Pandit Motilal Shastri Memorial Lecture 2024

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Shri Shankar Shikshayatan organises Pandit Motilal Shastri Memorial Lecture every year. This year, on September 28, this lecture was successfully conducted in the Vachaspati Auditorium of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University.This lecture is organised every year as an annual festival of Shri Shankar Shikshayatan. In this lecture, two books were released by the guests present. One book is ‘Vedic Concept of Man and Universe’ written in English language. This book contains five lectures given by Pandit Motilal Shastri at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 1956. The English translation of that lecture was done by Rishi Kumar Mishra. A detailed, newly edited version has been brought out again. The second book is Ahoratravada Vimarsh. It is a review of Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s book named Ahoratravada. Both these books have been published in 2024 by DK Print World, Delhi.

The keynote speaker in this lecture was Prof. Krishna Kant Sharma, former Faculty Head, Sanskrit Vidya Dharmavigyan Faculty, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He revealed the contemporary importance of the book Indravijaya. He gave his lecture on various aspects of Indravijaya. Pandit Madhusudan Ojha accepts history in the Vedas. Other scholars do not accept history in the Vedas. If there is history in the Vedas, then the eternity of the Vedas will be destroyed. We read many stories in many verses of the Rigveda. In Indravijaya , Indra was the first king of our Bharat nation. Keeping Indra at the centre, the geography and history of Bharatavarsha has been revealed in this book.

Prof. Rajdhar Mishra, Grammar Department, Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Sanskrit University, Jaipur, who was present as a special guest, said that Indravijaya not only determines the geographical boundaries of Bharatavarsha, but the description of the world is also given in Indravijaya. The entire history of Bharatavarsha is proved by Shruti Praman. He said that various aspects of naming Bharat have been analysed. Bharatavarsha has four names – Bharatavarsha, Nabhivarsha, Arshabhavarsha and Haimavatvarsha. Four proofs for naming Bharat have also been presented in the book. Agnidhra’s son was Nabhi, Nabhi’s son was Rishabh, Rishabh’s son was Bharat, Bharatavarsha was named after them. Dushyant and Shakuntala’s son was Bharat, Bharatavarsha is named after them. In Shatapath Brahman, Agni is called Bharat, on this basis also the name Bharatavarsha is derived. The name Bharat also means where sustenance and nourishment is provided for.

Prof. Santosh Kumar Shukla, Jawaharlal Nehru University, welcomed all the guests and introduced Shri Shankar Shikshayatan’s principal objectives. He said the institute was founded by Rishi Kumar Mishra. Mishraji’s guru was Pandit Motilal Shastri, Motilal Shastri’s guru was Pandit Madhusudan Ojha. In this way, Shri Shankar Shikshayatan is associated with the propagation of Vedic science through guru tradition. He gave a detailed presentation on Pandit Madhusudan Ojha’s Indravijaya.


The programme was presided over by Prof. Bhagirath Nand of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit University. He explained the importance of Indravijaya. He said that iron was not invented in the Vedic period. But stone was available everywhere. Indra’s thunderbolt was made of stone. Here stone means the hardest substance. Kalidas has also said in his epic Raghuvansha that in the course of narration of Raghucharit, King Raghu’s horse came from Iran. This evidence proves that India’s borders were very wide.

Mr Anand Bordia, trustee of Shri Shankar Shikshayatan, thanked all the scholars present. A

The lecture began with the melodious singing of Vedic Mangalacharana by Prof. Gopal Prasad Sharma of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit University and Prof. Mahanand Jha of Laukika Mangalacharana. The programme was conducted by Dr. Mani Shankar Dwivedi of Sanskrit Department of Jamia Millia Islamia University. Many scholars from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit University, Jamia Millia Islamia University, research students and Sanskrit lovers participated enthusiastically in the lecture and made the programme a success.

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