A real character who lived about the first half of the sixteenth century in Germany, who was deep into magic, occultism and transcendent secrets soon became a legend and a myth about a person who was transacting with the devil and ultimately whisked away by the same devil itself and slowly became the main character of Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus. And this Marlowe's creation travelled back to Germany and metamorphosed into famous puppet-show on the streets. Seeing the puppet-show, one young genius of Germany was fascinated by the Dr Faustus and right from the twentieth year of Goethe Faust was in the making in the genius mind, written rewritten, adapted, changed to varying stages of life-realisation of the Master Goethe. All these stages reflected beautifully into the magnum opus. And it has become so to say, the soul of Europe, nay, a mirror to man's eternal agony if not to his ecstasy.
When the 100th anniversary of Goethe was celebrated one vibrant Tamil mind took fascination to Goethe's Faust. He was one A Duraiswami Pillai, who was close to Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer. Perhaps discussions with Sir C P would have fanned his ardour much more and hence followed a beautiful translation of Faust of Goethe into Tamil as 'Vaasthu' in 1954. Mr Duraiswami Pillai thought it better to change the names of main characters of Faust into near-sounding Indian names like Faust to Vaastu, Wagner to Varagunan, Margaret to Maragatham, Valentine to Vijayan and so on.
(This of course I don't like generally. Any translation should not be made too homely in the receptor-language. The strangeness should be kept on to the essential limits, so that you are doing justice to both the cultures. If you make it too homely then you are hiding the difference instead of trusting the readers that they will appreciate those who are different from themselves. Moreover the very idea of translation is introducing the strange rather than a rendezvous of the familiar)
In the opening Faust is saying -
'I have, alas! Philosophy,
Medicine, Jurisprudence too,
And to my cost Theology,
With ardent labour, studied through.
And here I stand, with all my lore,
Poor fool, no wiser than before...'
The Tamil translation of Mr A Duraiswami Pillai speaks -
'சொல்லும் பொருளும் தொடரா ஒன்றின்
எல்லையைக் காண இரவும் பகலும்
தத்துவ சாத்திரம் மெத்தவும் கற்றேன்.
புத்தேள் இயற்கை இத்தகைத் தென்றிடும்
கொள்கைகள் ஒன்றோடொன் றொவ்வாச்சமய
சாத்திரம் பலவும் பார்த்துச் சலித்தேன்;
நீதிநூல் மருத்துவம் ஓதினேன் எனினும்
அறிவொரு சிறிதும் சிறந்திடக் காணேன்!
கற்றறி மூடனாய்க் கழிந்தேன்; அந்தோ!..’
Yea, we in our Tamilnad have never been lacking in our interests in Vedantha, Literature, Poetry, Arts and Science.
***
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Preface and Grace !
Preface and Grace. What connection is there between these two? Preface introduces a book that follows. Grace introduces you to the God who follows. That is, before you are about to get realisation of God, Grace of God ccomes prior to that and prepares you for the great moment.
Preface comes to your level and takes you to the level of the book. In the same way Grace comes to your level and takes you to God's level.
This point is used as a simile by the author of Maran Alankaram, Thirukkurukur Perumal Kavirayar. Maran Alankaram is an old Tamil book about structural beauties and embellishments of a composition, mostly in verse. We can say it is an old form of structural literary theory in Tamil. In that book the author wants to impress on the minds of readers the necessity of a preface in any work. Any work big or small should be having a preface to facilitate the understanding of those who study the work. There in that work he says
'Just like literary features of any poem
And like truthfulness in the words of those who are well-read and clear in their understanding
Just like Grace which suits the God Narayana
So is apt and a must, a preface for any real book.'
பாவிற்கு அணிபோல்
பனுவல் தெளிவுணர்ந்தோர் நாவிற்கு வாய்மை போல்
நாரணம் ஆம் - தேவிற்கு
வாய்ந்த அருள்போல வாய்ந்ததே நூலகத்தாய்
ஏய்ந்த பொருட் பாயிரம்.’
(பாயிரம் - preface)
***
Preface comes to your level and takes you to the level of the book. In the same way Grace comes to your level and takes you to God's level.
This point is used as a simile by the author of Maran Alankaram, Thirukkurukur Perumal Kavirayar. Maran Alankaram is an old Tamil book about structural beauties and embellishments of a composition, mostly in verse. We can say it is an old form of structural literary theory in Tamil. In that book the author wants to impress on the minds of readers the necessity of a preface in any work. Any work big or small should be having a preface to facilitate the understanding of those who study the work. There in that work he says
'Just like literary features of any poem
And like truthfulness in the words of those who are well-read and clear in their understanding
Just like Grace which suits the God Narayana
So is apt and a must, a preface for any real book.'
பாவிற்கு அணிபோல்
பனுவல் தெளிவுணர்ந்தோர் நாவிற்கு வாய்மை போல்
நாரணம் ஆம் - தேவிற்கு
வாய்ந்த அருள்போல வாய்ந்ததே நூலகத்தாய்
ஏய்ந்த பொருட் பாயிரம்.’
(பாயிரம் - preface)
***
Vedantha with three meanings
When you are wondering about the great efforts taken in bringing out the first four sutras with the commentaries of Sri Ramanuja and Sudharsana Bhatta, how will you react to this one which came out in 1905. It is captioned 'Sankara Ramanuja Nilakanta bhashyangalai anusarittha padavurai koodiya Brahma sutra dravida bhashyam'. i.e. Tamil commentary of Brahma sutras which incorporates the meanings from the commentaries of Sankara, Ramanuja and Nilakanta. The meanings were translated from Sanskrit by Tarkatheerthar Sriman U Ve Singapperumal Kovil Maatabhoosi Ramanujacharya Swamigal, assistance in corrections was by Advaithappravanar Vidwan Seetharama Sastri and published by A Ananthacharya, printed in Sastra Sanjeevini Press. The book covers the whole Brahma Sutra of four Adhyayas in about 350 pages.
Ventures big and small, comprehensive and in depth have been always there to take Vedantic knowledge to the people through Tamil. Whether it is Vedantic anthology many centuries ago or Jnaana vaasittam with commentaries or translations in Tamil of Sanskrit Commentaries, the continued efforts and activities and the team-work of scholars and enthusiasts are astounding.
***
Ventures big and small, comprehensive and in depth have been always there to take Vedantic knowledge to the people through Tamil. Whether it is Vedantic anthology many centuries ago or Jnaana vaasittam with commentaries or translations in Tamil of Sanskrit Commentaries, the continued efforts and activities and the team-work of scholars and enthusiasts are astounding.
***
Tirumaal Kural
And who is this man, Punnai Maadabhoosi Srinivasachariyar? Tamil Pandit of Chennai Presidency College in the year 1899. He has written a very small book in Tamil, 'Tirumaal Kural', just 14 pages in print, containing 108 kurals or short couplets on Tirumaal or Sri Vishnu. Who would have read this book... perhaps he gave the copies away as complimentary. But some would have really read this small book at least in his own days. Why I am asking is this, nobody has referred such a beautiful little composition in Kural metre on the theme of Tirumaal. I have heard nobody mentioning such a work or such an author, even in devotional circles not to speak of in academic. And really Oh me! the couplets are a real treat.
திருமா மகளிருக்குஞ் சீர்மார்பன் பாத
மருமா மலர்பணிந்தேன் மன்.
விடகோப வாயரவின் மேவுபிரான் பாதச்
சடகோபா நீயே சரண்
அவந்தீர வென்னெஞ்சே யானைமருப் பீர்த்த
நவநீதக் கையனையே நாடு
ஆங்கமல நீர்போ லமைந்தும் பிரிந்திருப்பார்
தாங்கமலை மார்பன் றமர்.
அருளா லுலகெல்லா மன்றளக்க நீண்ட
கருளக் கொடியானே கா
குஞ்சரநீள் கையெடுத்துக் கூவக் குளக்கரைவா
யஞ்சலென வந்தா யளி.
... so on and on... it goes in doubles till 108
புகலரிய நான்மறைக்கும் போற்றரியாய் நிற்குக்
குகன்றம்பி யானதுமோர் கூத்து
அருளொழுகுங் கண்ணினையு மம்புயநேர் வாயும்
மருளறயான் காணவெதிர் வா
வாயுனையே வாழ்த்துகவுன் வண்ணத்தைக் காண்கவிழி
மாயவுன்பேர் கேட்கசெவி மற்று.
And the whole work runs in Andaadi, previous ending beginning the next.
***
திருமா மகளிருக்குஞ் சீர்மார்பன் பாத
மருமா மலர்பணிந்தேன் மன்.
விடகோப வாயரவின் மேவுபிரான் பாதச்
சடகோபா நீயே சரண்
அவந்தீர வென்னெஞ்சே யானைமருப் பீர்த்த
நவநீதக் கையனையே நாடு
ஆங்கமல நீர்போ லமைந்தும் பிரிந்திருப்பார்
தாங்கமலை மார்பன் றமர்.
அருளா லுலகெல்லா மன்றளக்க நீண்ட
கருளக் கொடியானே கா
குஞ்சரநீள் கையெடுத்துக் கூவக் குளக்கரைவா
யஞ்சலென வந்தா யளி.
... so on and on... it goes in doubles till 108
புகலரிய நான்மறைக்கும் போற்றரியாய் நிற்குக்
குகன்றம்பி யானதுமோர் கூத்து
அருளொழுகுங் கண்ணினையு மம்புயநேர் வாயும்
மருளறயான் காணவெதிர் வா
வாயுனையே வாழ்த்துகவுன் வண்ணத்தைக் காண்கவிழி
மாயவுன்பேர் கேட்கசெவி மற்று.
And the whole work runs in Andaadi, previous ending beginning the next.
***
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Non-antagonistic Awareness....
I am going to tell you a unique story. Story..? Nay.... it happened in reality. So how can it be a story? But while narrating about it we have to make some story-line you know. Some 700 hundred years ago (some may say no no 600, some others 500, some again 400...) but as per the editors of the book 'Sivappirakasap Perunthirattu' K Vadivelu Chettiyar and M Shanmuga Mudaliyar, the book of anthology of Vedantic verses available in Tamil some 700 years ago was made by one Swarupanandar in the name of his Master Sivappirakasar. Hence the name Sivappirakasap Perunthirattu - which means 'The Great anthology of Sivappirakasa'. Swami Swarupanandar has made this anthology of Vedantic poems and verses out of nearly more than 140 Tamil works of Vedantha which were all available then. How many of those have survived the flow of Time, nobody knows. But whatever verses have been included in this anthology are a net gain to us. This anthology was published in 1912, printed in Chennai Komaleswaranpettai Press. Nearly all the poems are nuggets of gold in Vedantha. We can be really proud of our Vedantic heritage in our Tamil. One verse caught my attention somehow. It is this.
’எடுத்த எம் மதம் எந்நூல்கள் யாவையும் தமதாய் ஆங்கு
வடித்த நற்பொருளே கொண்டு வளம்பட மகிழ்வதல்லால்
படித்து ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிப் பாங்கினால் அதில் ஒதுங்கிப்
பிடித்தது பிடித்துக் காதும் பேதைமை பெரியோர்க்கு இன்றே.’
Meaning -
'Great men consider whatever ideologies and whatever books they come across, they read those books deeply and make whatever good thoughts in those books and ideologies they are able to find, their own and rejoice in such good things. Such men never become partisan and take sides with any single thought in the books they read and they never make quarrels based on their likes and dislikes.'
What great sentiments and mature approach !
And by the by this verse comes in an old Vedantic Tamil work, viz., 'avirOdabOdam', meaning may be 'Non-antagonistic Awareness'
*
"If there is one feature more than another, which characterises Hindu thought, it is its hospitality to the different conceptions of reality. Man's attempt to comprehend the truth, which is limitless, is bound to result in different views. To take our stand on one limited view and make it adequate to the vast reality is the mistake which all dogmatists make. The acceptance of a limited view becomes a barrier to the understanding of truths. A seeker should recognise the immensity of reality and the inadequacy of limited views and formulas."
(Sir S Radhakrishnan, Foreword to Darsanodhaya of Mahamahopadhyaya Panditaratnam Lakshmipuram Srinivasachariar)
***
’எடுத்த எம் மதம் எந்நூல்கள் யாவையும் தமதாய் ஆங்கு
வடித்த நற்பொருளே கொண்டு வளம்பட மகிழ்வதல்லால்
படித்து ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிப் பாங்கினால் அதில் ஒதுங்கிப்
பிடித்தது பிடித்துக் காதும் பேதைமை பெரியோர்க்கு இன்றே.’
Meaning -
'Great men consider whatever ideologies and whatever books they come across, they read those books deeply and make whatever good thoughts in those books and ideologies they are able to find, their own and rejoice in such good things. Such men never become partisan and take sides with any single thought in the books they read and they never make quarrels based on their likes and dislikes.'
What great sentiments and mature approach !
And by the by this verse comes in an old Vedantic Tamil work, viz., 'avirOdabOdam', meaning may be 'Non-antagonistic Awareness'
*
"If there is one feature more than another, which characterises Hindu thought, it is its hospitality to the different conceptions of reality. Man's attempt to comprehend the truth, which is limitless, is bound to result in different views. To take our stand on one limited view and make it adequate to the vast reality is the mistake which all dogmatists make. The acceptance of a limited view becomes a barrier to the understanding of truths. A seeker should recognise the immensity of reality and the inadequacy of limited views and formulas."
(Sir S Radhakrishnan, Foreword to Darsanodhaya of Mahamahopadhyaya Panditaratnam Lakshmipuram Srinivasachariar)
***
Something not here and not there...!
Oh, me! I am stuck in focus on these lines of Bert Meyers -
"Once, in autumn, I saw the sun
pause in the wrinkles of a tree
like passion on an old man’s face...."
What lines! You feel the rough skin of the trees rubbing on words. As if the universe of words overstepping the universe of things !
***
It seems there are quite a number of victims of History in the field of thought. One such seems to be Herbert Spencer. He is one who wrote about evolution years before Darwin. But of course minus the part of natural selection. But more comprehensive than Darwin's, in that, Herbert Spencer was able to talk about evolution in the spheres of society, culture. What he wrote seems to be that evolution works towards more perfection, from the gross and banal and militant towards being more cooperative, finer and humane mutual transactions. But, lo...! history being sometimes reckless and devoid of any considering... has branded HS with the idea of 'social darwinism'.
( History..! sometimes you do not read your texts well... be good and behave well..! :-) )
*
A great philosopher of the logical positivist school, A J Ayer, was uncompromising in his stand that statements which do not lend themselves to empirical verification or analytical exercise are quite meaningless. A great hit at the traditional metaphysics indeed. He was not a shy away philosopher when he confronted the unwanted advances of Mike Tyson on a new model in a party given by a fashion designer, saying 'I suggest we talk about this like rational men'.
Just one year before his death, A J Ayer had a near-death experience. On recovery he said that the experience slightly weakened his conviction that his genuine death will be the end of him. Later he opined that he should have rather told instead 'my experiences have weakened, not my belief that there is no life after death, but my inflexible attitude towards that belief'.
Strange! We demand that we should experience ourselves to accept anything. But will we allow ourselves to accept our experiences?
*
"Once, in autumn, I saw the sun
pause in the wrinkles of a tree
like passion on an old man’s face...."
What lines! You feel the rough skin of the trees rubbing on words. As if the universe of words overstepping the universe of things !
***
It seems there are quite a number of victims of History in the field of thought. One such seems to be Herbert Spencer. He is one who wrote about evolution years before Darwin. But of course minus the part of natural selection. But more comprehensive than Darwin's, in that, Herbert Spencer was able to talk about evolution in the spheres of society, culture. What he wrote seems to be that evolution works towards more perfection, from the gross and banal and militant towards being more cooperative, finer and humane mutual transactions. But, lo...! history being sometimes reckless and devoid of any considering... has branded HS with the idea of 'social darwinism'.
( History..! sometimes you do not read your texts well... be good and behave well..! :-) )
*
A great philosopher of the logical positivist school, A J Ayer, was uncompromising in his stand that statements which do not lend themselves to empirical verification or analytical exercise are quite meaningless. A great hit at the traditional metaphysics indeed. He was not a shy away philosopher when he confronted the unwanted advances of Mike Tyson on a new model in a party given by a fashion designer, saying 'I suggest we talk about this like rational men'.
Just one year before his death, A J Ayer had a near-death experience. On recovery he said that the experience slightly weakened his conviction that his genuine death will be the end of him. Later he opined that he should have rather told instead 'my experiences have weakened, not my belief that there is no life after death, but my inflexible attitude towards that belief'.
Strange! We demand that we should experience ourselves to accept anything. But will we allow ourselves to accept our experiences?
*
Francis Thompson is as usual rocking! He has always an unexpected twist and tinge of mystic note.
This is unusual about poets -
'Thou canst foreshape thy word;
The poet is not lord
Of the next syllable may come
With the returning pendulum;
And what he plans to-day in song,
To-morrow sings it in another tongue.
Where the last leaf fell from his bough,
He knows not if a leaf shall grow;
Where he sows he doth not reap,
He reapeth where he did not sow;
He sleeps, and dreams forsake his sleep
To meet him on his waking way.'
How different in tone and timbre this one ! --
'I sprinkled a few drops of verse,
And said to Ruin: 'Quit thy hearse;'
To my Loved: Pale not, come with me;
I will escort thee down the years.
With me thou walk'st immortally.'
And in the Echo of Victor Hugo these beautiful lines --
'Life's a veil the real has:
All the shadows of our scene
Are but shows of things that pass
On the other side the screen.
Time his glass sits nodding by;
'Twixt its turn and turn a spawn
Of universes buzz and die
Like the ephemeris of the dawn.'
***
This is unusual about poets -
'Thou canst foreshape thy word;
The poet is not lord
Of the next syllable may come
With the returning pendulum;
And what he plans to-day in song,
To-morrow sings it in another tongue.
Where the last leaf fell from his bough,
He knows not if a leaf shall grow;
Where he sows he doth not reap,
He reapeth where he did not sow;
He sleeps, and dreams forsake his sleep
To meet him on his waking way.'
How different in tone and timbre this one ! --
'I sprinkled a few drops of verse,
And said to Ruin: 'Quit thy hearse;'
To my Loved: Pale not, come with me;
I will escort thee down the years.
With me thou walk'st immortally.'
And in the Echo of Victor Hugo these beautiful lines --
'Life's a veil the real has:
All the shadows of our scene
Are but shows of things that pass
On the other side the screen.
Time his glass sits nodding by;
'Twixt its turn and turn a spawn
Of universes buzz and die
Like the ephemeris of the dawn.'
***
Philosophy of English Grammar
Usually people think that English grammar is not so nuanced and if you familiarize yourself with some subject, predicate, object ok the working English is ready at hand. But it is not so. There are very many nuances in the structure of English sentences which pay attention to aspects of psychology, cognition and culture. For example the adjectives and the noun. You cannot put adjectives before nouns in haphazard manner. There is a priority and scaling spanning from right to left preceding the noun itself. There are seven such positions receding to left from the noun. An adjective of material of which the noun is composed or an adjective of origin from which the noun has come should take the immediate preceding position before the noun. Then any adjective which describes the colour; then the adjective which informs about the age; then the adjective which describes the state or condition of the noun; then the adjective of shape; then the adjective which tells about the size; then in the last place to the left comes adjectives of our opinion about the noun. Just think about the philosophical chain connecting the observer and the object. The adjectives scale from the most subjective which is nearer to the observer to the most objective which is nearer to the object - left to right. And seen otherwise from the most objective next to the noun to the most subjective near to the speaker - right to left. The chain of observation is scaled subjective to objective by the adjectives. Thank God I didn't become an English teacher !
***
***
Hindu Philosophic Thought
There is a very great potential in Hindu philosophic thought, which opens up only when you engage in it in all seriousness. And comparative philosophical study can provide a great tool to cognize the depth and implications. Of course it need not be said that bromides are hurdles in the path of right understanding.
Take the case of 'will and desire' as Spinoza juxtaposes them or 'language and thought' as Wittgenstein will put it. Let us imagine the whole human being as an intricate machine and nothing else. Let us say that desire is just the bio-face and the cognition by the brain in flux-mode. i.e. a set of impulses read with the tag 'value' by the nature's computer is what is felt as desire. Just let us suppose. Then what is will? i.e. the set of thrusts which come inside out in efforts of attaining or obtaining the 'desired'? Now we have slipped a word 'effort'. So 'willing' 'taking effort' all depend on and at the initial point of cognizing. If all these are only bio-processes superannuating one over another linearly or recursively, if we ever think so, then we can heave a sigh of relief which will be only short lived. Because the fundamental problem of the core of being which cognizes, wills and/or engage in action still crops up all the more brutally after our suave attempts at reductive burial into matter. Hindu philosophic thought openly admits and recognises this problem of infinite regression and straight-away admits it. Instead of positing shilly shally stands Hindu thought says that the core of being where all these infinite regressions inhabit is what is called soul. The Atman is defined by these basic energies or potencies of 'knowing' willing' and 'acting'. Jnana, Icchaa, Kriya sakthis.
In the spectrum of world when you are able to read features of knowing, willing and acting you can honestly admit of the soul rather than attempting makeshifts.
In this train of thought one book shadows up in memory with its cover and first page, which I read in District Central Library Chennai some years ago- Language and Silence by George Steiner. Not that the book may have any bearings on this but sometimes the vague memories team up or the vague memory steams up. any way.
***
Take the case of 'will and desire' as Spinoza juxtaposes them or 'language and thought' as Wittgenstein will put it. Let us imagine the whole human being as an intricate machine and nothing else. Let us say that desire is just the bio-face and the cognition by the brain in flux-mode. i.e. a set of impulses read with the tag 'value' by the nature's computer is what is felt as desire. Just let us suppose. Then what is will? i.e. the set of thrusts which come inside out in efforts of attaining or obtaining the 'desired'? Now we have slipped a word 'effort'. So 'willing' 'taking effort' all depend on and at the initial point of cognizing. If all these are only bio-processes superannuating one over another linearly or recursively, if we ever think so, then we can heave a sigh of relief which will be only short lived. Because the fundamental problem of the core of being which cognizes, wills and/or engage in action still crops up all the more brutally after our suave attempts at reductive burial into matter. Hindu philosophic thought openly admits and recognises this problem of infinite regression and straight-away admits it. Instead of positing shilly shally stands Hindu thought says that the core of being where all these infinite regressions inhabit is what is called soul. The Atman is defined by these basic energies or potencies of 'knowing' willing' and 'acting'. Jnana, Icchaa, Kriya sakthis.
In the spectrum of world when you are able to read features of knowing, willing and acting you can honestly admit of the soul rather than attempting makeshifts.
In this train of thought one book shadows up in memory with its cover and first page, which I read in District Central Library Chennai some years ago- Language and Silence by George Steiner. Not that the book may have any bearings on this but sometimes the vague memories team up or the vague memory steams up. any way.
***
Saturday, July 20, 2019
The Writer and the Society
Do writers change the society around them or is it perhaps the writers rise to the silent demands and expectations of the public? That means the about-changing society creates a silent need which the writers fulfill by their creative ventures. Or is it just a writer writes something and the society wakes up by that and goes in a new direction? Yea we can think a lot both ways. This thought was occurring to me having the great poet Bharathi in mind, when I was reading the introduction written in the DeLuxe edition of Joseph Addison's Essays. Perhaps it is written by John Richard Green who has edited it. Of course an old book. And Joseph Addison is a master of language of the yester-years. But so what, the crux of the problem is still fresh.
'If Marlborough and Somers had their share in shaping the new England that came of 1688, so also had Addison and Steele. And to the bulk of people it may be doubted whether the change that passed over literature was not more startling and more interesting than the change that passed over politics. Few changes, indeed, have ever been so radical and complete. Literature suddenly doffed its stately garb of folio or octavo, and stepped abroad in the light and easy dress of pamphlet and essay. Its long arguments and cumbrous sentences condensed themselves into the quick reasoning and terse easy phrases of ordinary conversation. Its tone lost the pedantry of the scholar, the brutality of the controversialist, and aimed at being unpretentious, polite, urbane. The writer aimed at teaching, but at teaching in pleasant and familiar ways; he strove to make evil unreasonable and ridiculous; to shame men by wit and irony out of grossness and bad manners; to draw the world to piety and virtue by teaching piety and virtue themselves to smile. And the change of subject was as remarkable as the change of form.'
Then he draws attention to what change of subject was there. It is interesting that such attentive writing has been done about the abstract features of the social interests and expressions.
'Letters found a new interest in the scenes and characters of the common life around them, in the chat of the coffee-house, the loungers of the Mall, the humors of the street, the pathos of the fireside. Every one has felt the change that passed in this way over our literature; but we commonly talk as if the change had been a change in the writers of the time, as if the intelligence which produces books had suddenly taken of itself a new form, as if men like Addison had conceived the Essay and their readers had adapted themselves to this new mode of writing. The truth lies precisely the other way. In no department of human life does the law of supply and demand operate so powerfully as in literature. Writers and readers are not two different classes of men: both are products of the same social and mental conditions: and the thoughts of the one will be commonly of the same order and kind as the thoughts of the other.'
He has put forth his observations in a clear and forceful way. And I was thinking of the situations as applied to the days of Bharathi and his times. It is easier to think that a writer comes as a lever to push ahead the society and the society gains momentum only at that instant. Or should we think in more details and only then we arrive at the real picture.?
***
'If Marlborough and Somers had their share in shaping the new England that came of 1688, so also had Addison and Steele. And to the bulk of people it may be doubted whether the change that passed over literature was not more startling and more interesting than the change that passed over politics. Few changes, indeed, have ever been so radical and complete. Literature suddenly doffed its stately garb of folio or octavo, and stepped abroad in the light and easy dress of pamphlet and essay. Its long arguments and cumbrous sentences condensed themselves into the quick reasoning and terse easy phrases of ordinary conversation. Its tone lost the pedantry of the scholar, the brutality of the controversialist, and aimed at being unpretentious, polite, urbane. The writer aimed at teaching, but at teaching in pleasant and familiar ways; he strove to make evil unreasonable and ridiculous; to shame men by wit and irony out of grossness and bad manners; to draw the world to piety and virtue by teaching piety and virtue themselves to smile. And the change of subject was as remarkable as the change of form.'
Then he draws attention to what change of subject was there. It is interesting that such attentive writing has been done about the abstract features of the social interests and expressions.
'Letters found a new interest in the scenes and characters of the common life around them, in the chat of the coffee-house, the loungers of the Mall, the humors of the street, the pathos of the fireside. Every one has felt the change that passed in this way over our literature; but we commonly talk as if the change had been a change in the writers of the time, as if the intelligence which produces books had suddenly taken of itself a new form, as if men like Addison had conceived the Essay and their readers had adapted themselves to this new mode of writing. The truth lies precisely the other way. In no department of human life does the law of supply and demand operate so powerfully as in literature. Writers and readers are not two different classes of men: both are products of the same social and mental conditions: and the thoughts of the one will be commonly of the same order and kind as the thoughts of the other.'
He has put forth his observations in a clear and forceful way. And I was thinking of the situations as applied to the days of Bharathi and his times. It is easier to think that a writer comes as a lever to push ahead the society and the society gains momentum only at that instant. Or should we think in more details and only then we arrive at the real picture.?
***
Old and ever new !
And Anne Bronte(sister of Charlotte Bronte) of the olden years.(mid 19th C E). but the lines feel fresh as hidden leaves in the rain --
'I'll rest me in this sheltered bower,
And look upon the clear blue sky
That smiles upon me through the trees,
Which stand so thickly clustering by;
And view their green and glossy leaves,
All glistening in the sunshine fair ;
And list the rustling of their boughs,
So softly whispering through the air.
And while my ear drinks in the sound,
My winged soul shall fly away;
Reviewing long departed years
As one mild, beaming, autumn day'
*
Francis Thompson is as usual rocking! He has always an unexpected twist and tinge of mystic note.
This is unusual about poets -
'Thou canst foreshape thy word;
The poet is not lord
Of the next syllable may come
With the returning pendulum;
And what he plans to-day in song,
To-morrow sings it in another tongue.
Where the last leaf fell from his bough,
He knows not if a leaf shall grow;
Where he sows he doth not reap,
He reapeth where he did not sow;
He sleeps, and dreams forsake his sleep
To meet him on his waking way.'
How different in tone and timbre this one ! --
'I sprinkled a few drops of verse,
And said to Ruin: 'Quit thy hearse;'
To my Loved: Pale not, come with me;
I will escort thee down the years.
With me thou walk'st immortally.'
And in the Echo of Victor Hugo these beautiful lines --
'Life's a veil the real has:
All the shadows of our scene
Are but shows of things that pass
On the other side the screen.
Time his glass sits nodding by;
'Twixt its turn and turn a spawn
Of universes buzz and die
Like the ephemeris of the dawn.'
*
And how oft we have run after strange ideals and stranger visions! All in the passionate longing that we must reach those one day. We profess in our progressive youth many plans for our future. And all at last how oft many have returned back to their childhood faith! However simple and however unpretentious the childhood idol beckons and quite unsung and feeling no need of noise we lay our heads on its laps. Our fevers assuaged, our world reassured.. our childhood thickly remembered.
Thomas O'Hagan has something to say on this -
'Hearts oft bow before strange idols,
Strength of power and breath of fame,
And forgetful of life's morning
Dream of noontide's gilded name;
But the idol that I cherish
Knows no glory e'en in part—
'Tis the simple faith of childhood
Long grown strong within my heart.
In the darkest hour of trial,
When each star has veiled its face,
Turn I fondly to my idol,
Full of heavenly light and grace;—
Then my step grows firm and steady
Down the mystic path of night.
For the simple faith of childhood
Guides me, leads me ever right.'
Perhaps the adage is true - 'Child is the father of man.'
***
'I'll rest me in this sheltered bower,
And look upon the clear blue sky
That smiles upon me through the trees,
Which stand so thickly clustering by;
And view their green and glossy leaves,
All glistening in the sunshine fair ;
And list the rustling of their boughs,
So softly whispering through the air.
And while my ear drinks in the sound,
My winged soul shall fly away;
Reviewing long departed years
As one mild, beaming, autumn day'
*
Francis Thompson is as usual rocking! He has always an unexpected twist and tinge of mystic note.
This is unusual about poets -
'Thou canst foreshape thy word;
The poet is not lord
Of the next syllable may come
With the returning pendulum;
And what he plans to-day in song,
To-morrow sings it in another tongue.
Where the last leaf fell from his bough,
He knows not if a leaf shall grow;
Where he sows he doth not reap,
He reapeth where he did not sow;
He sleeps, and dreams forsake his sleep
To meet him on his waking way.'
How different in tone and timbre this one ! --
'I sprinkled a few drops of verse,
And said to Ruin: 'Quit thy hearse;'
To my Loved: Pale not, come with me;
I will escort thee down the years.
With me thou walk'st immortally.'
And in the Echo of Victor Hugo these beautiful lines --
'Life's a veil the real has:
All the shadows of our scene
Are but shows of things that pass
On the other side the screen.
Time his glass sits nodding by;
'Twixt its turn and turn a spawn
Of universes buzz and die
Like the ephemeris of the dawn.'
*
And how oft we have run after strange ideals and stranger visions! All in the passionate longing that we must reach those one day. We profess in our progressive youth many plans for our future. And all at last how oft many have returned back to their childhood faith! However simple and however unpretentious the childhood idol beckons and quite unsung and feeling no need of noise we lay our heads on its laps. Our fevers assuaged, our world reassured.. our childhood thickly remembered.
Thomas O'Hagan has something to say on this -
'Hearts oft bow before strange idols,
Strength of power and breath of fame,
And forgetful of life's morning
Dream of noontide's gilded name;
But the idol that I cherish
Knows no glory e'en in part—
'Tis the simple faith of childhood
Long grown strong within my heart.
In the darkest hour of trial,
When each star has veiled its face,
Turn I fondly to my idol,
Full of heavenly light and grace;—
Then my step grows firm and steady
Down the mystic path of night.
For the simple faith of childhood
Guides me, leads me ever right.'
Perhaps the adage is true - 'Child is the father of man.'
***
The message of the stars !
A life-time of extensive and deep and intense scholarship makes one a good student at last. Education's humility just makes you come to senses.
What a wonderful collection is this The World's Best Poetry - set of ten volumes which came in 1904, published by John D Morris and Company! In the first volume I came across the full form of that old beautiful nursery poem - 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...'
Who has written this, perhaps nobody knows. The author is given as anonymous.
'TWINKLE, twinkle, little star;
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
When the glorious sun is set,
When the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
In the dark-blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep;
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star! '
What sentiments! And what passion with nature !. All along the child's mind and outlook is kept intact. And with that all which need be told is told. My salutations to the poet whoever he might have been.
***
What a wonderful collection is this The World's Best Poetry - set of ten volumes which came in 1904, published by John D Morris and Company! In the first volume I came across the full form of that old beautiful nursery poem - 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...'
Who has written this, perhaps nobody knows. The author is given as anonymous.
'TWINKLE, twinkle, little star;
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
When the glorious sun is set,
When the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
In the dark-blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep;
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star! '
What sentiments! And what passion with nature !. All along the child's mind and outlook is kept intact. And with that all which need be told is told. My salutations to the poet whoever he might have been.
***
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Full Moon of the Masters
People are wondering, 'can a single man write so much? is he one author or many called by the same name?' All such bewilderment is meaningless. For one Vyasa, you are thinking like that. What about such persons of extensive calibre, not one but many down the time? Some persons write one or two books in their lifetime. But some write not one or two, but libraries of books. Occasions have been many even till our own time. Otherwise how can you explain a Ganganatha Jha? Do you know what he has produced?
A scholar who has translated into English the tough commentary of Logic, Vatsyayana's Nyaya Bhashya. And he has written his own commentary. In our scale, simply a job of lifetime. Even this alone.
And again he has translated that still more tough and dry commentary of Purva Mimamsa, Sabara Bhashya. In my scale it is a job of two lifetimes. Not only that. There is a commentary on Sabara Bhashya by Kumarila Bhatta. One commentary? Nay but two. Slokavartika and Tantravartika. All these are running into more than 1000 pages 1500 pages or 2000 pages when translated and put into printed pages. Can you imagine the tediousness of translating, that too from a highly technical treatise in Sanskrit? It is a real challenge to your powers of imagination.
The giant is not satisfied with doing all these immense jobs. He has translated Manusmriti with commentaries in five volumes. And of course he has also translated Yoga Sastra with its commentary. And there is another book, Buddhist, Tattva Sangraham by Santarakshita with the commentary of Kamalasila. Our G Jha has translated the whole text and commentary into English in two volumes, all more than 1500 pages. And Chandogya Upanishad with the commentary of Sankara translated. I am trying to list only what comes to my mind. There are many more.
In addition to all these herculean tasks, our 'Vyasa' has written a lot of original treatises, which are superb and sine qua non. Books like Purva Mimamsa in its original Sources, Sources of Hindu Law, Prabhakara School of Purva Mimamsa and again many more.
In addition, yea, in addition to all these, he has edited innumerable texts. And not to speak of hundreds of articles written for scholarly journals.
As for me, Vyasa has always been a Present Tense in our history. And he will remain so for ever. Salutations to Vyasa on this Full Moon of the Masters.
***
A scholar who has translated into English the tough commentary of Logic, Vatsyayana's Nyaya Bhashya. And he has written his own commentary. In our scale, simply a job of lifetime. Even this alone.
And again he has translated that still more tough and dry commentary of Purva Mimamsa, Sabara Bhashya. In my scale it is a job of two lifetimes. Not only that. There is a commentary on Sabara Bhashya by Kumarila Bhatta. One commentary? Nay but two. Slokavartika and Tantravartika. All these are running into more than 1000 pages 1500 pages or 2000 pages when translated and put into printed pages. Can you imagine the tediousness of translating, that too from a highly technical treatise in Sanskrit? It is a real challenge to your powers of imagination.
The giant is not satisfied with doing all these immense jobs. He has translated Manusmriti with commentaries in five volumes. And of course he has also translated Yoga Sastra with its commentary. And there is another book, Buddhist, Tattva Sangraham by Santarakshita with the commentary of Kamalasila. Our G Jha has translated the whole text and commentary into English in two volumes, all more than 1500 pages. And Chandogya Upanishad with the commentary of Sankara translated. I am trying to list only what comes to my mind. There are many more.
In addition to all these herculean tasks, our 'Vyasa' has written a lot of original treatises, which are superb and sine qua non. Books like Purva Mimamsa in its original Sources, Sources of Hindu Law, Prabhakara School of Purva Mimamsa and again many more.
In addition, yea, in addition to all these, he has edited innumerable texts. And not to speak of hundreds of articles written for scholarly journals.
As for me, Vyasa has always been a Present Tense in our history. And he will remain so for ever. Salutations to Vyasa on this Full Moon of the Masters.
***
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Some bits of thought....
Oh, me! I am stuck in focus on these lines of Bert Meyers -
"Once, in autumn, I saw the sun
pause in the wrinkles of a tree
like passion on an old man’s face...."
What lines! You feel the rough skin of the trees rubbing on words. As if the universe of words overstepping the universe of things !
***
No matter to what high you rise, to what low you sink, you can never escape discovering yourself where you are in the logging of the Life Divine. What a giant book and what sympathy the Super-Yogi should have had on human beings in pursuit, to have taken so much pains and time to have penned it! Thanks is a very self-shy meek word when one realises more and more the importance of the Book.
***
A great philosopher of the logical positivist school, A J Ayer, was uncompromising in his stand that statements which do not lend themselves to empirical verification or analytical exercise are quite meaningless. A great hit at the traditional metaphysics indeed. He was not a shy away philosopher when he confronted the unwanted advances of Mike Tyson on a new model in a party given by a fashion designer, saying 'I suggest we talk about this like rational men'.
Just one year before his death, A J Ayer had a near-death experience. On recovery he said that the experience slightly weakened his conviction that his genuine death will be the end of him. Later he opined that he should have rather told instead 'my experiences have weakened, not my belief that there is no life after death, but my inflexible attitude towards that belief'.
Strange! We demand that we should experience ourselves to accept anything. But will we allow ourselves to accept our experiences?
***
It seems there are quite a number of victims of History in the field of thought. One such seems to be Herbert Spencer. He is one who wrote about evolution years before Darwin. But of course minus the part of natural selection. But more comprehensive than Darwin's, in that, Herbert Spencer was able to talk about evolution in the spheres of society, culture. What he wrote seems to be that evolution works towards more perfection, from the gross and banal and militant towards being more cooperative, finer and humane mutual transactions. But, lo...! history being sometimes reckless and devoid of any considering... has branded HS with the idea of 'social darwinism'.
( History..! sometimes you do not read your texts well... be good and behave well..! :-) )
***
The human gaze has the power of conferring value on things; but it makes them cost more too.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
என் நெஞ்சினால் நோக்கிக் காணீர், என்னை முனியாதே !
"Once, in autumn, I saw the sun
pause in the wrinkles of a tree
like passion on an old man’s face...."
What lines! You feel the rough skin of the trees rubbing on words. As if the universe of words overstepping the universe of things !
***
No matter to what high you rise, to what low you sink, you can never escape discovering yourself where you are in the logging of the Life Divine. What a giant book and what sympathy the Super-Yogi should have had on human beings in pursuit, to have taken so much pains and time to have penned it! Thanks is a very self-shy meek word when one realises more and more the importance of the Book.
***
A great philosopher of the logical positivist school, A J Ayer, was uncompromising in his stand that statements which do not lend themselves to empirical verification or analytical exercise are quite meaningless. A great hit at the traditional metaphysics indeed. He was not a shy away philosopher when he confronted the unwanted advances of Mike Tyson on a new model in a party given by a fashion designer, saying 'I suggest we talk about this like rational men'.
Just one year before his death, A J Ayer had a near-death experience. On recovery he said that the experience slightly weakened his conviction that his genuine death will be the end of him. Later he opined that he should have rather told instead 'my experiences have weakened, not my belief that there is no life after death, but my inflexible attitude towards that belief'.
Strange! We demand that we should experience ourselves to accept anything. But will we allow ourselves to accept our experiences?
***
It seems there are quite a number of victims of History in the field of thought. One such seems to be Herbert Spencer. He is one who wrote about evolution years before Darwin. But of course minus the part of natural selection. But more comprehensive than Darwin's, in that, Herbert Spencer was able to talk about evolution in the spheres of society, culture. What he wrote seems to be that evolution works towards more perfection, from the gross and banal and militant towards being more cooperative, finer and humane mutual transactions. But, lo...! history being sometimes reckless and devoid of any considering... has branded HS with the idea of 'social darwinism'.
( History..! sometimes you do not read your texts well... be good and behave well..! :-) )
***
The human gaze has the power of conferring value on things; but it makes them cost more too.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
என் நெஞ்சினால் நோக்கிக் காணீர், என்னை முனியாதே !
- நம்மாழ்வார்
(The modern artists may say, 'look! don't ask for meaning. You confer meaning by your Gaze...:-) - just for kidding...)
(The modern artists may say, 'look! don't ask for meaning. You confer meaning by your Gaze...:-) - just for kidding...)
What is it to 'Know'?
What is it to 'Know'? Knowing is not a linear acquisition or a log of tasks finished or a line of books read. It is always being present in awareness in the present tense. It is better explained negatively as becoming aware of one's ignorance. Gadamer is right when he says "But this is not the way of human wisdom. A knowledge of our own ignorance is what human wisdom is." when he is trying to explain what exactly the socratic method consists in. Taking great pains to know you end up by realising that you have been unsuspectingly ignorant even in things which you thought you knew very well.
That is why many persons are not convenient about 'knowing as such'. It always disturbs. Great efforts are put only to come up with a realisation of one's ignorance, unsuspected so far. So rather they compromise and become comfortable with a pseudo. That is, words, quotations, others' books as authority.
Study the books rather and attain the scholarship. So tangible and a permanent credit score, is it not? So the unambiguous explaining of Books becomes the fashion and a silent substitute. The process of real 'Knowing' is so threatening. Every moment, every time you are shown that you have been ignorant. Bah! you can't happily recline on your 'credits gained easy chair' !
But 'Knowing' knows no compromise. If you want to know you must be ready for being humiliated by the reality any time and what time one does not know. Humility becomes a better definition of you to yourself.
***
That is why many persons are not convenient about 'knowing as such'. It always disturbs. Great efforts are put only to come up with a realisation of one's ignorance, unsuspected so far. So rather they compromise and become comfortable with a pseudo. That is, words, quotations, others' books as authority.
Study the books rather and attain the scholarship. So tangible and a permanent credit score, is it not? So the unambiguous explaining of Books becomes the fashion and a silent substitute. The process of real 'Knowing' is so threatening. Every moment, every time you are shown that you have been ignorant. Bah! you can't happily recline on your 'credits gained easy chair' !
But 'Knowing' knows no compromise. If you want to know you must be ready for being humiliated by the reality any time and what time one does not know. Humility becomes a better definition of you to yourself.
***
On translating Sri Bhashyam into Tamil...
Srirangam.... some 82 years ago. A great savant of Sri Vaishnavism, Kaarappangaadu DesiVaradhacharya Swamigal, who was residing at Srirangam then, was giving a series of lectures along with a close reading of Sri Ramanuja's Sri Bhashya.
Sri Bhashya is the commentary written by Sri Ramanuja on the Brahma Sutras of Maharishi Vyasa, explaining and establishing the VisishtAdvaitic theory of Vedanta. After Sri Ramanuja, a great follower of the Acharya, Vyasaacharya as called by Periya Perumal (VyAsAcharyA's real name was Sri Sudarsana Bhattar) wrote a commentary on the commentary of Sri Ramanuja. It is called SrutaprakAsikA. SrutaprakAsikA explains word by word, phrase by phrase Sri Bhashya of Sri Ramanuja. So the two commentaries together make the meaning of Brahma Sutras clear and distinct and establish the Visishtadvaitic school of interpretation.
Needless to say, the commentaries, the text everything is in Sanskrit and that too in very terse and technical parlance. That means every word is seen in its etymological, grammatical, linguistic-philosophical and logical senses. In my young age I have seen many scholars studying this great Library of Vedanta every day at fixed hours sitting before a teacher, who used to meticulously explain line by line, passage by passage, para by para, i e taking the meaning-units into focus. It is a great way of close and intense reading of the texts. The study runs into years and when one batch of students finish their course, the next batch is ready, sitting on the same old Thinnai. Their 'read-aloud, repeat and explain' rigmarole accented by only the notes of the sparrows picking at grains and the daylight growing into midday. Sometimes our pebble-play used to irritate the scholars and we used to get chastening hisses silencing us.
I was telling about the Kaarappangaadu Swami. Yea. And those who were regularly hearing his lectures given at Udayavar Sannidhi were becoming terribly interested in Sri Bhashya. They thought of a great project. People who were well-versed in Sanskrit and people who did not know that language, all of those came together and decided to bring the great system of learning accessible to all anxious persons, solving the problem of language by translating the Work into Tamil.
Sometime before 1930, during one Iraappatthu festival, a great committee of savants and important people of the town of Srirangam and other Divyadesams was formed. And who was the Chairman?
'SriBhashyam Tamizh Mozhipeyarppu Sangam' so was the name of the committee called and its President was Prapanna Vidwan Sriman T D Ramaswamy Naidu of ThiruppuRambiyam. He was so earnest that he put in a great part of his money into the project along with many like-minded donors. As the initial part of the project, the first four sutras of Brahma Sutra were taken for translation into Tamil, SriBhashya along with the supra-elaborate commentary on that viz., SrutaprakAsikA. The first four sutras or aphorisms of BS forms the introduction part of the Vedanta Sutras. The said four as a group is called UpOdgAtam, preface or foreword. And every sutra in the first four forms an adhikarana by itself. An adhikarana is so to say 'a topic'. Usually many sutras form one addhikarana. But in the case of the first four sutras or aphorisms, every sutra by itself is a topic apart.
The first sutra or the first topic is explained very elaborately and as a result, you have a whole book-size portion of commentaries attending to the first. Translated, the commentaries SriBhashya and SrutaprakAsikA for the first sutra comes to more than 800 pages. And the book is large size, microprint, the Tamil translation occupying all the space in the pages. And this for the very first sutra alone. The translation of SriBhashya in a bigger font-size and the SrutaprakAsikA in a smaller font, the translation is stupefying and extraordinary. The first sutra was translated by Mahamahopadhyaya Srimat U Ve T V Srnivasacharya, Head of the Department of Sanskrit in St Joseph's college Trichy. All these happened in 1930.
And it is not the end of the story. Sri Villiputhur Kanthadai Srimat U Ve Srinivasacharya of Nampillai Sabha, Tiruchi conducted a continued Kalakshepa based on the Tamil translation, perhaps to make a test run of the Tamil book.
And enthusiasm is contagious you know! Seeing these people deep into the project, a Trichy Advocate Mimamsaratnam, Srimath U Ve A V Gopalacharya joined the project. He at a stroke finished the commentaries for the remaining three sutras in the Introduction part of four sutras. The second volume containing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th adhikaranas came out in 1937. What a glorious decade ! 1928 to 1938. And who will say that He is a Sleeping God! No never.
And who collated, fair-copied, collected and streamlined the regular installments from the translators? He was a silent giant. Srimat U Ve N K Raghavacharya, a teacher in Srirangam Boys High School. He was Prapandha Upadhyaya in the School. And another great silent soul who took charge of publishing and other managerial matters related was Sriman R A Bangaruswami Naidu, Honorary Magistrate, Srirangam at that time. And it was printed in SriVilasam Printing Press by Srimat U Ve S M Sundararaja Iyengar.
No details as to whether the project ran its full course completing the whole canon. At least as to my knowledge of the matter so far. But the work done, even though it is only for the Upodgatham of first four sutras, 840 + 390 pages of a large size book of micro size print, for the first time translation into Tamil was done, test run and the project for the introduction part of four sutras completed.
Are they of a different race, giant and extra terrestrial ! And all sections of people coming together in a great project... is it not what is signified by all common social worships and celebrations !
Sri Bhashya is the commentary written by Sri Ramanuja on the Brahma Sutras of Maharishi Vyasa, explaining and establishing the VisishtAdvaitic theory of Vedanta. After Sri Ramanuja, a great follower of the Acharya, Vyasaacharya as called by Periya Perumal (VyAsAcharyA's real name was Sri Sudarsana Bhattar) wrote a commentary on the commentary of Sri Ramanuja. It is called SrutaprakAsikA. SrutaprakAsikA explains word by word, phrase by phrase Sri Bhashya of Sri Ramanuja. So the two commentaries together make the meaning of Brahma Sutras clear and distinct and establish the Visishtadvaitic school of interpretation.
Needless to say, the commentaries, the text everything is in Sanskrit and that too in very terse and technical parlance. That means every word is seen in its etymological, grammatical, linguistic-philosophical and logical senses. In my young age I have seen many scholars studying this great Library of Vedanta every day at fixed hours sitting before a teacher, who used to meticulously explain line by line, passage by passage, para by para, i e taking the meaning-units into focus. It is a great way of close and intense reading of the texts. The study runs into years and when one batch of students finish their course, the next batch is ready, sitting on the same old Thinnai. Their 'read-aloud, repeat and explain' rigmarole accented by only the notes of the sparrows picking at grains and the daylight growing into midday. Sometimes our pebble-play used to irritate the scholars and we used to get chastening hisses silencing us.
I was telling about the Kaarappangaadu Swami. Yea. And those who were regularly hearing his lectures given at Udayavar Sannidhi were becoming terribly interested in Sri Bhashya. They thought of a great project. People who were well-versed in Sanskrit and people who did not know that language, all of those came together and decided to bring the great system of learning accessible to all anxious persons, solving the problem of language by translating the Work into Tamil.
Sometime before 1930, during one Iraappatthu festival, a great committee of savants and important people of the town of Srirangam and other Divyadesams was formed. And who was the Chairman?
'SriBhashyam Tamizh Mozhipeyarppu Sangam' so was the name of the committee called and its President was Prapanna Vidwan Sriman T D Ramaswamy Naidu of ThiruppuRambiyam. He was so earnest that he put in a great part of his money into the project along with many like-minded donors. As the initial part of the project, the first four sutras of Brahma Sutra were taken for translation into Tamil, SriBhashya along with the supra-elaborate commentary on that viz., SrutaprakAsikA. The first four sutras or aphorisms of BS forms the introduction part of the Vedanta Sutras. The said four as a group is called UpOdgAtam, preface or foreword. And every sutra in the first four forms an adhikarana by itself. An adhikarana is so to say 'a topic'. Usually many sutras form one addhikarana. But in the case of the first four sutras or aphorisms, every sutra by itself is a topic apart.
The first sutra or the first topic is explained very elaborately and as a result, you have a whole book-size portion of commentaries attending to the first. Translated, the commentaries SriBhashya and SrutaprakAsikA for the first sutra comes to more than 800 pages. And the book is large size, microprint, the Tamil translation occupying all the space in the pages. And this for the very first sutra alone. The translation of SriBhashya in a bigger font-size and the SrutaprakAsikA in a smaller font, the translation is stupefying and extraordinary. The first sutra was translated by Mahamahopadhyaya Srimat U Ve T V Srnivasacharya, Head of the Department of Sanskrit in St Joseph's college Trichy. All these happened in 1930.
And it is not the end of the story. Sri Villiputhur Kanthadai Srimat U Ve Srinivasacharya of Nampillai Sabha, Tiruchi conducted a continued Kalakshepa based on the Tamil translation, perhaps to make a test run of the Tamil book.
And enthusiasm is contagious you know! Seeing these people deep into the project, a Trichy Advocate Mimamsaratnam, Srimath U Ve A V Gopalacharya joined the project. He at a stroke finished the commentaries for the remaining three sutras in the Introduction part of four sutras. The second volume containing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th adhikaranas came out in 1937. What a glorious decade ! 1928 to 1938. And who will say that He is a Sleeping God! No never.
And who collated, fair-copied, collected and streamlined the regular installments from the translators? He was a silent giant. Srimat U Ve N K Raghavacharya, a teacher in Srirangam Boys High School. He was Prapandha Upadhyaya in the School. And another great silent soul who took charge of publishing and other managerial matters related was Sriman R A Bangaruswami Naidu, Honorary Magistrate, Srirangam at that time. And it was printed in SriVilasam Printing Press by Srimat U Ve S M Sundararaja Iyengar.
No details as to whether the project ran its full course completing the whole canon. At least as to my knowledge of the matter so far. But the work done, even though it is only for the Upodgatham of first four sutras, 840 + 390 pages of a large size book of micro size print, for the first time translation into Tamil was done, test run and the project for the introduction part of four sutras completed.
Are they of a different race, giant and extra terrestrial ! And all sections of people coming together in a great project... is it not what is signified by all common social worships and celebrations !
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