Shripad Damodar Satwalekar (English: Shripad Damodar Satwalekar; born- 19 September, 1867, Maharashtra; died- 31 July, 1968) had a special contribution in the Indian cultural upliftment of the twentieth century. He was a top scholar studying the Vedas. Perhaps no other Indian has done as much deep study and contemplation of the meaning and intent of the Vedas as Satwalekar ji did. He wrote many articles on Vedic literature and established an educational institution named ‘Vivekvardhini’ in Hyderabad. His worship of knowledge, imbued with national ideas, was not liked by the Nizam there, that is why he had to leave Hyderabad soon. Shripad Damodar Satwalekar was honored with ‘Padma Bhushan’ by the Government of India in 1968 for his special contribution in the field of literature and education.
Shripad Damodar Satvalekar was born on 19 September 1867 in the ‘Sawantwadi’ princely state situated at the southern end of the Sahyadri mountain range.[1] He was born in 1850. His father’s name was Damodar Bhatt. His father Damodar Bhatt, grandfather Anant Bhatt and great grandfather Krishna Bhatt were all eminent scholars of the Rigvedi Vedic tradition. From childhood, Shripad Damodar Satvalekar was taught the Vedas. Anyway, due to their spiritual knowledge, the Satvalekar family had a lot of prestige in the society. Shripad’s schooling started at the age of eight. Acharya Chintamani Shastri Kelkar made him proficient in Sanskrit grammar.
An English officer Westrop started a painting school in Sawantwadi in 1887. Guru Malvankar’s painting there fascinated Shripad Damodar. He vowed to learn this art. His father Damodar Bhatt was also proficient in painting. Hence, Shripad’s paintings started appearing on the walls of the house. He was also unmatched in sculpture. He got education in ‘J.J. School of Arts’ and established Chitrashala in Hyderabad. Along with his business, he also started participating enthusiastically in the national movement. His article ‘Tejasvita’ written on the basis of Vedas was considered seditious, due to which he had to serve a jail sentence of three years.
By presenting a simple English translation of the Vedas, the oldest religious texts of the country, which are also considered the first religious texts of the world, Shripad Damodar promoted these great texts across the country to a greater extent than any other person or movement could. The translation of the four Vedas was a huge and time-consuming task and this was not Pandit Satvalekar’s actual profession. He was a skilled painter educated from the famous ‘J.J. School of Arts’ in Mumbai, but once he decided, he not only completed this huge task alone, but also set up his own press and arranged for its publication and after publication, despite living in faraway Maharashtra, he also took up the responsibility of its dissemination in North India. This was undoubtedly a matter of great pride. In his time, all the people who had knowledge of the Vedas had entered them after reading these translations. Not only this, even today many common people are found here and there who tell that they are understanding the Vedas by reading their translations.
Pandit Satvalekar had also made the first all India effort to promote Sanskrit language. The book ‘Sanskrit Swayamshikshak’ that he had prepared 80 years ago to teach this difficult language easily, has remained as popular even today as it was at that time. Along with that, he also started a program of examinations in Sanskrit through his institution, which was very successful. Kanhaiyalal Munshi’s famous institution ‘Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’ had later started a scheme of Sanskrit examinations on the lines of this program.
Pandit Satvalekar lived a long life. He lived for more than 101 years. When he attained the age of 90, he was felicitated in a grand ceremony in Bombay (Mumbai). It was presided over by Kanhaiyalal Munshi, founder of ‘Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’, a great Gujarati novelist and a prominent minister in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s government. After this, he was also felicitated publicly when he attained the age of 100 years. On 8 June 1969, Shripad Damodar suffered a stroke and died on 31 July 1969, at the age of 102.
