22nd September is the birthday of Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri is famously called Silver-Tongued Srinivasa Sastri. He was born on this Day 22nd September 1869, in an interior village Valangaiman. Born in a poor family he had his education in Kumbakonam.
Many would have the ‘story’ of a great scholar studied under the street lights. Yes. It was Srinivas Sastry only. Remembering the hard days of his student life, when he had to depend on street lights to study his lessons he spent a good portion of his earnings on poor students. There was a strange incident during his college days in Kumbakonam. He went to class once without a shirt as he had gotten drenched heavily in a sudden downpour on the way. When he was fined eight annas for ‘without shirt’ young Srinivasan with tears in his eyes told Principal Bilderbeck, “If I had eight annas I would have bought a new shirt and come”. Touched by the student’s pathetic words and his plight, he himself paid the fine and bought him a new shirt.
Forty years later when Sastri on a visit to London, as a Privy Councillor (a prestigious post under the British Regime), met his old teacher & Principal Bilderbeck in his country home. Bilderbeck threw a party for him and to the assembled friends he narrated the story of the shirt at the Kumbakonam college and proudly said” My boy who was poor then is now a Privy Councillor. My pride knows no bounds”. Now it’s Sastry’s turn to speak. Sastry took a box he was keeping with him and opened it. He took the shirt which was presented by Bildetrbeck and showed it to all the guests to their great amazement.
He was the Headmaster of the Hindu School, Triplicane and he had a singularly impressive and attractive way of speaking English and Sanskrit. He founded “Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS), a pioneer in the Cooperative movement. Sastri used his language and eloquence to present India’s case for self- Government in the Councils of Europe. Srinivasa Sastri was considered to be one of the top five orators ( in English )of the world. How the man from Kumbakonam attained this fame? The secret was the Webster’s Dictionary which was his Gita.
Sastry who was proficient in Sanskrit and English left behind a wealth of literature in the form of his speeches and writings. As per the suggestion of Mahatma Gandhi when he met Sastri in General Hospital, Madras, the thirty lectures on the Ramayana that he delivered in Madras Samskrit Academy were published by the Academy. The meeting hall in Luz, Mylapore, Chennai (opposite to IOB, Mylapore Branch) was named after him as “Srinivasa Sastri Hall”.Many cultural programs are regularly conducted here at least remembering the great Sastri who did the English language proud.
