TSS: SrI rAmAnuja
From the Bhakti List Archives
• June 2, 1997
The second instalment of my write-up is submitted in all humility
to my fellow-seekers.
aDiyEn rAmAnujadAsan,
T.S. Sundara Rajan,
Memphis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(second instalment)
~ by T.S.Sundara Rajan.
The preparation for a neophyte.
5.1. It is evident that especially for a neophyte seeker of
spiritual life, a little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing;
he should first of all seek a good guide's help to identify
what his genuine books are. This does not mean that one would
produce a list of 'approved' books for this purpose, since even
if one had the right title, one cannot be certain that one had
the right work in one's hands. It is important that even as he
searches for a guide, the learner has to equip himself gradually
with enough language skill, knowledge of world literatures and
history, the historical principles of textual analysis etc,
so that he stays alert for the beauty and excellence of what he
reads and equally vigilant about the crude and the spurious
(apramANika) stuff which gets planted into the vaishnava works,
practices, places and context.
Status of Srivaishnava book-publication.
6.1. There are some essential characteristics of a good book,
especially if it is an edition or reprint of an ancient work.
The lay-out and printing should be easy on the eye, the text
should be properly highlighted and ALSO STRIKINGLY authentic;
annotations/notes should be crisp in explanation, and cite the
sources unambiguously and verifiably, supported by dates,
contemporary references, epigraphic records etc; the introduction
should detail the contents of the work, its place in the totality
of the tradition to which it belongs, the special merits of the
work and external references to it, an account of the author and
his period etc.
6.2. To-day's DTP revolution offers immense possibilities for
easy reproduction of the srivaishnava classics. Speaking of
book-production standards, the 10-volume (1930) edition of the
'bhagavad-vishayam' by che.krshnamAchariAr remains unexcelled.
This might sound an hyperbole as applying to a time which by
to-day's facilities of printing technology would be considered
primitive; nevertheless, the miracle it remains. The same
adoration is also due for the Sanskrit versification-cum-gloss
of 'arulic-cheyal' (divya-prabandham) by Sri kAnchi prativAdi-
bhayankaram aNNangarAcharya svAmi of blessed memory, who could
be only referred to as the Leonardo da Vinci of our literatures.
6.3. Printing technology was of course not so advanced then as
now, but these precious editions gained from a surpassing
erudition and unrivalled devotion, a combination which is rare
to-day notwithstanding our technology strides. The DTPunit alone
cannot produce a good book to-day when the educational standards
in Tamil and Sanskrit no longer obtain. THE SRIVAISHNAVA
COMMUNITY SHOULD STRIVE TO RECOVER THIS. To-day's scenario of
'higher education' in humanities is just an expensive camouflage
for advanced illiteracy, especially, in Tamil and Sanskrit
languages; as such, it has become necessary that any text/work
in these languages needs to be introduced with a minimum of
translation/explanation in English as well. In respect of
preparing English-language annotations also, the srivaishnava
community finds itself to be predictably and piteously
unprepared; the few efforts that have been there to date
(including the widely popularised and highly unsatisfactory
paraphrasing of the bhagavad geeta by Annie Besant) are total
failures in communication.
7.1. Some of the ongoing efforts at srivaishnava publication
however indicate that the requisite skill and devotion are still
available in identifiable savants of the community. Two or three
instances of such effort could be cited. To-day's largest number
of scholarly srivaishnava 'sAmpradAyika' publications are from
Sri S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar
(3-B Puthur Agraharam,
Tiruchirappalli-620017).
He also edits the monthly periodical SRIVAISHNAVA SUDARSANAM
founded by his father, Sri Srinivasa aiyangar, whose centenary
is being celebrated in phases during 1997. Despite that his
printing press is old-time, he has maintained his ability to
produce bilingual (samskrt-tamizh) books without difficulty.
He has also proved to be an intense focal point of increasing
awareness among the youth to monitor recurring encroachments
into srivaishnava temples and media assaults on 'sampradAyam'.
His book conclusively upholding kamba-rAmAyanam as exclusively
vaishnava in spirit is rooted in proper authority (pramANam)
and forms very absorbing reading. This applies to his another
book highlighting the vaishnava influences on Tamizh Sangham
classics. His variorum editions of all the available
commentaries on tiruppAvai, and of the Bhagavad GeetA are a
crystallisation of a sound tradition of scholarship which is
declining. The GeetA edition contains ALavandAr's GeetArtha-
sangraham and uDaiyavar's bhAshyam, besides svAmi desikan's
tAtparya-chandrikA, and vAdikesari azhagia-maNavALa-jeeyar's
Bhagavad-geetai veNbA, all of these supplemented by a synoptic
commentary of Sri Krishnaswami Aiyangar. The unprecedented and
monumental Geeta edition was completed over 30 years in
Dec'96 and occupies some 3000 pages.
7.2. The vaishnava world is especially indebted to Sri K. for
again making available Sri PeriavAcchAn PiLLai's exegesis
(vyAkhyAnam) on the various books of the d.prabandham,
supplemented by his own comprehensive commentary for to-day's
reader. Pursuing the logical extension of this effort to
preserve the poorvAchArya vyAkhyAnam for aruLic-cheyal, Sri K.
has undertaken to bring out a photo-offset reprint of the
10-volume Bhagavad-vishayam edition published in 1930 by
che. Krishnamachariar. K. intends to add 2 more volumes
of his own 'pramANa tiraTTu' (references index), making up a
total of 12 volumes. {Five volumes have so far issued, and
the remainder of this project could really take special
donations or fund-raising, to the tune of, say, Rs.six lakhs.}
7.3. (Srivilliputtur) VidvAn Sri R. Kannan SvAmi
[91 Thulasinga Mudali Street,
Perambur, Chennai-600011.
PHONE 044-5371861]
has carved a niche for himself for his single-handed
achievement of publishing some important sampradAya works of
the post-vyAkhyAna period. He started with a one-volume
edition of nellaiappa aruLALa-dAsar's poetic work 'AzhvArgal
vaibhavam', followed by a separate volume on emperumAnAr,
both works with his own erudite introduction and paraphrase.
His outstanding work is the five-volume edition of the 15th
cent. verse-epic 'BhAgavata-purANam' of vaDivazhagia-nambi
dAsar, which starts with astonishingly beautiful verses on
each of the 108 divya-desam. Another significant service of
RK is his edition of the 15th cent. samskrt drama, 'yatirAja-
vijayam', in separate editions with translation in tamizh and
hindi; the hindi translation received the President of India
award in 1996.
7.4. Dr KKA Venkatachari, a 'svayam-AchArya-purusha' and the
younger brother of the late Sri TirumaNi appan svAmi, had
founded the anantAcharya institute in Bombay, and is presently
with the swAmi-nArAyaN outfit in (?)Ahmedabad. He had done his
doctorate in Harvard and must be reckoned as the first well-
equipped person to have introduced srivaishNava studies in USA.
Among the important publications he brought out while in
anantAcharya was the (first-ever) devanAgari edition of
garudavAhana paNdita's 'divyasoori charitam'.
7.5. The srivaishnava community of USA should be aware of the
correspondence education package ('srivaishnava-sri') offered by
Sri Krishnamacharya,
Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi Apartments,
East Adaiya-valaindan, SRIRANGAM-620006.
This has generated a considerable enthusiasm for a systematic
personal education in the modern context. K. has also been
organising excellent and largely-attended tutorial gatherings
at different places to supplement his package. He has already
set himself on a course of publishing reprints of rare editions;
the 3-volume peria-tirumozhi vyAkhyAnam of periavAcchAn piLLai
is a credible achievement, followed by periazhvAr tirumozhi
vyAkhyAnam, and the recent first-time issue of nampiLLai's
'EeDu' on tiruviruttam in tamizh script; the work had
originally issued years back in telugu script! This is
at once a discovery and dissemination, and this important event
was properly observed on the 'tirunakshatram' (kArttikai-yil
kArttikai) of nampiLLai, (Monday, Dec 25 1996), and in the
nampiLLai 'sannidhi' itself in Srirangam. It would be a gain
par excellence for the 'sampradAyam' if K. can eventually issue
reprints of PBA svAmi's works.
7.6. It would be difficult, in an article of this kind, to do
adequate justice to the 'sampradAya-kainkaryam' of
Prof. M.A. Lakshmi-tAtAchar,
Raja Veethi,
Melkote-571431, District Mandya, Karnataka,
(Phone: 08236-58742)
rendered through the agency of the ACADEMY OF SANSKRIT RESEARCH,
Melkote, which he founded in 1978. MAL personifies the true
spirit of tirunArAyaNapuram (Melkote): whatever of the sampradAyam
was lost or neglected elsewhere could be recovered on this blessed
'kshetram' so dear to uDaiyavar.
7.7. This is true even to-day. It was after all from the pilgrims
of Melkote (tirunArAyaNapuram) visiting kATTumannArkoil
(vIranArAyaNapuram) that SrI nAthamuni had received the 'key'
('ArAvamudE aDiyen uDalam ninpAl') to the entire corpus of AzhvAr
aruLiccheyal (divya prabandham). The great nanjIyar hailed from
Melkote, and so did Ay (jananyAchArya) who wrote TWO commentaries
on tiruppAvai, and on the great twin classics SrIvachanabhUshaNam
and AchAryahrdayam; and much later SrI rAmAnanda whom the northern
mystic ('sufi') kabIrdasa adopted as his guru.
7.8. The Academy is appointed in the most modern manner, and the
faculty most orthodoxly educated. The Academy's collection of books
and ancient manuscripts, all made possible through his single-handed
efforts (as the founder-director of the Academy), would be the
envy of many universities. What was a barren and thorny stretch
of land has been converted by him into an aromatic garden
of unchanging spring on the crest of Melkote hill in the close
proximity of the 'sannidhi' of tirunArAyaNa perumAL and
selvappiLLai-sampatkumAra. The Academy's president, M.A.Sriranga
Rajan (retired from the top bureaucracy level), has imported for
the Academy his own administrative insights enriched by his
instinctive respect for scholarly traditions. The Academy's
publications would enhance any university's intellectual stock and
research programme. The multivolume 'viSishtAdvaita-koSam' and
the definitive edition of 'sribhAshyam' are the major ones, with the
various upanishad-bhAshyam in close tow for special mention.
Three volumes of the KANNADA TRANSLATION OF BHAGAVAD-VISHAYAM have
already issued.
7.9. The younger generation is likely to despair that it could ever
have the intellectual or linguistic equipment or leisure to savour
of the expansive 'vyAkhyAna' literature available in srivaishnavam.
It is in consideration of this seemingly pessimistic scenario that
the book, 'nampiLLai urai-tiran' (the exegetic craft of nampiLLai)
acquires significance as a surpassing and systematic introduction
to the author of the unrivalled 'Idu' commentary on tiruvAimozhi.
The author of 'nampiLLai',
Dr R. arangarAjan
28 Palanganatham Agraharam
Madurai - 625003
Phone: 0452-601124
(retired from Madurai university) would still have earned his place
in the hall of fame even if (just like E.M. Forster) he had written
nothing else. His excellent trend-setting research work has
inspired others to take up his trail into studying other vyAkhyA,
like Dr M. Varadarajan's book on pannIrAyirappaDi (of vAdikEsari
azhagia maNavALa jIyar) and Dr BhUmA vEnkatakrishNan's book on
onpadinAyirappaDi (of nanjIyar).
7.9.1. In respect of publications, there are two things to do.
Firstly, it is important to get the core books available in print,
and in good edition. Secondly, it is equally important to produce
handy and reader-friendly publications which could present the basic
texts and data of religion as such, and supplement it with
explanation for the comprehension of the contemporary reader. The
slim and handy 'sandhyAvandanam' edition by sRI Krishnaswami Aiyangar
is the best example of the second category of publications.
/To continue....
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