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Re: Books on 4000 Divya prapandam & Alwars

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Mani Varadarajan • September 19, 2002 


> > >   One should always keep in mind
> > >   that the translations are often quite far from the original
> > >   and traditionally understood meanings. -- Mani ]
> 
> [...]
> I second that this book is the best recommended.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Malolan Cadambi

Hi Malolan,

I think you've not properly understood what I meant.
While Sri Srirama Bharati's translation of Divya
Prabandham is very valuable, principally because it
is the only translation in English available, it
is *highly* inaccurate and misleading in countless
places and should not be relied upon as a guide to
either the straightforward Tamil meaning or the 
interpretative nuances supplied by our acharyas.
It's not that translations of Divya Prabandham are
inherently bad; it's that *this* translation is suspect 
in many places.

In other words, this is not "the best recommended"
book; if one wanted a translation of Tiruvaymoli,
for example, I would suggest Sri Satyamurthy Ayyangar's
Tiruvaymoli Glossary or Alvar Tiruvullam as Sri Sadagopan
has mentioned.

Let me give you an example of where Sri Srirama
Bharati's translation goes particularly astray.
It is well recognized that in our acharyas' opinion the 'ellE
ilangiLiyE' paasuram describes the essential nature 
of the true devotee and is one of the most important
verses of the 30. The phrase 'naanE daan aayiDuga' 
(lit. "place it all on me", where "it" means any and all faults)
is the ideal attitude of the bhAgavata who sees no faults in others 
but sees only her own shortcomings.  The translation in question
however somehow misses this point and translates the phrase as
"just leave me alone!" (or "just let me be" -- I am recalling
from memory here), which leaves the reader with entirely
the opposite impression. What's more, contextually the
printed translation is simply not justified in any sense,
even disregarding our acharyas' opinions. 

There are many others like this, but yet I spend many
hours reading this work. I like reading it because as one whose
formal Tamil is only a recent acquisition it makes many
of the poems accessible to me, at least in the first order.
It is also printed very well and is handy for looking up
paasurams. But I have learnt not to rely on the translation in any 
measure and only use it as a hint to go back and study the 
paasurams in their original with our acharya's commentaries.

Hope this clarifies,
Mani


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