Malladi Chandrasekhara Sastry


Malladi Chandrasekhara Sastry is a scholar and television personality who has specialized in the Vedas and Puranas texts in the Telugu and Sanskrit languages. His works have included commentaries on All India Radio during Bhadrachalam's Sitarama Kalyanam and Brahmotsavam festivals. For Ugadi day, he recites the Panchanga Sravanam. On television he hosts a show Dharma Sandehalu and Dharma Sukshmalu where he answers questions regarding the Purana and various aspects of Hinduism. The show is telecast on the Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel and formerly on the Doordarshan Saptagiri Channel. He is the principal of a college run by the trust named Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams where they do pravachan on the Puranas. He received the Raja-Lakshmi Award in 2005, and has also been conferred the title of Purana Vachaspati.

Biography

Early life and education

Sastry was born to a Dakshinamurthy couple at Hassanabada village, which is located in Krosuru mandal, in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. He is a native of Amaravathi village, Guntur district. His grandfather, Sriman Malladi Ramakrishna Chainulu, was not only an authority in Vedic and Sanskrit literature, but also a propagator of the Advaita Vedanta Siddhanta over Andhra Pradesh. Sastry studied in the fields of Vedas, vyakaranam, tarkam, poorva meemamsa, and vedanta sastram. He also studied the Puranas in Hinduism.
When he was 19, he delivered Pravachan about the Ramayana. His speaking ability allowed him to give a discourse at an event presided by scholar Viswanatha Satyanarayana at Vijayawada. Sastry cites the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, and the oratorios of Dattatreya among his favorite works for discourses.

Career

Sastry has established himself as an authority in the Vedas and the Astadasha Puranas texts. He provided commentaries on All India Radio during Bhadrachalam's Sitarama Kalyanam and Brahmotsavam festivals. On television, he hosts a show Dharma Sandehalu and Dharma Sukshmalu where he answers questions regarding the Purana and various aspects of Hinduism. The show is telecast on the Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel and formerly on the Doordarshan Saptagiri Channel.
On Ugadi day, he recites the Panchanga Sravanam . Writers have noted that he delivers his orations "with a pinch of humour".
He is the principal of a college run by the trust named Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams where they do pravachan on the Puranas.

Awards and accolades