Shivram Dattatray Joshi

Shivram Dattatray Joshi (1926–2013)[1] also known as S. D. Joshi, was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and grammarian based in Pune, Maharashtra.

Life

Personal life

Joshi was born in a family of Sanskrit scholars in Ratnagiri in Konkan, Maharashtra.[2] His father died when Joshi was a child.[2] He married Kalavati Bhagavat, his college classmate, in 1958.[2] Joshi had two children, a son named Anandavardhan (Nandan) and a daughter named Suvrata.[3] Joshi died on 29 July 2013 at the age of 87.[1]

Education and career

Joshi's initial learning was from his uncle Maheshwar Shastri Joshi in Pune.[2] He mastered Sanskrit grammar before the age of twenty, passing various examinations from Bengal, Baroda and Pune.[2] He began teaching at the Poona Sanskrit College and served as its principal from 1947 to 1955.[2]

Joshi was the teacher to Daniel Ingalls in 1950s.[2][3] Ingalls was very impressed with Joshi and persuaded him to come to Harvard University. As Joshi had learned Sanskrit only in the traditional system, he had to first complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1955, after which he applied for a fellowship at Harvard University.[2] Joshi completed his PhD from Harvard University in 1960 in the field of Sanskrit lexical semantics, with Ingalls as his advisor.[3]

Joshi returned to India in 1960 and joined the Department of Sanskrit Dictionary at the Deccan College, Pune.[2] In 1964, he joined the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit at the University of Poona as a Reader.[2] In 1970, he was appointed the Head of Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit at the university. From 1974 to 1987 he was the Director of Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit.[2] From 1987, he led the Deccan College Sanskrit Dictionary Project.[3] Joshi was a visiting professor at Harvard University from 1971 to 1972, and at Nagoya University from 1976 to 1977.[2]

Major works
  • Commentary on Patanjali’s Mahābhāṣya planned in 11 volumes, with J.A.F. Roodbergen, but which was abandoned after 2 volumes.[3]
  • Commentary on Pāṇini’s grammar in 15 volumes, with J.A.F. Roodbergen.[3]

Awards and recognition

Joshi was awarded the title of National Scholar (Rashtriya Pandit) by the President of India in 1991.[2]

Joshi is credited with attracting the attention of theoretical linguists to the Aṣṭādhyāyī.[3] He is sometimes referred to as the new Pāṇini.[1]

References
  1. "संस्कृतविश्वावर मोठा आघात" [Great loss to the world of Sanskrit]. Maharashtra Times (in Marathi). 31 July 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  2. Deshpande, Madhav (1999). "Preface". In Deshpande, Madhav; Bhate, Saroja (eds.). Paninian Studies: S.D. Joshi Felicitation Volume. Center for South Asian Studies, The University of Michigan. pp. vii–xii. ISBN 9780891480648.
  3. "Obituary: Shivaram Dattatray Joshi (1926–2013)". Boston University. 31 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
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