TIMELESS LEGACY Pt. Sudhakar Chaturvedi

The Vedic Scholar who taught Gandhi and Gurudev

- Bhavesh Parekh

In 1919, when the Jalianwala Bagh episode occurred, a 24-year-old journalist was reporting for a newspaper. As the firing started, he hid in a drain and watched the horrific sight unfold in front of him. Eventually, he was the sole person who performed the last rites of all those who were massacred that day.

The young man was none other than Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi who was to become Mahatma Gandhi’s first Sanskrit teacher and Gurudev’s Vedic teacher in the later years.

Master of The Four Vedas

Born towards the end of the 19th century, in a Brahmin Kannada family, at Bengaluru, young Sudhakar was educated at a traditional Gurukul at Haridwar, headed by Swami Shraddhananda. Driven by a penchant for higher knowledge, the boy soon went on to master all the four Vedas and earn the title of “Pandit Chaturvedi.” Years later, Panditji translated the Vedas into Kannada and made the ancient texts available in 20 volumes. he also started Veda Taranga, a Kannada magazine dedicated to Vedic Studies.

Gandhi’s Postman

Panditji was fondly known as Gandhi’s Postman, as he took down notes dictated by Gandhi ji and delivered the letters addressed to the Viceroys or Governors-General. Gandhi ji called him ‘Bangalori’.