Varanasi: Shiva’s Holy Land

Sri Vagish Shastri

Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi, better known as Vagish Shastri, is an Indian Sanskrit grammarian, linguist, tantrist and yogi. In 2018, Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri for his work in the field of literature & education. Shastri was born in the city of Khurai, in Madhya Pradesh in 1934. His primary education was in Khurai, followed by his education in Vrindavan and Benaras. He started his teaching career as a lecturer of Sanskrit at Tikmani Sanskrit College, Varanasi in 1959 and soon became the Director and Professor of the Research Institute at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi in the year 1970. He served this prestigious academic post for about three decades. He received his Master degree Vyākaraņa Āchārya (1959); PhD Vidyāvāridhi in Grammar and Historical Linguistics (1964), German Diploma (1966) and D.Litt. Vāchaspati (1969) from Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. He is anecdotally known for having taught Sanskrit to Madonna.