Vrajlal Shastri

Vrajlal Kalidas Shastri was a pioneer of philology in Gujarati language and writer who wrote books on Gujarati language. He was born on 26 November 1825 in Malataj, a village in Petlad, Gujarat. He took his primary education in his village Malataj. He had studied Sanskrit poetry and grammar in Sanskrit pathshalas. He also studied Prakrit grammar and literature. He taught Sanskrit at Jain Mandir, Ahmedabad. Due to Jain religious books, he became familiar with Prakrit-Pali, Apabhramsa, Ardha Magadhi so he wrote books on philology of Gujarati. He worked with Gujarat Vernacular Society and Dharma Sabha and edited their two journals, Buddhiprakash and Dharmaprakash. He had a long career of twenty five years as a researcher and scholar. He died on 14 November 1892.