Korada Subrahmanyam


Korada Subrahmanyam is an Indian Sanskrit grammarian and scholar. He served as a Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Hyderabad, where he was associated with the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies. Following his retirement, he served as an Adjunct Professor at the IIT Hyderabad. Prof.Korada was born into a family of Vedic scholars hailing from the Godavari delta region, known as Konaseema. His areas of specialization include Paninian Grammar, Philosophy of Language, Translation, Vedas,Vedangas and Upanishads.The Professor is also well versed in Mahābhāṣya, Vākyapadīya, Laghumañjūṣā, ślokavārtikam and Tantravārtikam. He studied Astadasavidyasthanams, ie Vedas, Vedangas, Darsanas, Upavedas, and Puranas (Lectures are available on Youtube and Essays are available on ancient indianwisdom.com of Jijyasa Foundation, USA. He is the recipient of "Vedavyasa Sammanam", an honor bestowed upon scholars with expertise in Vedic studies and related fields.

Education and career

Prof.Subrahmanyam was introduced to Sanskrit by his father Korada Subbavadhani, a ghanapāṭhī and Sanskrit scholar himself. He memorized Amarakosha, a Sanskrit thesaurus at age five. After mastering Krishna Yajurveda and the Upanishads, he went on to study Vyākaraṇa under Sripada Lakshminarayana Sastry and Kompella Subbaraya Sastry in a traditional manner. Dr.Korada also gained proficiency in Vedanta under the tutelage of Rani Narasimha Sastry and Acarya Pullela Sriramacandrudu and Jyotisham under Chivukula Satyanarayana Murthy. The professor also forayed into Mīmāṃsā, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Yoga, Sānkhya, Sāmudrika, and Tantra gaining expertise through self-learning and interaction with scholars. The professor is a rare phenomenon, who had his schooling in both Oriental and Occidental fashions, which has benefited the Sanskrit lovers at large. He has contributed hundreds of posts to the Google group 'Bharatiya Vidvat Parishad' over the past few years, which are also published in his blog named "Koradeeyam".
Post bachelor's, Dr.Korada pursued his Master's and Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. His Ph.D. dissertation titled Mahāvākyavicārah
is considered to be a magnum opus in the field of Sanskrit Linguistics. Dr.Korada joined the University of Hyderabad as a faculty and retired in 2019 as a Professor. During his 31-year-long tenure, around 30 students worked with him for their MPhil and Ph.D. degrees.

Research and publications

Some of the books published by the scholar include :
  • Mahavakyavicarah - deals with the Study of Discourse in different systems of Indian Philosophy
  • Vakyapadiyam - explicates the cryptic meaning of Bhartrhari
  • Four Vrttis in Panini - is an elaborated study of Vrttis in Paniniya with the help of various commentaries
  • Theories of Language: Oriental and Occidental – is a nutshell of ancient and modern linguistic theories
  • Pramanas in Indian Philosophy - offers a panorama of Pramanas right from Vedas and Epics