Anant Maral Shastri

Anant Maral Shastri
Acharya Narenda Dev with Anant Maral Shastri in Indore
Born1912
Died1999 (aged 86–87)
India
NationalityIndian
EducationKashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi
Alma materKashi Vidyapeeth
Occupations
Known forRole in India's independence movement, literary contributions, cultural administration
Notable work
  • Ram Bhakti Shakha
  • Translation of Raghuvansh (for Jawaharlal Nehru)
Political partyIndian National Congress
MovementIndian Independence Movement

Anant Maral Shastri (1912–1999) was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, literary figure, poet, Sanskrit scholar, linguist and administrator. At a very young age, he left Ambikapur, now in Chhattisgarh, and joined Kashi Vidyapeeth, a nationalist institution of learning in Varanasi, where he found a Guru in Acharya Narendra Dev, a great freedom fighter, scholar and teacher.

His grand father, Pandit Lal Bihari Sharma, was the official tutor of Raja Bahadur Raghunath Saran Singh Deo, Maharaja of Sarguja (1879–1917), who was the great grand father of Madaneswar Saran Singh Deo, who became Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

Pandit Lal Bihari Sharma had a huge landed property in Ambikapur, Sarguja, which his son Anant Maral, who was the only son and heir to that property, just left it when he joined Kashi Vidyapeeth and the Freedom Movement at a young age. He never returned to claim it after Independence.