception in 1948,

> where he worked until his retirement in 1978. During his

tenure as Principal

> he introduced a scheme of basic Sanskrit examinations and

prepared a series

> of excellent primers in lucid Sanskrit called

"gadya-padya-maalaa." After

> his retirement from TMV, he continued to work in

Praaj~napaa.tha;saalaa

> (Wai) and BORI. There are several research works and articles

to his credit.

> Among his pupils are Ashok Aklujakar, S. S. Bahulkar, Pascale

Bernede,

> Saroja Bhate, Johannes Bronkhorst, Vit Bubenik, Madhav

Deshapande, Pradeep

> Gokhale, John Kelly, Christopher Minkowski, Iwao Shima,

Stephen Thompson,

> Toshiya Unebe, Toshihiro Wada,

> Dominik Wujastic and so on.

> For many of us, he was not only a teacher. We were very close

to his family.

> Pt. Bhagawat and Mrs. Bhagawat treated us like their children.

> His sacred memory will always become a source of inspiration

for us.

> Shrikant Bahulkar

> Head,

> Shri Balmukunda Lohiya Centre of Sanskrit and Asian Studies,

> Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth,

> Pune 411 037 India.