The Institute was founded in March 1944 to perpetuate the memory of the great savant Prof.Sastri. The formal inauguration was in the year 1945 by Mr. S.V. Ramamurthy, I.C.S., the then Adviser to the Governor of Madras. Dr.Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India visited and appreciated the work of the Institute and unveiled the portrait of the first President of the Institute Rt.Hon’ble V.S.Srinivasa Sastri.
Renowned personalities like Rt.Hon’ble V.S.Srinivasa Sastriar, Dr.Sir.S.Radhakrishnan, Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, Sri S.Sathyamurthy, Prof.M.Hiriyanna, Dr.C.Kunhan Raja, Sri S.Vaiyapuri Pillai, Sri K.Balasubramania Iyer and Dr.A.Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar were actively associated with the Institute as Presidents, Secretaries and members. Dr.V.Raghavan Sanskrit scholar of international repute, was the founder-secretary and mainstay of the Institute.
The Institute made rapid strides under the inspiring guidance of Dr.V.Raghavan assisted by a handful of very dedicated scholars. The institution has completed more than 60 years since its inception and it is one of the three in India and the only one in South India that fosters Sanskrit and Indological studies. It is also one of the integrated language study institution that combines teaching, research, curatory, vedic training and publishing and is the home to some of the finest scholars and leaders in literature, philosophy and language. It is a revered and respected institution globally for the repository of rare and sacred books, magazines and works and lineage of outstanding guides and research coordinators. It is a recognized center for foreign students for the Doctoral and Post Doctoral studies through USEFI and AIIS and is affiliated to the University of Madras for M.Phil and Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indological studies. It has collaboration with universities all over the world – USA, UK, Europe, Japan and other Asian countries.
The Institute has three staff on the academic side including the Director, two for the Administrative side and three to maintain the library. At the same time we are proud to say that there are eight Ph.D. scholars and four M.Phil scholars working for their degrees. We maintain a high standard of academic achievement through research work, publications and also by holding seminars and lectures.
There is a sweeping and refreshing wave that is breezing through India in the form of our youngsters' keenness and endeavour to explore, unravel and understand our glorious past and reinterpret their relevance and validity to the current. Much of the celebrated writings that provide authentic historical and invigorating facts and perspectives are in Sanskrit. The institution can proudly claim availability of most of the books, records, research papers and documents. The prestigious collection of the Institute includes many rare books that proclaim the wisdom of our ancient, in all branches of learning. Some of them are rich in content and very elegant in print.
The uniqueness of the Institute's library is that it preserves the precious personal collections of great savants such as Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, Prof. Hiriyanna, Dr.V.Raghavan and others which are hardly available elsewhere. The library comprises of nearly 60,000 books authored by great and popular writers on variety of Sanskrit and Indological subjects like Anthropology, Epigraphy, Ethics, Law, Language and Literature, Philosophy and Ayurveda. These books are in varied languages like Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, English, German and French. Besides books the library has journals and back volumes. The collection has received and continues to receive generous donation of books.
Similarly, the Institute also has a large collection of noteworthy palm-leaf manuscripts written in Grantha, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Nandinagari scripts. These manuscripts contain material related to Vedas, Epics, Srauta, Dharmasutras, Philosophy, Literature etc., special mention may be made of Manuscripts written in Manipravala style. The Library also holds the Xerox copies of the Manuscripts on Tala presented by Dr.Robert E. Brown, San Diego State University, USA.
This old institute is looking forward to receiving monetary assistance to preserve the ancestry of our country. One of the projects which the institute would like to currently undertake is the preservation of these books & manuscripts. Another priority is to sustain the present strength of employees with full salary and recruit new hands for future succession plan so that the Sanskrit and Indological research that is conducted continues in the future.
This age old institute is one of our links to the rich past of our beautiful country and by preserving this place with all the treasure of books and research papers intact and continuing all its good work, we can pass on centuries of accumulated knowledge to the future generations.
Report by Dr. Kameswari, Director, KSRI
Contact Details +91 44 2498 5320, www.ksrisanskrit.in
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