Dharmasreshta Award presented to Brahmasree P. Krishna Iyer

Brahmasree P. Krishna Iyer receives Dharmasreshta Award from Justice T. L. Viswanatha Iyer. (from left) Moorthy, Dr. P. S. Raman, Dr. V. Ramalingam, P. ananthasubramaniam, Prof. T. K. Devanarayanan

The Dharmasreshta Award for the year 2011 was presented to Brahmasree P. Krishna Iyer at Thrissur on Sunday, 1st of May 2011. It is for the outstanding contributions to the Spiritual Movement and in propagation of Sanskrit language. The award is instituted by Kerala Brahmana Sabha which carries a cash prize of Rs.10001, a citation and a statuette.

The award was presented by Justice T. L. Viswanatha Iyer on Sunday, the 1st of May 2011 at Janakee Nath Hall of Pushpagiri Brahmana Samooham, Thrissur. Dr. V. Ramalingam, State President of Kerala Brahmana Sabha presided over the meeting at 5.30 p.m.S. Moorthy (District Secretary, KBS, Thrissur) welcomed the gathering and P. Ananthasubramaniam (State General Secretary) delivered the vote of thanks. Prof. T. K. Devanarayanan President of KBS, Town Unit introduced the receipient of the award to the audience. The citation was presented by Prof. V. R. Ramakrishnan (Retired Principal, Kerala Varma College). Dr. P. S. Raman (State Vice President) and N. R. Parameswaran (State Joint Secretary) delivered felicitations.

Malliyoor Sankaran Namboothiri in 2006, M. H. Sasthrikal in 2007, K. V. Seshadrinatha Sasthrikal in 2008, Prof. V. Vaidyalinga Sarma in 2009 and Dr. M. Sambasivan in 2010 were the personalities to receive the honour in previous years.

P. Krishna Iyer is a Sanskrit scholar, residing at Thrissur since 1987. Born on 12th June 1928, Krishna Iyer had his schooling from Peringottukara high School and Pazhanji High School; later completed his graduation from St. Thomas College, Thrissur. He taught Mathematics in Peringottukara High School for a couple of years, then joined Postal Department in 1951 and retired in the year 1986 as Assistant Director. He started learning Sanskrit from his father and he successfully completed 'Samskritha Siromani' (Cultural Department, Government of Kerala) exam.

With his unparalelled style of rendering devotional and spiritual discourses, he has become a familiar personalty in the Bhagavatha Sapthaaha Sathrams conducted in various places. Since 1987, AIR (Thrissur) continues to telecast his discourses in the programme named 'Subhashitham' and a is the author of feature 'Mahabharatha Kathakal' appears in Sruthivani for last 196 issues. His contributions in the field of Namasankeerthana is also commendable.

P. Krishna Iyer is born to Parvathy Ammal and Perinkulam G. Padmanabha Sasthrikal who came to Thrissur from Palakkad to teach Sankrit in Brahmaswam Madhom Veda Padasala. Wife: Meenakshi (daughter of Somasundaram and Lakshmi Ammal, Nurani, Palakkad). Children: K. Geetha (bank of Baroda), Balaji (Malayala Manorama) and Sivakumar (Wipro). in-laws: Krishnamutrhy (Canara Bank), the honour in previous years.