Commitment

Pondering about his work in the press reminds me of a sad incident. Around 1902 or 1903 he lost his son. His daughter and son-in-law Dakshinamurthy too expired (may be due to plague). During one of these troubled times before the body would be taken to the crematorium Venkarakrishnaiah said to someone “Oh dear! today’s article isn’t ready yet? Go get paper and pen.” thus he made sure it was ready. This was his commitment to work.

The problem of the Indian Native States occupied DVG’s mind for over three decades (1915 to 1945). Before independence, our country comprised two parts: 1. British India consisting of provinces under direct British rule, 2. Native States ruled by Indian Princes. The struggle for freedom was largely confined to British India during the early years of the twentieth century. The champions of independence, fearing unnecessary delay and complication, left out Native States from their campaign. This landed the Princely States in soup.

Scholar of Literature

Elucidation of the Beauty of the Śāstras

Sharma has helped us not only by unknotting difficult minutiae of vyākaraṇa, sāhitya, and vedānta śāstras but also by throwing light on the beauty of each of these streams. Because of this holistic approach, Sharma’s personality could come to the forefront and displayed its brilliance. Thoroughness in scholarship and maturity of personality – the confluence of the two is extremely rare to see. Sharma was one such person.