Sri Aurobindo and Sanskrit

Yogi, philosopher, revolutionary, writer, poet, critic-Sri Aurobindo is a multifaceted personality. A large number of books have been written on the various dimensions of Sri Aurobindo's genius. But very little is known about Sri Aurobindo's knowledge of Sanskrit language and literature, the new insight he has given into its origins, and about his original contributions to it. Though these may not be very large, in comparison to his other writings, they are sufficiently extensive and reveal his great mastery of the Sanskrit language.

This book is an attempt to provide a first introduction to this significant but not sufficiently explored topic. We hope it will bring out another hidden aspect of Sri aurobindo's rich personality and encourage some readers to delve deeper into this subject. This work assumes a special significance if we realize the importance of Sanskrit for the resurgence of India.

For Dr. Sampadananda Mishra it was a special joy to be engaged in the research and preparation of this book, because of his devotion to Sri Aurobindo and to Sanskrit. We are grateful to Ganapti Pattegar, Bryce Gringlington, Richard Hartz, Dr. H. Maheshwari and Dr. R.Y. Deshpande for their helpful suggestions and constant encouragement. We acknowledge with thanks the help received from Dr. A.K Ganguly, Dr. Vandana Gupta, M.S.Srinivasan and Indu Rai in preparing the manuscript.