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KAVYAKANTHA GANAPATI MUNI
AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND WORKS
Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni (1878-1936) be-
longs to the rare race of intellectual and spiritual giants who
crowded into the narrow corridors of the last quarter of 19th and
first four decades of the 20th century to endow life, letters and all
endevours with meaning, purpose and altitude. He was a valiant
soldier in the cause of Truth and Divinity. For communing with the
Divine, certainly he was well-endowed, gifted as he was with mar-
vellous powers of mind, intellect and soul. Even highly learned
people of our time wonder at his indubitable versatile genius, keen-
ness of perception and understanding of our modern problems,
though he had never been to school all his life. His powers of
intellect and intuition had solved and untied many mystic knots.
His wide scholarship and studies in religious lore harmonized in
him all religions and schools of philosophy. He was a master of
metaphysics and his gift transported him into regions whence he
could see the entire manifestation. In fact, he belonged to the or-
der of the Rig Vedic seers who were gods among men.
The Muni's life story is sweet and all-absorbing and has
been beautifully rendered in the famous biography Vasiṣṭha
Vaibhavam by his foremost disciple, Sri Kapali Sastriar. Ganapati
Muni was born in Kalavarayi near Bobbili in Andhra Pradesh on
17th November 1878. He belonged to a family of Sri Vidya ini-
tiates (in vasistha gotram), which had actually migrated from a
village near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu in the late 16th or early
17th century (later the family was well-known as the
"Ayyalasomayajulu" family). His parents, Narasimha Sastry and
Narasamamba, had three sons, Ganapati being the middle one.
AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND WORKS
Vasishtha Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni (1878-1936) be-
longs to the rare race of intellectual and spiritual giants who
crowded into the narrow corridors of the last quarter of 19th and
first four decades of the 20th century to endow life, letters and all
endevours with meaning, purpose and altitude. He was a valiant
soldier in the cause of Truth and Divinity. For communing with the
Divine, certainly he was well-endowed, gifted as he was with mar-
vellous powers of mind, intellect and soul. Even highly learned
people of our time wonder at his indubitable versatile genius, keen-
ness of perception and understanding of our modern problems,
though he had never been to school all his life. His powers of
intellect and intuition had solved and untied many mystic knots.
His wide scholarship and studies in religious lore harmonized in
him all religions and schools of philosophy. He was a master of
metaphysics and his gift transported him into regions whence he
could see the entire manifestation. In fact, he belonged to the or-
der of the Rig Vedic seers who were gods among men.
The Muni's life story is sweet and all-absorbing and has
been beautifully rendered in the famous biography Vasiṣṭha
Vaibhavam by his foremost disciple, Sri Kapali Sastriar. Ganapati
Muni was born in Kalavarayi near Bobbili in Andhra Pradesh on
17th November 1878. He belonged to a family of Sri Vidya ini-
tiates (in vasistha gotram), which had actually migrated from a
village near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu in the late 16th or early
17th century (later the family was well-known as the
"Ayyalasomayajulu" family). His parents, Narasimha Sastry and
Narasamamba, had three sons, Ganapati being the middle one.