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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