 During his career he has won many national and international awards, including, the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, given by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1968 for his poetry work, "Srigurugovindasimhacharitam", then in 2006, he became the first recipient of the Jnanpith award in Sanskrit language (conferred in 2009 by his disciple and Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn).Shastri received his early education under his father, Shri Charu Deva Shastri, a renowned scholar.Thereafter, he moved to Varanasi, where he studied under Shukdev Jha and Siddheshwar Varma.