Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha (IAST: Jagadguru Śaṅkarācārya Svāmī Bhāratīkṛṣṇa Tīrtha) (1884–1960), born Venkataraman Shastri (IAST: Veṅkatarāmaṇ Śāstrī), was an Indian Hindu monk and Shankaracharya of Govardhana matha in Puri, Odisha, from 1925 through 1960. He is particularly known for his book Vedic Mathematics, his being the first Jagadguru Sankaracarya in history to visit the West, and his connection with nationalist aspirations.
Venkataraman Shastri (IAST: Veṅkatarāmaṇ Śāstrī) was born on 14 March 1884 to a resolute Tamil Brahmin family. His father P. Narasimha Shastri was a tehsildar at Tirunelveli in Madras Presidency, who later became the Deputy Collector of the Presidency. His uncle Chandrasekhar Shastri was the Principal of the Maharaja's college in Vizianagaram, while his great-grandfather Justice C. Ranganath Shastri was a judge in the Madras High Court.
Venkataraman joined the National College in Trichinopoly. After this, he moved to the Church Missionary Society College and eventually the Hindu College, both in Tirunelveli. Venkataraman passed his matriculation examination from Madras University in January 1899, where he also finished first.
Although Venkataraman always performed well in subjects such as mathematics, sciences and humanities, he was also proficient in languages and particularly skilful in Sanskrit. According to his own testimonials, Sanskrit and oratory were his favourite subjects. Due to his knowledge of the language, he was conferred the title "Saraswati" at the age of 16 by the Madras Sanskrit Association in July 1899. At about that time, Venkataraman was profoundly influenced by his Sanskrit guru Vedam Venkatrai Shastri.
Venkataraman passed the B.A. examination in 1902. He then appeared for the M.A. examination for the American College of Sciences in Rochester, New York from the Bombay centre in 1903. He also contributed to W. T. Stead's Review of Reviews on diverse topics in religion and science. During his college days, he also wrote extensively on history, sociology, philosophy, politics, and literature.
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