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II
 
Arsha Vidyabhushana
 
Sri Jatavallabha Purushotham. M. A.
 
Sri Varanasi Subrahmanya Sastri, the author of this book,
"Astikatvamu," is a topranking Scholar and a great critic whose
talents are dedicated to the cause of Sanatana Lharma His wide
learning and deep erudtion. his spotless character and his self-
less concern for the elevation of his contemporaries from the
Dharmica and Spiritual stupour into which they have fallen for
reasons historical, are so well-known in Andhra L'esha that any
word from his pen will be read with the utmost respect. The pre-
sent volume, I am sure. will evoke great admiration from the
Pandit world and will be hailed as a saviour of the doubting
and sceptic section of the Hindu Community.
 
Efforts have been made. from time to time, to clear the
mist shrouding, periodically, the path of the Rishis. As the mist
hiding the sun from our view is dispelled by the rays of that
very sun, so the mist of scepticism. agnosticism and atheism
shrouding the Arsha Path can be dipelled by an application of
the rays of knowledge drawn from the Rishis themselves. Now
the medium, though which those rays pass, is Sri Subrahmanya
Sastry, who is pure and clear enough to transmit them faithfully
and enable the contemporary sceptics to te drawn to the path of
the sages. What Kumarila hatta did for his contemporaries by
writing Tantravartıka and Slokavartika and what Udayanachar-
ya did for his contemporaries by his Kusumanjalı, the same Sri
Sastri is doing for his contemporaries by this manumental book.
 
It is to the credit of Sri Sastri that a large number of the
younger generation of Pandits in Andhra Desa are his disciples.
He has done not a little for keeping up the torch of Arsha cul-
ture in Andhra His house at Pithapuram is verily a Gurukula,
In the Gurukula of his house, many a student received not only
spiritual and intellectual nowrishment. but physical nowrish-
ment as well. Students going to Pithapuram for Sastraic studies
were never worried about their boarding. Material fortune has
not forsaken Sastriji, as it does many other Scholars. He rema-
inds us of the Gita Verse "Suchinam Srimatam Gehe." He is no
more an Achirya of his students of that category alone, but of
a far wider circle of disciples extending over all parts of Andhra
Desa, through his lectures and writings.
 
It is a matter for gratification and gratitude that all the
wealth of scholarship and power of writing and speaking of Sas-
triji are harnessed to the noble cause of Vadic harma and Cul-
ture. The present work is a testimony not only of his learning
and talent but also of our ancient method of logic and criticism
which is adopted here with all its vigour and coercive force.
 
Jatavallabha Purushotham.
 
Satyanarayanapuram, VIJAYAVADA. 25-10-¹56