V. S. Srinivasa Sastri - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

In 1930, Sastri was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Labour in India. During 1930–31, he participated in the Round Table Conferences in London to discuss India's future and was instrumental in bringing about the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. In 1935, Sastri was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University, in Tamil Nadu, and served from 1935 to 1940. At the peak of the Second World War, he participated in a 15-member Indian delegation which appealed to the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill to provide dominion status to India. He strongly opposed Muslim League demands for the partition of India.

In June 1940, the Government of Madras appointed a committee headed by Srinivasa Sastri to frame a set of general principles for coining words for scientific and technical terms in vernacular languages. The constitution of the committee was strongly condemned by the Madras Presidency Tamil Sangam and its Secretary E. M. Subramania Pillai who felt that Srinivasa Sastri was biased in favour of Sanskrit and hence, Anti-Tamil. The committee submitted its report after three months recommending the retention of the existing Sanskrit loanwords in Tamil and rejecting the need for them to be replaced. The deliberations of the Sastri Committee provoked widespread agitations in Madras Presidency. The committee was eventually reshuffled by Provincial Education Minister T. S. Avinashilingam Chettiar soon after the demise of Srinivasa Sastri and balanced with the introduction of more members supporting the replacement of Sanskrit loan words.

Srinivasa Sastri's health began to deteriorate in early 1946. In January, Srinivasa Sastri was admitted to the General Hospital, Madras. He eventually died on 17 April 1946 at the age of 76.