Post No. 14,536
Date uploaded in London – 20 May 2025
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Shripad Damodar Satwalekar (19 September 1867 – 31 July 1968) was a great Vedic scholar. He is known for his paintings, social health, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedic literature. He was also the founder of the Swadhyaya Mandal – A Vedic Research Institute.
He translated all the four Vedas into Hindi and a few other north Indian languages. He was the editor of a few magazines and author of several books .
He was addressing Hindi audiences about Vedas . Once he started writing articles on Bhumi Sukta in the Atharva Veda. That was the first patriotic hymn in the world. The long Sukta sings about patriotism, glory of motherland and love for nature. Someone complained that it was against the ruling British government in India. They wanted to arrest S D Satwalekar for this write up. But he was hiding in different towns at the advice of his friends. But the British arrested him one day with the help of their spy network. Despite his clarifications, he was sent to prison. At the end, Annie Beasant and others used their influence and got him released.
There are some interesting information about S D Satwalekar. He lived for 101 years according to the Vedic dictum. Brahmins recite the Vedic mantra every day that we should live for one hundred years healthily.
Another information is that his Samskruta Swayam Sikshak book received very well and Sanskrit learners use this book until today.
His Bhagavad Gita commentary is one of the best commentaries according to learned scholars.
He wrote with his own hand in a foolscap size paper that went to 60,000 pages.
He authored over 400 books in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and English.
He was awarded Padma Bhusan in 1968. Many universities awarded him honorary doctortaes.
He was born in Kolgaon in Maharashtra; his father Damodar Bhatta, was a Rig Vedic scholar and a priest. Hi mother’s name was Laskhmibai. He learnt Vedas from the age of eight.
He was the Aundh Nagar Sangachalak of RSS for 16 years. His centenary celebration was attended by RSS Chief Sri M S Golwalkar.
He started one Vedic Mandir/ temple where all books from different religions were kept.
People from different political parties visited him and paid their respect.
Those who wanted to know the meaning of all the four Vedas read Sayana Bhashyam . S D S Vedic commentary in Hindi got the same merit.
He was inspired by Sri Dayananda Sarasvati, the founder of the Arya Samaj.
During his lifetime, he lived in different cities in North India and settled at Killa Pardi in Gujarat.
His important works are as follows:
- Commentaries on Vedas
- ṛgveda kā subodha bhāṣya (in four volumes; published from Swadhyay Mandal, Pardi)
- yajurveda kā subodha bhāṣya (in two volumes)
- sāmaveda kā subodha anuvāda
- atharvaveda kā subodha bhāṣya (in four volumes)
- vaidikasaṃhitāḥ
- ṛgveda mūla saṃhitā
- yajurveda mūla saṃhitā
- sāmaveda mūla saṃhitā
- atharvaveda mūla saṃhitā
- yajurvedīya kāṭhaka saṃhitā
- yajurvedīya maitrāyaṇī saṃhitā
- yajurvedīya kāṇva saṃhitā
- kṛṣṇa yajurvedīya taittirīya saṃhitā
- vedaviṣayakāḥ anyāḥ granthāḥ
- vaidika vyākhyānamālā
- go-jñāna kośa (A compilation of the proofs in the Vedas for the inviolability of cows and bulls and the proper contextual meaning of the mantras related to them and the explanation of the mantras related to cows)
- vaidika yajña saṃsthā
- mānavī āyuṣya
- dīrgha jīvana aura ārogya
- veda meṃ kṛṣividyā
- vaidika sarpa-vidyā ((with the assistance of Ramachandra Kashinath Kirloskar)
- veda-paricaya (for readers to practice Vedic mantras in simplicity)
- Puranic books
- mahābhārata-gītā
- mahābhārata (saṭīka) – 18 bhagon mein (Hindi translation of the text of the critical edition published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
- śrīmadbhagavadgītā (puruṣārthabodhinī hindīṭīkā)[2]
- mahābhārata kī samālocanā (Explanation and Discussion of Certain Aspects of the Mahabharata)
- Other books
- saṃskṛta pāṭhamālā
- saṃskṛta svayaṃśikṣaka (in two volumes) – Published by Rajpal and Sons, Delhi
Literary works
Satwalekar was interested in both individual and social health, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedas[7] (particularly in the analysis of the Vedas at the level of adhibhuta) and wrote several books on these subjects, including ‘
- Vaidika Yajña Saṃsthā,
- Sparśāsparśa,
- Agni-devatā Mantra-saṅgraha,
- Indra-devatā Mantra-saṅgraha, Āgama-nibandha-mālā,
- Yoga-sādhanā-grantha-mālā, the
- Vaidika vyākhyāna-mālā series,
- Subodha Bhāṣya, etc.[5]
- Marathi translation of Dayanand Saraswati‘s Satyarth Prakash
- Rigveda Bhaashya Bhoomika by Dayanand Saraswati – Marathi translation
- Rigveda Samhita[8]
- Atharveda in Hindi.[9]
- Sanskrit Svayam Shikshak (संस्कृत स्वयं-शिक्षक) – Self-learning book for learners of Sanskrit through the medium of Marathi. These were also available in Hindi and English(“Sanskrit Self Teacher”).
- Puruṣārtha-Bodhinī-Bhāṣā-Ṭīkā – A four volume Commentary on Bhagavad Gita – S.Rama calls this the best commentary on the Gita by a 20th century author[10][2]
- Translation of the Mahabharata – The Government of India assigned the task of translating the constituted text of the Mahabharata published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute to Satwalekar. After his death, the task was taken up by Shrutisheel Sharma.[11]
Hindi knowing people are very lucky to get S D S commentaries in the language. If someone translates his important woks in English and other South Indian languages it would be very useful.
–subham—
Tags—S D Satwalekar, Jail, Bhumi Suktam, Atharvana Veda, Sanskrit teaching,
Tamil and Vedas 