58. बहुभाषाविशारदः Bahu-bhāṣā-viśāradaḥ

One who was proficient in many languages

His Holiness was a veritable polyglot who could converse with people all over the country with ease. Since He was born and brought up in Bengaluru and studied till the eighth standard there, He was fluent in reading and writing Kannada. He had a little exposure to English as well. His further studies were at Sringeri where He mastered Sanskrit. His mother-tongue was Telugu but He picked up much Telugu only later by Himself through reading and on his tours. Though He did not formally study Tamil, He picked it up through His interactions with those speaking Tamil, and could freely converse and discourse in the language. He took personal interest in learning Hindi, a language He relished, and in which He was, to a large extent, self-taught. He was so fluent in Hindi that, on listening to Him converse and discourse in Hindi, many native Hindi speaking people found it hard to believe that Hindi was not His mother-tongue. In fact they fondly referred to Him as, ‘hamāre svāmī-ji (our Swamiji)’. Thus, wherever He went in the country, His Holiness could freely converse and connect to people in a language that they could understand. He enthralled and enlightened the audiences with His benedictory addresses in all of these languages, namely Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit.

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In August 1954, the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, visited Sringeri. His Holiness was then 34 years old, and had not undertaken any tour, let alone to North India.

160 58. Bahu-bhāṣā-viśāradaḥ

The meeting between the senior Jagadguru and the President took place in Goddess Śāradāmbā’s temple. His Holiness, who was present, translated into Sanskrit for His Guru what Dr. Rajendra Prasad said in Hindi, and translated for him into chaste Hindi what the senior Jagadguru spoke in Sanskrit. The President was highly impressed and the senior Jagadguru was pleased.

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In the course of His first all-India tour, His Holiness reached Madurai on 18^th February, 1965, and camped there for a little over a month. Śrī Nirañjana Deva Tīrtha, the pontiff of the Govardhana Peetham of Puri visited Him there. The two Jagadgurus sat side-by-side on the same platform and delivered their discourses.

The Śaṅkarācārya of Puri spoke fluently in Sanskrit. One of the paṇḍitas who was present was asked to render the speech in Tamil. He, however, began to meander and the rigmarole was not faithful to the thoughts of the Ācārya. His Holiness relieved the paṇḍita by saying, “I shall translate the speech myself.” He gave a precise and clear rendering of the Puri Ācārya’s discourse. Those familiar enough with Sanskrit to follow the original discourse were surprised to note that His Holiness had made a sentence-by-sentence translation, despite the speech having been long. The next day, both the Jagadgurus delivered their discourses in the famed Meenakshi Amman Temple. On this occasion, His Holiness straightaway volunteered to translate the Puri Ācārya’s speech so as to avoid any confusion. This time too His translation was accurate.

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The following was narrated by Sri Jandhyala Narayana Murthy.

“Until the year 1961, I had not even heard the name of Sringeri. I happened to purchase a book on Jagadguru Śrī Candraṣekhara Bhāratī Mahāsvāmin and found it to be rather attractive, but did not pursue it further.

“That year, His Holiness stopped by at Vijayawada, my hometown, for just one day, while on His way from Hyderabad to Chennai. It was during that night’s Candramaulīṣvara-pūjā that I had my very first darśana of Him. His Holiness came to Vijayawada again in 1965, and this time I invited Him to grace my house. He acquiesced.

“After His afternoon bhikṣā at my place, He sent for me and spoke with me for a while. He then noticed some photographs that were on the walls of the room. Pointing to one, He asked, ‘Who is this person?’ ‘My late father,’ I answered. ‘What was His name?’ He queried. ‘Shivanna Shastri’ was my answer. His Holiness asked, ‘Is it the same Shivanna Shastri who authored the Hindi-Telugu Dictionary?’ When I replied in the affirmative, His Holiness exclaimed, ‘Aha! I did not know that you were Shivanna Shastri’s son! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? It is only with the help of his book that I learnt Telugu! See! I have the volume here with me!’ Saying so, He picked up the dictionary He had next to Him and showed it to me. From that moment onwards, I felt that His Holiness’s affection for me increased manifold.”

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