V. Early boyhood

I happen to be the last son and issue of my parents. I was brought up in boyhood by my mother and second brother who was then the earning member of the family.

My primary education for three years and middle school were spent in Sira except for a period of one year when I was studying in Sringeri primary school, where my eldest sister Gangamma was living with her husband Krishna Somayaji. Primary school was just opposite to our house and during this period, my father happened to be one of the masters in the school before retirement.

My thread ceremony or upanayana (Munji) took place in Sira in 1919. It was a simple affair, and I call it‘ Ring a bell’ or ‘gante hodedu Janivaara haakidaru’. I was taught my sandhya vandana mantra’s and Rudra –namaka by my maternal uncle’s son Nanjunda shastry.

My eldest brother Ahobila Shastry rented a house in Harikatha bhagavathara samaja road from my maternal uncle’s son Nanjunda shastry at this time.

I studied in middle school at Sira only for two years, and later in the third year I happened to move to Channarayapatna middle school, where my third brother Shivarama Shastry was the sanskrit teacher. The location of this town was shown in an earlier map.

I appeared for Lower Secondary examination while I was there in 1922 and took Bangalore as the examination center. I passed the Lower Secondary Examination and Studied in Weslyan Mission High School in Mysore for one year and I studied in Weslyan Mission High School in Bangalore for two years. I furthur studied for Entrance class for one year at Weslyan Mission High School Bangalore with the benevolence of the Principal AR Fuller. I got Free Student Ship for two years in Weslyan Mission High School. I stayed with my fifth brother Sitarama Shastry for a period of three years till I passed Entrance Examination in 1927.

After completing my Entrance Examination, I left Bangalore to study at Mysore to study for BA degree examination. It is a point of interest to note that in 1927, there were only 15 High Schools in Mysore State. Out of the 1568 candidates for Entrance 476 were successful, I being amongst these 476 for the whole state.