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V. Raghavan (1908–1979) was one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars and Indologists of twentieth-century India, whose work spanned Sanskrit poetics, dramaturgy, aesthetics, musicology, manuscript studies, and classical performance traditions. Over the course of his career, he authored more than 120 books and over 1,200 scholarly articles, contributing significantly to the study and preservation of India’s intellectual and artistic traditions.
As Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit at the University of Madras, and through his extensive work with manuscripts, conferences, translations, and cultural institutions, Raghavan played a major role in shaping modern Sanskrit scholarship in India and abroad. His contributions were recognized with the Padma Bhushan in 1962 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1966.
Venkataraman Raghavan was born on August 22, 1908, in Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, to Venkataraman and Meenakshi. After losing both parents at the age of seven, he was raised by his aunt, Kamalamba, alongside his siblings.
He studied at Presidency College, Madras, graduating in 1930 with several academic distinctions. He later pursued higher studies in Sanskrit under Prof. S. Kuppuswamy Sastri at the University of Madras, where he completed his doctoral research between 1934 and 1935 on Bhoja’s Srngara Prakasa, a major text on poetics and dramaturgy.
This early work established the direction of his lifelong engagement with Sanskrit aesthetics and literary theory.
Raghavan joined the Department of Sanskrit at the University of Madras in 1934 and later became its Head, serving until his retirement in 1968. Alongside university teaching, he contributed extensively to the institutional development of Sanskrit and classical arts scholarship in India.
He was closely associated with the Madras Music Academy, serving as its Secretary from 1944 until 1979, and played an important role in documenting and theorizing Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam within scholarly frameworks.
He also founded the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute and edited important academic journals, including the Journal of Oriental Research. His academic work frequently extended beyond India through travels across Europe, the Soviet Union, and Asia to study and catalogue Sanskrit manuscripts preserved in international collections.
Raghavan was also involved in national and international scholarly initiatives, including Sanskrit commissions and global Sanskrit conferences, contributing to the internationalization of Sanskrit studies during the twentieth century.
A major aspect of Raghavan’s contribution lies in the recovery, editing, and interpretation of Sanskrit manuscripts and aesthetic treatises. His work on Bhoja’s Srngara Prakasa, for which he later received the Sahitya Akademi Award, remains foundational to the study of Indian poetics and dramaturgy.
He also edited and translated important works such as Nrtta Ratnavali and Natakalaksanaratnakosa, while contributing significantly to the study of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music through both historical and theoretical writings.
Among his major publications are The Indian Heritage, selected by UNESCO, Prayers, Praises and Psalms, Sri Muttuswami Dikshita Charita Mahakavyam, and condensed retellings of the Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagavata. His monumental bibliographic work, New Catalogus Catalogorum, became an essential reference source for Sanskrit manuscript studies.
🔸Padma Bhushan, Government of India (1962) 🔸Sahitya Akademi Award (1966) 🔸Sahitya Akademi Fellowship 🔸Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship 🔸Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship (1969–1972) 🔸P. V. Kane Gold Medal 🔸Honorary D.Litt., Banaras Hindu University
V. Raghavan’s contributions remain central to modern Sanskrit and Indian aesthetic studies. His work in manuscript cataloguing, particularly the New Catalogus Catalogorum, continues to serve as a foundational research resource for scholars worldwide.
Through his writings on poetics, music, dance, and dramaturgy, he helped establish stronger connections between textual scholarship and India’s living artistic traditions. His influence continues across Sanskrit studies, Carnatic musicology, Bharatanatyam scholarship, and the broader field of Indian aesthetics.
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