1. Tirukural on Wisdom

2. Tyagaraja on Music

3. Basavanna

4. Shruti on Vocations

5. Vivekananda on the Past

6. Vemana

7. Gandhi on Caste

8. Meaning of Varna in Rig Veda

9. Bhartrhari

10. Purusha Sukta

11. Tirumular

12. Tantras in Tirumandiram

13. Chandidas

14. Andal

15. Raja Ram Mohan Roy

16. Myth: Cow Worship

17. Vallabha

18. Marriages

19. Keshab Chandra Sen

20. Swami Agehananda Bharati

21. Yalpana Nayanar

22. Harmony in Nature - Nandanar/Periapuranam

23. Enlightened Universality - Yaadum Oore/Kanian

24. Tamil Vaishnavism and Alvars

25. Set Aside the Shastras - Tirumular

26. Murugan and Kanda Puranam

27. Tirumoli by PeriAlvar

28. Bengali Gems by Chandidas

29. A SImple Scene - Sangam Literature

30. Tirupugal - Arunagirinathar

31. Tolkappiam

32. Civakacintamani - First Tamil Epic

33. Kuruntokai

34. Gratitude - Tirukural

35. Appar

36. Nature in Sorrow - Kampan Ramayana

37. Tayumanavar

38. Sundarar

39. Tirumangai Alvar

40. Hanuman - Kampan Ramayana

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aRivinuL ellAm talaiyenba tIya
ceRuvArkkum ceiyA viDal

They say, of wisdom all, on top this goes
Not doing evil even to foes.

This couplet from the TirukkuRaL (21.3) is one of those pearls of wisdom
which is being pushed more and more into the corner these days, and not just
in intolerant non-Hindu societies. In the Hindu world too those who preach
such values are being considered morons. Yet, it is an affirmation of a an
ancient insight which even some non-Hindu spiritual leaders have
articulated. To hate and to hit back, to seek revenge and to subdue the
enemy are the natural instinctive modes, and therefore are practiced by a
vast number of people. The attack on enemies and their subjugation has even
proved to be effective in many instances. But the other way, not driven by
our animal nature, and instigated by sophisticated cultural and ethical
maturity, has also borne fruit, and has elevated the human spirit to higher
levels. Though followed by only a minority of people, the best potential of
the human spirit has been reflected in the actions and attitudes of such
people. To hate and to vilify the enemy is normal and natural, but the
enlightened guides of many peoples have often articulated ideals which may
seem to be beyond the reach of the majority. It is such guides, as
TiruvaLLuvar here, who have kept the torch of civilization alight. So, even
in an age when we are intoxicated with the raw passions of anger which
instigate us to harsh words and dreadful deeds towards our enemies, real or
perceived, it is good to be reminded of these ideals.

V. V. Raman

Merge yourself in music and experience the divine bliss, Oh mind!
(Music is) the bestower of delicious fruits:
the ragas which arise are combinations of seven-notes.

This is from one of the many kritis of Saint TyAgarAja (18th century), a
giant of classical Karnatic music, whose compositions have not only given
immense aesthetic delight to countless people over many generations, but
also lifted up their hearts to spiritual joys. For TyAgarAja was no mere
composer. He was a devout bhakta also.

In Indic culture we often speak of j?, bhakti, and karma as the three
mArgas or paths for spiritual fulfillment. But there is also a fourth one:
the gAna mArga or path of music by which the aspirant might taste a bit of
the divine. In the performance and experience of music the participant
forgets the world of pettiness and self, of anger and hate, or creed and
sect, and merges into the melody that does the magic of transporting one to
an altogether ethereal realm where pure joy reigns. If the music is of the
devotional kind, as TyAgarAja's was, then we are also transformed, even if
transitorily, into purely spiritual beings.

In these lines from a kriti entitled NAdalOluDai, the divinely-inspired
poet tersely formulates the gAna-mArga principle by which he lived and
taught, and through which he also grandly enriched our culture.

V. V. Raman

Basavanna was a profound thinker, a great social reformer, a great saint
and a religious teacher. Basavanna is regarded as the originator of
Lingayatism, however according to some scholars he revived this already
existing creed. Shree Basaveshwara was born in a brahmin family, to
Madarasa and Madalambe in 1131 AD in Bagewadi. Madarasa was the chief of
Bagewadi, which is now known as Basavanna Bagewadi in Bijapur district,
Karnataka, India. From his childhood, Basavanna was a brilliant child &
was always showing his objections to many customs, rituals,
discriminations in day to day affairs.

He was much pained by many drawbacks in Hindu Vedic Systems and brought
reformation. For example:

*Due to untouchability system prevailing the lower caste people were
treated as animals.
*Female were not given equal rights.
*The widows had to follow many rigid rituals & customs.
*The animal sacrifies in the name of satisfaction of gods.
*The rigid caste system treating the person by birth as superior or
inferior.
*Following blind rituals which were meaningless.
*The Statue worship and exploitation of innocent people by worship class
like pujaris, maThapatis etc.

The Brahmin class was opposing the learning of Vedas by people of other
castes and all temples, maThs were in their stronghold . Exploitation of
innocent lower caste people in the name of god & religious ceremonies
rituals pained Basavanna very much & in his boyhood he opposed "Upanayana
Samskara" which was not permitted to females. At the age of 16 years
Basava broke away from the brahmanical religious traditions. He then
proceeded to Kudala Sangama, which is now a village in Hunagund Taluk of
Bijapur District and situated at the meeting place (Sangama or Junction )
of two rivers, the Krishna and its tributary the Mahaprabha. Basava found
his guru at Sangama and with his guidance, he put himself into study and
devotion to Sangameshwara the presiding deity of Sangama. He spent 12
years which was the most significant period of his life at Sangama.

He also started preaching that God is only one & he is "Shiva", who has no
shape but dwells in every one. The symbol of "Linga" a semi round object
was made compulsory to be worn in the neck after "Shiva Diksha" and this
was equally applicable to both Males & Females. All such persons who
believed that God is only one and he is Shiva were given "Diksha" and wore
that Symbol Linga. They were called as Veerasaivas or Lingayat. Basavanna
become Prime Minister to King Bijjala  who was a follower of Jainism, but
Basavanna married the sister of King Bijjala and since the king was not
opposing Basavanna for his activities, all caste people under took Shiva
diksha & became Veerasaivas by putting on Vibuthi on their forehead, &
other parts of body & wearing Linga in the neck. The Veerasaivism not only
brought all class of people under are stray fold irrespective of Caste &
its popularity prejudiced the minds of Brahmins & their followers who
believed in day old customs & procedures. "Anubava Mantapa" established
under the chairmanship of Allama Prabha included females & it became so
popular all the participants were given to voice their opinions it was
guiding Veerasaivism to right paths always by performing as a governing
council.It included leaders & stalwarts like Channabasavana, Akka Mahadevi
& other Sharanas. The Veerasaiva are known as sharanas & Vachanas are the
form simple Kannada poems were written by all sharanas. Basavannas Vachana
became so popular, and study and recitations made people adhere to right
path.

Here's is one of Basavanna's Vachana:

ivanArava ivanArava ivanAravaneMdu enisadirayya.
iva nammava iva nammava, iva nammavaneMdu enisayya.
kUDala saMgamadEvA nimma maneya maganeMdu enisayya.

Meaning:
Don't make (me) think, "Whose is this man ? Whose is this man ? Whose is
this man ?"
Make (me) think, "This is our man. This is our man. This is our man."
Oh the Deity of kUDala saMgama, make (me) think that "I am a son of
Your house."

Note:
1. Our Lord stands as the Supreme Flame that transcends all boundaries.
To that God without a second, who is related and who is not? People of
which color, race, caste, gender, language, region are His liked-ones and
which ones are not? The One God for this entire universe does not push
away any section of society. If there were two Gods may be there could be
preferred ones of each one. There is only One and He is the source of
Bliss for everybody. Whoever is the devotee of our beloved God, they are
our own. There should be no discrimination of the devotees in anyway. We
are all the sons of that Great House!

Sources:
http://www.lingayat.com/alingayat/basavanna.asp
http://www.shaivam.org/vacsl004.htm

*Content has been edited*

Gautham.

Scruti on Vocations

There are several references to the caste system in all the smirthis. The very existence of the manu
shastras is fact of the existence of a hierarchical caste and untouchability,
and is a disgrace to us,
whether the jurisprudence part was implemented or not. The brahmins certainly
implemented the
rituals and rules set our for them in the MS, especially those part containing
rituals when in contact
with harijans. Perhaps the muslims and british built upon the social divisions
and made it worse.

There are a very few references in the brahmana sections of the vedas and in
some upanishads, as
well as some in the agamas (as to who should conduct worship in the
moolasthanam), but here it
appears as an observation of the already existing social structure of those
times. It neither condones
or condemns the social divisions. Here in the scruti, there is clearly no
untouchability and neither is
there a hierarchical system. Indeed we are told again and again in the Yajur
Veda that all part of
society are equal, and there is no one inferior or superior, and no one is more
or less important then a
pebble.

By delving into the past, into the smirthi again and again, we will not solve
the problem, and it
obscures the scruti. Smirthis are sectarian and divisive. It is for this reason
I suggest that we bring
the scruti in front in academic discussions, and point out verses that there is
no hierarchy and no
biasness on gender or birth, let alone untouchability.

Here is one to start with:

Taittiriya Samhita, Shukla Yajurveda

Namastakshabhyo rathakaarebhyasca
vo namo namo kulalebhya karmarebhyasca
vo namo namo nisadebhya punjisthebhyasca
vo namo nama isukrdhbyo dhanvakrdhbhyasca vo namaha

Salutations to carpenters/woodcutters, and chariot makers,
Salutations again and again to potters and blacksmiths,
Salutations again and again to fisherfolk and fowlers,
Salutations again and again to makers of arrows and bows.

EXPLANATION

1. Here the Lord is identified as everything, as all workers and as all
vocations and as all actions, and
the seer prostrates to all workers/the Lord.
2. Here, all occupations/vocations are respected, none higher or lower, all play
a part.
3. Here there is a recognition of the different classes of workers that existed
then, and that will
always exist in any society and in anytime, and that exists today, and will
exist in the future. Here
there is acceptance of the different vocations of mankind.
5. Here we are 'told' to emulate the seer and prostrate to all workers,
everyone, without exception. We
are told to accept all people with reverence.

Now this is a just and equal society. How better does it get?

"This is the ancient land where wisdom made its home before it went into any
other country, the same India whose influx of spirituality is represented,
as it were, on the material plane, by rolling rivers like oceans, where the
eternal Himalayas, rising tier above tier with their snow-caps, look as it
were into very mysteries of heaven. Here is the same India whose soil has
been trodden by the feet of the greatest sages that ever lived.

Here first sprang up inquiries into the nature of man, into the internal
world. Here first arose the doctrines of immortality of the soul, the
existence of a supervising God, an immanent God in nature and in man, and
here the highest ideals of religion and philosophy have attained their
culminating points. This is the land from whence, like the tidal waves,
spirituality and philosophy have again and again rushed out and deluged the
world, and this is the land from whence once more such tides must proceed in
order to bring life and vigor to the decaying races of mankind. It is the
same India which has withstood the shocks of centuries, of hundreds of
foreign invasions, of hundreds of upheavals of manners and customs. It is
the same land which stands firmer than any rock in the world, with its
undying vigor, indestructible life. Its life is the same nature as the soul,
without beginning and without end, immortal, and we are the children of such
a country (culture).

".. Many times have I been told that. looking into the past only degenerates
and leads to thing, and that we should look to the future. That is true. But
out of the past is built the future.. Look back, therefore, as far as you
can, drink deep of the eternal fountains that are behind, and after that,
look forward, march forward and make India brighter, greater, much higher
than she ever was.."

This was the inspiring beginning of the speech by Swami Vivekananda from
which I quoted another section last week. We see in these words the passion
and eloquence of a brilliant man deeply connected to his heritage who fully
understood its sturdy roots, and also their true strengths. He made no
awkward claims about modern physics being in the Vedas, but he well knew
those elements of India's long and rich history of which we can all be
justly and genuinely proud. He reminds us in these uplifting lines of a past
that was legitimately glorious, and of an inner resilience that has not
allowed intruding forces to demolish or weaken it.

This ancient civilization has to reaffirm itself, but in order to do that it
must look into its past. And from that retrospection it must learn not only
about its richness, but also about its not so bright periods. Furthermore,
it is not enough to bask in the sunshine of past achievements, the emerging
generation must do more than sing the glories of its ancestors, even as, for
a person to gain respect, it will not do to keep saying ,"My grand uncle
was a high-court judge."

At this juncture, it so important to know why some things went wrong at
some time. But it is urgent to correct the wrongs and to repair the damage.
While being anchored to the best and the most nourishing elements of our
heritage, we must get on with the task of rebuilding a civilization that
will become, in the words of Vivekananda "brighter, greater, much higher
than she ever was," .

[Personal note: Last week, in my lecture at the Chicago Center for Science
and Religion on "Science and Religion for the 21st century," I stated that
the vision of multiple-paths of Hindu seers was the only way for
establishing harmony and sanity in the coming century in a world reeling
with mutual animosity, hatred, and conflicts. I quoted the Sloka "AkAsAd
patitantoyam." After my talk a Christian scholar said, "Thank you for
bringing this insight of your tradition to us. More than a hundred years ago
the great Swami Vivekananda came to our city with this message. The people
of this city were so moved by his speech that they honored his name with a
plaque right in front of the Arts Institute of Chicago where he spoke." This
confirmed my view that, in our own times, not all Hindus are caste-bigots,
and not all Christians are missionaries.]

V. V. Raman

VEMANA (15th century)

Vemana is the name of an author that appears in classical Telugu literature.
So little is known of this sage-poet that some have suspected that Vemana is
but the collective name given to a group of village wise men. Others have
spun interesting tales about the man and his origins. It has been told that
he was born to a ruling king, and that after a youth of playboy pleasures,
he turned into a philosopher-poet. Some say he became a yogi who performed
miraculous feats, like growing sweet melons with seeds of gold. Rumors
spread that his urine and excrement turned to precious metals in the homes
of those that received him with respect.

More careful probing has concluded that these stories are trees in a forest
of fantasies, providing cool comfort to some, but devoid of factual roots.
His modern biographer V. R. Narla, armed with the tools and strengths of
dispassionate scholarship, suggests that "Vemana was no scion of a royal
family. What looms large in the background of his life is not a palace but a
farm." He also suspects from extant writings that Vemana was attracted
first to pretty damsels, and then to alchemy, and that he (Vemana)
discovered that the transmutations should be, not from base metals to gold,
but from base human nature to a noble one.

The collection of Vemana's writings, known as Padyamulu, covers a wide range
of topics. It embodies an extremely tolerant theology, with such nuggets as:
Cows may come in different colors, but the milk they give is always white.
Flowers vary in forms and fragrance, but they all may be used to worship
God.

Faiths may be different in forms, but the God they preach is one and the
same.

His thoughts are non-sectarian. He refers to God as "He whose form is
universal, who is eternal, who Himself witnesses all that passes in every
heart, who exists immutably throughout the world, who is free from all
shadow."

Vemana speaks out against the common modes of worship in his tradition:
"Neither in earth nor metal, in wood or stone, painted walls or images, is
where we can perceive the great Spirit." He ridicules the obsession for
pilgrimage to Varanasi: "Varanasi! Varanasi! you cry, eager to travel there.
But is not God everywhere? If you have the right heart, He must be there and
here too." Vemana is wise on secular themes too. He pokes fun at the miser:
"If you wish to kill a miser, do not poison him. Simply ask him for a penny,
and he will die." He has no regard for the pompous bureaucrat who tries to
impress the simple-minded: "If you get hold of a monkey and dress it up in a
fancy manner, the other apes will worship it." He counsels magnanimity
toward a fallen enemy: "Though a foe that deserves to be killed fall into
your hands, do not afflict him. Conciliate him with your kindness, and let
him go. This itself will be death to him."

Long before Thomas Jefferson, Vemana wrote,
If we look through all the earth,
Men, we see, have equal birth,
Made in one great brotherhood,
And equal in the sight of God.

Again and again we see the amalgam of commonsense and wisdom in Vemana's
verses. He called a spade a spade. Provoked perhaps by rules by which "the
work of a shudra poet should be rejected without examination," - a rule
enunciated by the Telugu literary authority Appakavi - Vemana did not mince
words when it came to ridiculing orthodoxy. He had little respect for
ostentatious Brahminism: "How do you become superior by merely smearing your
bodies with ashes? It is your thoughts that must turn to God. Even an ass
can wallow in dirt."

Because of such temerity, the establishment made every effort to suppress
the name and writings of this bold thinker.

Not only were Vemana's poems scrupulously excluded from general publications
of Telugu poetry, but his name was not even mentioned by scholars and
compendia of great Telugu writers. Sadly, it was a European scholar who
re-discovered Vemana and brought him to the attention of the modern world.
It is shocking to read that when "The Verses of Vemana: Moral, Religious and
Satirical" was first published in 1829, 450 of the 500 copies "were rolled
up as waste paper and tucked away in the lumber room of the College
library."

In his satire and €Őasez l' inf? attitude, Vemana was a Voltaire of his
times. Instead of the Bastille, he suffered oblivion. He was cryptic in his
sayings, and was not without a touch of humor. Yet, he was no cold
rationalist. Only he who has compassion for his fellow-men's sufferings
deserves to be called a human being, he declared.

Angry orthodoxy may call him a non-Hindu, but he was as much a Hindu as any
Veda-chanting, yaj?erforming, caste-respecting dharmi. Herein lies the
strength, sanctity, and security of Hinduism. May we never forget that.
If the likes of Vemana had held the day, who knows what intellectual
revolutions Indian society might have undergone in earlier centuries! The
battles in human civilization are not just military, nor even only between
good and evil. Often they are between enlightened and obscurantist ways of
looking at the world. And Vemana was on the side of light.

V. V. Raman

These are the words of Mahatma Gandhi, written and spoken more than eighty
years go. We respect Gandhiji for these sentiments, but sadly they are not
really original thoughts. All through the ages, the true lovers of the
tradition, countless Hindu sages and saints, have spoken out with even
greater vehemence and harshness against a system that considers one group
inferior, indeed too lowly to be touched. Whether it is the inertia of
centuries, the spiritual blindness of dvijas, the perversion of pundits, the
attitudes of the AcAryas, or the curse of some sinister spirit, we do not
know. But the fact is that for generations the scourge of casteism and
untouchability has disfigured the fair face of Mother India. One may wonder
if the religion will ever be cured of this age-old ailment that has been
maiming the fabric of Hindu society for a good many centuries.

By some magical transformation, the same Hindus, when they are transported
to distant lands, from Malaysia to Madagascar, Singapore to South Africa,
from Australia to Arizona, soon rid themselves of this dreadful and shameful
disease. And there seems to be some hope now. Now that some of these
expatriate children and others in India who have been awakened to the values
and worldviews of a different century, have begun to stir the stagnant
waters, and splash their outrage on the wonder of the internet, things
might change after all. It is ironic that the greatest salvation for modern
Hinduism could well be instigated by voices of light and reason from distant
shores.

[In the meanwhile, obsession with sectarian hegemony seems to be on the
rise, even in Navyashastra circles. Not unlike Christians and Muslims who
claim primacy for their respective prophets, ancient Hindu rivalries seem to
be coming back to the fore: Which is preferable and superior? The Shaivite
metaphysical insight that is above all else, or the Vaishnavite
personification of the Divine Who is the savior of all humankind? To claim
that Hinduism proclaims multiple paths to spiritual fulfillment and is above
sectarian squabbles, may be, like other ideals of the tradition, soothing
and self-serving in philosophical discourses, but in practice, more often
than not, we are no better than the religion of the mlecchas. When it comes
to our enlightened visions, they are, as Shakespeare said somewhere, "more
honour's in the breach than the observance."]

V. V. Raman

In the Rg Veda color (varna) means the color of the banner of the god the
family follows. It has nothing to do with cast, ethnicity or god. One has to
link
this word (varna) to words like rupa(form) or varlas (concrete form) to
understand the fluid and inconcrete character character of those words in the Rg

Veda. In general the three words correspond to an effect (form) poduced or being

produced and therefore classifiable only according to the aspect or the stage
of the manifested external activity. As in R.V. 5.81.2., of Savitara, or
Visvarupa, or the changes of Soma in the ritual, R.V. 2.13.3.or Indra in
R.V.3.53.8. In the same sense that it is said of the wind and its forms which
appear
with force R.V. 1.164.44 or simply as whisperings R.V. 10.168.4.
All beauty resides in the color (varna) of Agni R.V. 2.1.12. And the "cows
follow the color of Agni" AND THE Rivers the color of Varuna as in Rg Veda
10.124.7 or even the poem of the poet is sukravarna (clear color). In every
instance varna is a manifestation of an state of being active...not fixed as a
cast.
OM SHANTI
Antonio de NICOLAS

> Why is Lord Muruga red?

lemme try an arrow

agnirnaH paatu kR^ittikaa .
nakshatram devamindriyam .

(nakshatra suukta - originally in TB--shruti)

Now krittikaa <==> kaartikai <==> murugan
any guess what colour agni is?

Rajagopal Iyer

Prof. Nicolas is right in that varna has to be associated with rupa
and nama. All gods have a name and form as well as color. All
form is color. Color is light. It is energy. It is dynamic. Color is
Vibrations, and it is Sound too. Combinations of colors manifest
as different gods.

That color (varna) is also the emanation, effulgence, power,
effect or shakti of that god. When seen in this sense, there is
unity of the gods as well as creation, while the distinctions
remain. Colors are the same One Light vibrating in different
frequencies.

But all these have nothing to do with the varna system. Insofar as
the vedas, varna is color - of the gods.

Now see how in the puraanashastras, say the BG, that scholars
and archaryas, even saintly names from the past, over long
periods of time have been explaining that varna is 'based on
guna not janma'. And see how far these puraanashastras have
deviated from the vedas. Embarassing isn't it?

And when the bakti saints admonished the people to disregard
varna and jaati, that admonishment itself is used now to validate
the 'ever existence' of varna system. Doctrinally the bakti saints
were closer to the vedas than the puraanashastra authors.

It is in this sense that I have always maintained that we should
eject all smirthis, as it is clouding our views and judgements.
The smirthis ARE in major conflict with the vedas.

We now see clearly as Rajagopal writes that Lord Muruga is
indeed Agni, and Agni is His color, and He is the most
worshipped god of the rig.

>if one has internalized the view that
> the PurANas as no more than stories, legends, and parables)
and one is still
> religious, then one has attained a higher level of spirituality
than most
> ordinary Hindus. In that case, it should make little difference in
what color
> Krishna, KAli, or KArtikEya is represented.

These puraanashastras are
indeed an impediment to spiritual progress. I urge all to mentally
eject them as stories, legends and parables and be relieved
immediately, and be caste free, be sect free, and be open to
receive and explore new, higher and loftier avenues of thinking
and realisations.

Unless we all in the forum do that, and take the higher path, and
boldly declare so openly, only them can we lead Hindu soceity
out of the morass of caste. Only them will we have the conviction
to lead.

BhartRhari is an illustrious Sanskrit writer who probably lived in the
seventh century. Scholars have argued about his identity, some suggesting
that the name probably refers to two different persons. Some have said that
we was king, and ruled in Ujjaini.
Be that as it may, we do have pleasing poetry and insightful ideas bearing
the name of BhartRhari. At least three works are credited to him: Vairagya
Satakam (Hundred Principles on renunciation). Niti-Satakam (Hundred
Principles on Ethical Codes) and Sringara-Catakam (Hundred Principles of
Physical Love).

Whether he was Buddhist or Hindu we may never know. But he wrote on love and
renunciation, on morals and wisdom. Certain works on Sanskrit grammar are
also attributed to him.

Sometimes he is pragmatic, as when he notes that in life, more important
than caste and venerable virtue, are material riches: "Let high birth go the
nether world, and all merits sink even lower. Let virtue be flung from a
precipice, and pedigree consumed by fire. Let lightning strike our valor.
But let us not lose our riches!"

He recognized the role of our environment in determining our worth when he
noted that a drop of water on a heated iron loses its very identity while
the same droplet on a lotus leaf shines like a bead of pearl.

The ancient notion of woman the temptress was expressed by BhartRhari in his
writings. He wrote, for example, that all the "rightness of wisdom is dimmed
when it meets the lovely eyes of an enticing woman." Were it not for woman,
he suggested, the sorrowful voyage of life could be completed much sooner.
Yet, BhartRhari also spoke of woman as the ultimate reason for life. The
grand purpose of the faculty of vision, he said, was to enjoy woman's
beauty, as that of the faculty of hearing was to hear her voice. Indeed
thought itself was meant to contemplate on the pleasing features of woman.

Few thinkers have been spared the thoughts of fleeting time, of old age and
eventual death, of familiar scenes long since gone, and of happy days recede
d into the irrevocable past. Thus, like other poets, BhartRhari also wrote
serenely on the unstoppable passage of time: "Day by day, with sunrise and
sunset, life fades away. In arduous labors time spent unnoticed as we carry
the burdens of manifold tasks...Those that bore us have passed away. Those
we grew up with us have also slid into the path of memory. We alone are
left, like trees on a sandy bank, each passing day making us ever more ready
to fall."

He spoke wearily of the spent-up state of human existence: "The yearning for
delights is over; the pride of manhood is no more; close and dear friends
have all departed; and there is a gradual loss of sight. The spent-up body
is dreading the approach of death." There is sadness here, but also food for
thought when one is submerged in blinding enjoyments.

Like Shakespeare, but centuries earlier, BhartRhari spoke of the stages of
Man: "Child for a little while, then briefly gallant youth; then for a while
in need of substance, followed by a passing phase of wealthy estate; then
with emaciated body and limbs; and at last like an actor with a wrinkled
mask he leaves the stage behind the curtains to go to the nether world."

He gives some rules for life: "Anonymous charity, enthusiastic courtesy to a
visitor, silence after performing an act of kindness, and public recognition
upon receiving one, modesty in the face of fortune, and conversation without
rudeness."

BhartRhari states that the following are among the stabs that his heart has
received: "The moon darkened by day, the bygone youth of the mistress, the
pool whose lilies have faded away, the speechless mouth in a pretty face,
the prince whose only concern is his wealth, the good person in constant
distress."

Sometimes he adopts a fatalistic philosophy: "Is it the fault of the spring
that no foliage stands on the bush? Is the sun to be blamed if the owl can't
see in broad daylight? Are the clouds to be condemned if rain drops do not
fall directly into the mouths of the birds? Who can erase what Fate has
ordained?"

BhartRhari reflects on how fluctuations in one's economic status can change
everything: "Strange it is that the man who has the same five senses, the
selfsame name, the same strong mind, and the same speech, can yet become in
an instant a quite different individual if deprived of his wealth."

Yet, in another work, BhartRhari wonders about success and wealth. "Even if
you achieved all you ever wanted, including everlasting potential for
pleasure and enjoyment, what then?"
How could a man write so solemnly on wisdom and morals, on life and death,
and also rhapsodize on woman and erotic love? Some say that BhartRhari, went in and out of a monastery seven times. This may have made him recognize that life is like a pendulum swinging between mundane delights and spiritual discipline.

V. V. Raman

The Purusha sUkta (19th hymn if book X of the Rig Veda) has been repeated
perhaps more often than any other hymn of the Rig Veda. When, as a youth, I
learned it by rote, I had no idea of what it meant, but it sounded (and
still sounds) majestic and serene, as recited by the pundit who initiated me
into this.

In later years, when I approached it from a historical perspective, rather
than as a traditional-spiritual exercise, I discovered that some scholars
who have examined the linguistic aspects of the Rig Veda suspect that the
Purusha sUkta was a later interpolation into the much more ancient Rig Veda,
and that this is the only place in the entire Rig where the word Shudra
occurs. No untouchability here.
My own view is that the hymn is a vision of cosmology articulated by one of
our countless sage-poets, and that, aside from presenting a lofty picture of
how it all came to be, the hymn also describes metaphorically the role of
various sectors of society, with an analogy to organs of the body which
perform various functions.
The most uncomfortable lines, for modern Hindus, are:
brAhmaNo asya mukhamAsIt | bAhU rAjanya: krta: |
Uru tadasya yad vaishya | padbhyAm SUdro ajAyata

The Brahmin from the mouth and royalty from arms were made,
From His thighs the Vaishya and from His feet the Sudra were born.

One may say that the phrase also reminds us that
society cannot stand without the Sudras, as the body cannot stand without
its feet. This is interesting, but is no consolation for the caste that has
been held in the lowest esteem for ages.
I don't see the Purusha sUkta as giving any support or justification for the
caste system. Rather it describes the then current social stratification,
and paints its origins in a mythopoetic way . It has been said that Manu was inspired by this in the formulation of his
code.

But all this is ancient history.
At the risk of offending the more orthodox in the group, I will say that to
me the PS is magnificent ancient poetry, and deserves respect as such, and
is certainly not the word of God and even a great revelation about
anthropogenesis.

In the Tamil Saiva tradition, divinely touched souls who live amidst us for
the welfare of humankind are known as Siddhars (Perfected Ones). A Siddhar
is in communion with the Supreme, and yet lives in the chaotic and
contradictory world of human activities. It is said that Siddhars attain
their state by actualizing the power of the kinDalinI. In this framework,
spiritual liberation (mukti) may occur in four ways: In the first one
(sAlokya), the individual lives in God's realm. In the second (sAmIpya), one
is living near God. In the third (sArUpya), one acquires the form of God,
and in the fourth (sAyujya), one merges with God. The first three modes of
mukti (liberation) are described as padamukti.

What is remarkable about the Tamil Siddhars is that they were not
other-worldly mystics who rejected the world as mAyA, but very much for
neighborly love and social service. They believe in bringing knowledge and
experience to the common people. Their sacred mantra, SivAya nama has been
interpreted to mean: bliss (Siva) results (aya) from sacrifice (nama). To
them religion is an awakening into the nature of the Supreme, rather than a
set of doctrines to be accepted.

TirumUlar was one of the most eminent of Tamil Siddhars poets. He was the
author of Tirumandiram (Sacred Chant) which is an extraordinary esoteric
compendium of spiritual utterances. It embodies insights of immense
significance to the Tamil Saiva tradition. The poet describes mandarin
(mantra) as the single path which the mind follows: manam oruvazhippattadu
mandarin, i.e. that on which the mind is intensely focused. The Tirumandiram
contains the tenets of the Agamas of the Saiva tradition, and is placed as
the tenth book of Tirumurai. What the NAlAyiradivyaprabandam is to the Tamil
VaishNavA school, the TirumiRai is to the Tamil SaivA school. It enjoys the
same respect and reverence as the Upanishads to in the Sanskritic tradition
.
Unlike certain other-worldly philosophers, TirumUlar did not look down upon
the physical body. He declared that ever since he recognized the divine
essence in his body, he began to regard it as a temple, and not as something
dirty and lowly as he had once imagined:

UDambinai munnam izhukenRu irundane
UdDambinukku uLLe urupoRuL kanDane
Undambile uttaman koyil konDAn enRu
UnDambinai yAniruntu ombuginDane.

He noted that the gross physical dimension of the world often hides from our
vision its deeper essence which is magnificent. Only mystics, with clear
and pure minds, can see through the veil of ignorance. He explained this by
means of an analogy:

With an elephant was playing a child with joy
It was in fact a wooden toy.
Only a chunk of wood did a man there find,
The elephant's form eluded his mind.
So the elements veil the Real from view,
But the mystic's eye sees God right through.
He said pithily anbE sivam: Love alone is God, and explained further
anbum sivamum iraNDenpar aRivilAr
Who say Love and Sivam (the Divine) are two (separate entities)
are ignorant.

The voluminous work includes the core doctrine of paSu-pati-pAsam, as well
as tAntric analogies between orgasmic pleasure and spiritual ecstasy.
According to one school of thought, based on Indic Boreo-centrism (every
spiritual insight in India had its origin in the North) and the principle
ofArcheo-valorism (the older something is, the greater must be its intrinsic
value) a rishi by the name of Sundarar climbed down from Himalayan peaks in
3000 B.C.E. to meet Saint Agastiyar who had likewise brought knowledge and
culture to the people of the South from Sanskritic realms. On the way, the
sage is said to have come across a cowherd who had died from snake-bite,
leaving the animals unattended. Out of love for the cows he left his
physical frame and entered into that of the expired caretaker of the cows.
The name of the man who had died was MUlan, and that is how Sundarar
acquired the name of TirumUlar.

It is difficult to reconcile this mythological antiquity with the following
statement from one historian of South Indian Shrines: "The epigraph on the
north wall of the central shrine of Manatunai-isar of Valivalam (Negapatam
taluk, Tanjore District: 9-13 centuries) records sale of land to the matha
of this saint (TirumUlar)." There are always significant discrepancies
between the accounts of sacred history and of secular history: another
reason why the orthodox are not enamored of secularists.
In any case, Saiva siddhanta, which many of its adherents regard as
pre-Vedic in origins, is undoubtedly one of the Universalist religious
visions in human history. And TirumUlar is a sparkling gem in the crown of
this Tamil tradition wherein one finds a marvelous blending of profound
bhakti and grand poetry, of sophisticated metaphysics and deep spirituality,
as in few other contexts in humanity's rich cultural history.

V. V. Raman

http://kumar.bse.vt.edu/projectmadurai/pub/pm0004/tmdrint.html

The Tirumandiram has been reckoned as the tenth of the 12 Tirumurais
of Saivism. It has been divided into nine sections called Tantras,
containing the quintessence of the Saiva Agamas. Sekkizhar, the
author of Periyapuranam, designated this Tamil classic as "Tamizh
Moovaayiram" since it possesses 3000 poems each of which has unique
metrical structure, each line consisting of 11 or 12 syllables,
depending upon the initial syllable. It is the earliest exposition of
Saiva Agamas in Tamil, discussing in detail the four related steps of
spiritual progress viz., Carya, Kriya, Yoga and Jnana.

Tirumoolar, the author of the text, has been hailed as one of the 63
Nayanmars. He was a great mystic and Yogi. For a very long period he
was absorbed in meditation and contemplation beneath the shade of a
Bodhi tree at Tiruvavaduthurai and delivered the poems which are
collectively called the Tirumandiram i.e. the divine incantations.
Historically, the author belonged to 500 A.D., long before the period
of the Thevaram trio.

In the Tirumandiram, various layers of philosophical thoughts and
religious doctrines are embedded. It has been considered to be the
earliest text on Saiva Siddhanta. The concept of Pati, Pasu and Pasa
and fourfold sadhanas, peculiar to Saiva Siddhanta are adumbrated in
the text. Equally the author has given importance to Vedanta, since
in many poems the esoteric substance of the Upanishadic
Mahavakya, "Tat tvam asi" has been interestingly interpreted through
the grammatical technique of "Lakshanatraya". Further, he refers to
the Vedantic concept of sevenfold adjuncts (Upadhi) of Jiva and the
same number of Upadhis of Isvara and describes the absolute and
transcendental Reality as Sunya, devoid of any attribute. There are
portions in his treatise, to be identified as Tantrasastra, since
they provide rich materials on the basic principles of Shakti
worship, diagrams, Chakras, magic spells and their accessories.

The third section of the text is an elaborate exposition of the eight-
limbed Yoga. Since Tirumoolar claims in the prefatory portion that
Patanjali, the devotee of Nataraja, was his colleague, it is quite
reasonable to suggest that he has been inspired by his Yogasutra. The
ethical preparations, embodying the avoidance of vices and adoption
of virtues, technically known as "Yama" and "Niyama" are presented
with additional details, not found in the Sanskrit text of Patanjali.

Similarly particulars of "Asanas", the physical postures
and "Pranayama" i.e., the breathing exercises, "Pratyahara" i.e.,
withdrawal of senses from going astray, "Dharana" i.e., fixing the
mind on the point, "Dhyana," meditation and "Samadhi", or absorption
are adequately expounded. He has also delineated the attainment of
supernatural powers, as a result of practising Yoga. It is his firm
conviction that the practice of Yoga should culminate in the
realisation of the oneness of Atman and Brahman. He calls this method
as Sivayoga.

Tirumoolar has also been considered to be the founder of the Tamil
Siddha system. He describes the ways and means of attaining immortal
body, called "Kayasiddhi". Unlike the homogeneous and heterogeneous
systems of Indian philosophy which emphasised the ephemerality of the
physical body, the Siddha system of Tirumoolar advocated a fresh
theory of preserving the body so that the soul would continue its
existence (Udambai valarthen uyir valarthenae).

Tirumoolar was a moral philosopher. In a separate section, he teaches
the ethics of ahimsa, abstinence from slaughtering, meat- eating and
drinking. He condemns coveting another man's wife. Like the crow
inviting its group to partake the food, people should be liberal in
exercising charity, without any discrimination. He declares
that "love is God". He proclaims the unity of mankind and God. He
stresses on the acquisition of knowledge through learning and
listening. The final section of the Tirumandiram is named "Sunya
Sambhashana", meaning esoteric dialogue. The poems are full of
metaphorical sayings communicating mystical and speculative thoughts.
One illustration is enough: *"There are five cows (Indriyas) in the
house of Paarppaan (Paar-to see; seer i.e. body of man) which wander
everywhere without a cowherd (preceptor). If they were controlled by
him and their thirst quenched, then they would spill out all milk
(bliss)."

Love,
Kumar

Chandidas was the first great poet in Bengali literature. He wrote
devotional poetry that elevated the spirits of those who sang them. It was
largely due to such effects of his lyrics on the influential saint Sri Chaitanya that Chandidas is remembered to this day. For Sri Chaitanya not only popularized by his singing the verses of the joyous poet, but in the process he also made Chandidas a memorable hero in Bengali culture.

Many of Chandidas's poems are love songs, frank and simple. "Love is the
nature, the riches of the arts, love is the air we breathe," he sang
joyously. His verses became part of the most revered religious music of the
Bengali people. These lyrics were often in the metaphor of Krishna's love
for Radha. In this framework, carnal intimacy and even the thrills of
illicit adultery and unpermitted union could be conveyed through poetry
which, to all appearances, expresses the lofty love between the God and
gopis. Much erotic poetry came to be written by this device.

Chandidas was born of Brahmin parents, but he is said to have been
infatuated with a woman of "lowly" caste. Rami was her name, and she was a
village washerwoman. Fearing the wrath of society, Chandidas and Rami used
to meet secretly. In his torments for her he composed some beautiful poetry.
Artists do not always realize their indebtedness to the sources of their
fruitful frustrations: bigoted Brahmins in this case. He wrote odes to her,
calling her the light of his eyes, proclaiming she was as proximate to his
heart as the garland he was wearing, and declaring her the goddess of all
gods. Soon the people came to know about the affair. This created a scandal,
the caste-pure Brahmins were appalled by the depravity of Chandidas's
caste-breaking sin. In an effort to appease them, to bring the matter into
the open, and to seek permission from the establishment for his unorthodox
alliance, the poet's brother or cousin (Nakul by name) arranged a hearty
feast for the upper caste wielders of authority.

When the learned pundits were seated for the feast, in walked the low-born
woman, creating much consternation among the pure-of-caste. How dare a
defiling washerwoman, temptress of a high-born youth, barge into the
presence of the God-knowing Brahmins? It created a terrifying scene.
Unfortunately, we don't know the details of what ensued, for the translator
of Chandidas sadly informs us that "the manuscript from which these songs
were copied, comes to an abrupt end here. The pages that followed the
description of the feast were eaten by white ants..." This gave free room
for imaginative legends.

According to one tale, the Brahmins rose in fury, the woman rushed to her
lover's arms. His arms increased in number, Vishnu-like, to four: two were
used for serving food and two for embracing the damsel in distress. Thus,
Chandidas revealed himself as the Supreme Principle, and Rami became Sakti. The wonder-struck pundits are said to have taken to their heels.

Another popular story that became current says that the local ruler employed
the poet as court composer. When news of his affair with the lowly woman
came to light, he was dismissed from court, and ostracized. The local ruler
hoped Chandidas would give up his misguided infatuation for the shudra
female and return to his purer fold. When this did not come to pass, the
king sent out a messenger (perhaps Nakul) to persuade the errant poet to
proper behavior. The messenger discovered, so the story goes, that Chandidas and Rami were no ordinary lovers, but individuals who had attained a high level of spiritual awakening.

The chieftain was persuaded, and Chandidas was invited back to the court.
But one day, while the poet was reciting his sublime compositions with a
group of singers at the court, the ruler's wife spied the poet from a
secluded place and lost her heart, for the creative rhapsodist was as
charming as his work was enthralling. When this was discovered, Chandidas
was condemned to be crushed by an elephant. The singer appealed in song to
his beloved:

"Listen, dear Rakakini girl, I am going to die for the queen's infatuation.
Now you have to save me."
To which his Rami answered,
"'For love of the queen, O my dearest, you have lost your life; this
heartless king has killed you."

We have no way of knowing how much of these stories are true. But they have
become part of the folk legends of the land. Painstaking scholarship tends
to explode beautiful myths. Some scholars tell us that there were at least
three major poets bearing the name of Chandidas, and many more of minor
talents also usurped that name. Only some two hundred poems are regarded as being authentic from the creative genius of the original one.

Looking upon the man-woman relationship on the physical plane as a
reflection of the soul-god merger on the spiritual is the essence of a
poetic tradition in Bengali literature known as the sahaja. It is also part
of the tantric framework. The works of Chandidas belong to the rich body of
sahaja compositions which have been in vogue for many centuries in Bengal.
We see in the story associated with Chandidas's love the ancient theme of
the wrath provoked on the guardians of class purity when someone breaks the
rules of endogamy. This is a recurrent phenomenon down to our own times, in
every culture, religion and society, but one which, like other constraints
of narrower visions, is slowly beginning to be eroded in our own times.

In the history of Tamil literature we speak of the AzhvArs : a group of
twelve devotees of Vishnu who wrote hundreds of songs and poems in praise of
Vishnu or one of His avatAras. So intense was their devotion to Vishnu that
some of them even spoke ill of Jains and Buddhists and of the followers of
Siva. Perhaps the greatest of the AlvArs was PeriyAzhvAr: the Elder Saint,
who wrote profusely on Krishna and his leelas, as well as on Vishnu and
Rama.

One day, when PeriyAzhvAr was in the garden to pick flowers for worship of
Vishnu, he came upon a female child under a Tulasi tree. He brought the
child home and adopted it as his own daughter. This daughter, who later
came to be called AnDAL, began praying for many hours in the great temple of
SrIrangam even at a tender age. She gradually developed such great devotion
for the God RanganAtha of that temple that, because of her intense bhakti,
she imagined she had fallen in love with the deity.

It is said that AnDAL used to wear the flowers on her head before they were
sent to the temple for her father's worship. She wanted to know, by viewing
herself in a mirror, if she was attractive enough for the Lord. This
practice was discovered by the priests one day when a strand of hair was
found with the flowers. When it was brought to the father's attention, he
was quite upset, and he reprimanded his daughter severely for the sacrilege.
But that night, God appeared in PariyAzhvAr's dream and assured him He
rather preferred the flowers that had been tried out by his daughter, for
her unadulterated devotion added fresh fragrance to the flowers. This made
the man realize that his daughter was no ordinary woman. He called her
AndAL: the redeemer.

AnDAL's passion for God found expression in verses. From her heart and lips
flowed magnificent words of supreme beauty, all as soothing poetry and
music. She wrote two masterpieces known as TiruppAvai and NaicciyAr
Tirumozhi which are lyrical dedications to Lord Krishna, exuberant
expressions of an aspirant in longing love for her chosen beloved.
TiruppAvai describes how on a festive morning which had been preceded by a
night of fasting, a bevy of gopis (milkmaids) marched cheerfully to the
local river for a refreshing dip as part of certain rites that would win
them good husbands. As they advance to their destination they stop from
house to house to invite more of their kind of join in the jubilance. And
when they knock at one of the doors, none other than Krishna's wife
Nappinnai responds. Krishna had been resting on her breasts, AndAL speaks to
her:

O Sri, O lady Nappinnai
with cup-like tender breasts,
red-mouthed and with slender waist!
Wake up from your sleep!
Give fan and mirror to your spouse
and let us bathe now...!

In another poem, AnDAL recounts a most magnificent dream in which she had
been wed to Krishna. The song narrates beautifully the colorful series of
rituals for the wedding, with references to Krishna's teasing naughtiness.
One of the hymns in this poem has become part of Tamil tradition in
(VaishNavite) weddings. Here poetry blends with spiritual longing and has
subtly entered the culture of the people.

The vigorous sensuality of AnDAL has been seen differently by different
people. Most Tamil devotees, who may not even fully recognize the literal
meanings of the archaic Tamil, sing the songs and enjoy their sheer musical
tones. Some critics have considered this infusion of sensuality in a
religious theme to be a fault. Two scholars complained that "her passion
for her divine lover is the passion of a voluptuous woman for a man, hardly
the delicate, ethereal longing of a maiden for the man she is to wed. It is
not the unblushing confession of the feeling that is at fault, though that
could be called indelicate in a woman. It is the feeling itself, the
translation, at times, of the divine into grossly physical values."
On the other hand, another scholar feels that there is a striking contrast
between "the delicate sensualism of AnDAL and the unblushing eroticism of (a
related) Sanskrit Stanza."

When AnDAL came of age, she refused to marry anyone but Lord RanganAtha of
the temple. She insisted moreover that a formal wedding be arranged between
her and the mUrti with all rites and rituals. The father and the priests,
recognizing they were dealing with an extraordinary devotee, agreed. AnDAL
was decked with flowers and ornaments and ceremoniously guided into the
holiest precincts where, so it is said in the lore, she merged with the
magical mUrti.

Not only sublime thoughts and insightful reflections, but also the moving
poetry and stirring songs of our sage-poets make Indic culture grand and
glorious.

Through her inspired writings and devotional outpourings, AnDAL has not only
attained immortality in the history of Tamil literature and in Tamil
culture, but also secured for herself a permanent place in the spiritual
legacy of India.

Ram Mohan Roy was born in an orthodox Hindu family in Bengal. As was
customary then, he was subjected to child-marriage. He became a widower
twice, and was married thrice before the age of ten!
This was a period in India's history when Islam was a major force, and
Persian the language of the elite in Northern India. Ram Mohan was
influenced by Islamic thought, and soon began to reflect dispassionately on
some of the beliefs and practices in Hindu society. At sixteen he wrote a
book in Persian in which he spoke out against idolatry, and urged his people
to study different religions from a comparative point of view. His ideas did
have a touch of heresy, and shocked many, including his parents. It resulted
in a rift between him and his father.

Later, Ram Mohan also came under the spell of Christian world views. In the
early part of the nineteenth century, with the increasing dominance of the
British in India, Ram Mohan Roy pondered over the fact that alien cultures
such as Islamic and Christian were gaining supremacy over Hindu India with
relative ease. Instead of being just upset and angry and this, he sought to
discover the ultimate sources of the strengths of these intruding cultures.
He did not jump to the superficially acceptable, but intrinsically
questionable view, that military might alone was responsible for the earlier
Islamic and the then British superiority. Instead, he decided to study in
depth the languages, and through them the basic thoughts and philosophies,
of Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions. In the ensuing years, he acquired
more than a working knowledge of Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French and English,
besides the Persian and the Arabic that he already knew, and the Bengali
that was his mother tongue.

Such scholarship opened up his mind and perspectives to vast horizons. He
began to view the human condition in global rather than in parochial terms.
He did love the culture and tradition of his own people, but he also openly
condemned some of the absurdities and pernicious practices of the Hindu
society of his day.

When his own sister-in-law was burnt on the funeral pyre along with the
corpse of her husband, while the rest of his family, like most orthodox
Hindus of his community, regarded the event as an expression of commendable
wifely devotion, Ram Mohan was disgusted. But he was not tempted to explain
away the practice as resulting from Islamic invasion of India. He pleaded
with Lord Bentinck (then Governor-General of India) to outlaw the ignoble
practice. This won him little sympathy and less respect from many of his
zealous compatriots who looked upon him as a Eurocentric
Christian-indoctrinated Hindu. [They could not call him a Macaulayite
because Macaulay had not yet arrived.]
We must not forget the early pioneers who set the wheels of positive change
rolling in the face of name-calling from the mindless glorifiers of
everything of the past.

Deep in his heart, Ram Mohan was as much a Hindu as any of his narrow
critics. He could recognize what is best in Hindu thought and culture. But
he also realized that like all ancient creeds we had our share of
superstition and irrationality. He sensed that the essence of the great
religions of humankind was noble and magnificent, but that the rites and
rituals, the time-worn customs and blind beliefs, needed to be modified or
rejected. He was also convinced that much enrichment and greater
understanding amongst peoples could result, not by unswerving devotion to
one's own religion, but by mutual sharing, and from attempts to discover the
fundamental unity behind all religions.

Such points of view inspired Ram Mohan Roy to establish an organization
called Atmiya Samaj which later became the Brahmo Samaj (1828). The members
of the Brahmo Samaj used to meet on Saturday evenings. They would recite
Vedic hymns and listen to expositions of the Upanishads in Bengali. But they
were not simply mantra-chanting ritualists. They were equally concerned with
social and dogmatic questions. They repudiated casteism and bigotry, and
argued for progressive changes.

Ram Mohan Roy was more than a religious reformer and social revolutionary.
He was also an educationist and political philosopher. He appealed to Lord
Amherst to introduce English in Indian schools, and called for science
education, perhaps a terrible thing to do from the perspective of some
Neo-cultural-patriots, but ultimately enormously beneficial to India from
the point of view many other Indians of our own times. He corresponded with
international groups, he initiated journals in Bengali and Persian. He even
sent some aid to Ireland during the terrible famine there. He hailed the
independence of Latin American nations from the colonial shackles of Spain.
He wrote a long letter to the Foreign Minister of France on the absurdity of
the passport system, and also suggested in that letter the establishment of
an international court of justice.

Notwithstanding opposition from orthodox Hindus, the British gave substance
to many of Ram Mohan Roy's ideas and initiatives. Thanks to his insistence
and Macaulay's eloquence, English was brought into the Indian educational
system, with some negative effects no doubt, but also with many positive
consequences. Thanks again to his appeals, the practice of suttee was
abolished in Bengal and elsewhere. But one may still wonder about the
persistence of casteism which he condemned, and animal sacrifices at the
Kali Temple in Kolikota.

A great many religious reformers and revolutionaries in our tradition have
been transformed into an avatara, or periodically worshipped. But when it
comes to practice, their precepts are not taken as seriously. It is good
that saints, poets, and philosophers spoke and wrote against unconscionable
practices, for when we still see casteism, injustice and inhuman practices
in the Hindu world, we can at least quote from our sages and saints, and
argue that Hinduism is in principle tolerant and enlightened.

The current mantra is that, unlike the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism is not a
religion of the Book. However, in the face of some of its objectionable
practices, we quote from our sacred books no less than practitioners of most
other religions do to defend the integrity of our religion. Raja Ram Mohan
Roy quoted from the shastras to show that widow burning and female
infanticide are not sanctioned by Hinduism. He was the first Navyashastrin
of modern India.

V. V. Raman
June 22, 2003

A: No, we worship the Supreme God, the creator, preserver and
destroyer of all that exists. We also worship several other 'gods' or
'Mahadevas' who assist us in our evolution.

We also revere our ancestors, guru and holy men of our tradition, as
well as the plant and animal kingdom, as we recognise all of life as
sacred and a part of IT and Us.

Specifically we have come to revere cows more than any other animal
as it has traditionally been a part of our lives during the
agricultural age. This 'reverance' is thanksgiving, and should not be
confused with worship.

Vallabha was born of Telugu Brahmin parents. His birth is said to have
occurred in the small town of Champaranya in Central India when the parents
were on a pilgrim path to the sacred city of Varanasi. He is said to have
mastered the scriptures before he was a teenager. Later he served in the
court of Krishna Deva Raya Vijayanagar where he came to be known as
VaishNavAcArya. Then he spent some time in Brindavan and in Mathura, two
places with which the name of Krishna is associated, and moved on to
Ujjaini. Among the works attributed to him are: Pushti Pravala Maryada and
SiddhAnta Rahasya.

One night Vallabha dreamt that Lord Krishna was incarnate again along with
the gopis of the glorious Puranic age. In the same dream, Krishna beckoned
Vallabha to the Govardhana hills. So the next day Vallabha went to the
appointed place. Lo and behold, Krishna was there manifest as Nathaji! He
commanded the wonder-struck devotee to construct for worship a holy shrine
at that very spot.

Inspired thus, Vallabha set out to establish what evolved into one of the
most powerful sects in the panorama of Indian culture: the Krishna Gokula
sect. In its practical aspects, it has drawn millions into ecstatic modes of
song and dance in the name of Krishna and his deeds. At the same time,
Vallabha also developed a fairly sophisticated metaphysical doctrine to go
with it. These constitute the Suddhadvaita (pure-non-duality) system of
classical Indian philosophy.

In Puranic works, it is stated that even higher than the abode of Siva and
Vishnu there is a heaven where dark-hued Krishna, clad in golden yellow
dwells in eternal youth, playing his enchanting flute. Bored by his solitude
he once let Maya emerge. The world arose from their union. What a beautiful
cosmogony!

Vallabha elaborated this theory: There was in the beginning God and God
alone. And He created a world just for the fun of it, simply to amuse
Himself. This physical universe of ours is thus nothing more than a
transformation of His ultimate essence (svarupa-parinama), the art work of a
Cosmic Doodler, as it were. The souls in it are like sparks emanating from a
central fire. In the process, however, God remains completely unchanged.
There are, Vallabha goes on to explain, three components to this Creation:
the one which is manifest is called sat (existence). The two which are
potential are known as chit (consciousness) and ananda (bliss). The world,
he insists, is not mAyA (illusion), but lIlA (a play of God). But the
notions of I-ness and mine-ness are non-real. True realization consists in
ridding this perception of the ego.

Souls, in Vallabha's view, may be in one of three states. They may be lost
in the experience of their ego-ness. Such souls are referred to as being in
pravaha (stream of the world). Or, they may have taken up the path of the
Vedas in their efforts to understand godhead. Such souls are said to be in
the maryAda (scriptural knowledge) state. Or again, a soul may have
recognized its link with God, worshipping Him with boundless love.
To the third category belong those who have received grace (pushti). The
gopis of Brindavan had achieved pushti. Those who dance in spiritual ecstasy
singing Krishna's name have attained pushti. Vallabha expounds the various
kinds of souls in great detail, using many technical terms in his
classification.

Like Democritus, Vallabha speaks of the atomic nature of the soul. Yet it is
believed to permeate all through the body even as the fragrance of a flower
is not confined to just one small portion of it. Normally the soul endowed
with certain divine qualities. But occasionally God decides to play a
little. Then He suppresses these divine attributes. This leads to suffering
and misery, bondage and ignorance.

Vallabha lists nine stages in God realization: hearing, reciting,
remembering, prostrating, worshipping, saluting, doing service, being
friends with, and dedicating oneself fully.
The saint-philosopher taught further that there is no other way to reach God
but by total surrender to Him. We must recognize our total spiritual
emptiness and fall at His feet, begging for His grace. In the process there
must be unconditional love rather than fear, an intense desire to belong to
and to merge with, rather than worship for this or that paltry favor.
Radha and the gopis merged into Krishna by their amorous longings. They
experienced an eroticism that was divine in nature. Vallabha saw a similar
union between the souls and the ultimate divine principle, which are like
the individual souls profoundly preoccupied with the Supreme.
Vallabha also preached that it was not necessary to deprive oneself of good
food and clothing, nor indulge in self-mortification in order to get
god-intoxicated. On the contrary, hearty meals, colorful dress with
ostentatious ornaments, and cheerful company are even to be recommended to
his followers. For the recognition of divinity is a matter of joy and
sharing, not pain and solitude.

Such life-asserting views became very popular. Vallabha's son and seven
grandsons propagated the practices, and their descendents (generally known
as GosvAmi or MaharAj) still lead the groups. Vallabha, his son, and
grandsons also came to be worshipped. The elaborate ritualism prescribed for
this routine could tire all but the most persistent.

It has been said in the tradition that Vallabha ascended to heaven directly
from the Hanuman Ghat in Varanasi in full view of hundreds of spectators,
not unlike the launching of a space vehicle in our own times.
Vallabha was among the more illustrious of the countless saints and
spiritual guides who have illumined the Hindu spiritual landscape in a
variety of ways. They have expounded different perspectives, taught
different modes, and touched the hearts of different people, but invariably
they have taught that beneath and beyond our physical existence and
experience of the ephemeral material world there is something subtle and
everlasting, and that life is enriched and fulfilled when we have that
spiritual substratum in the back of our minds in whatever we do or say.

Historical/cultural aspects of Marriage in the ancient India
Scholarly/historical studies, based on written records and references in our
epics and Sastras give detailed accounts of the framework of various modes
of marriage in classical Hindu society. Except for a reference in the
Mahabharata to a primitive state when sexual promiscuity was in vgue, the
marriage institution of whichever sort was very much a part of Hindu society
from Vedic times onwards. The eight modes of establishing marital union
(listed by Sri Bhattar in the reverse order of sophistication: brahma,
daiva, Arsha, prAjAptya, Asura, gAndharva, rAkshasa, and paiSAacha) each had
its own peculiarities, such as:

In the paiSAacha mode, fraud was involved in the acquisition of the bride.
According to Manu, "When a man cohabits with a girl in loneliness when she
is sleepy, mad or intoxicated, it is called paiSAcha."

In the rAkshasa mode, according to Manu, there is "capture of a girl by
force while she is weeping, having scattered, injured, and killed her
relatives."

Manu's definition of gAndharva marriage: "Where the bride and the groom meet
with each other on their own, and the meeting is consummated by intercourse
born of passion."

In the Asura mode, the husband pays money to the bride's family and to her,
but no force is used.

In the prAjAptya mode, there is a clear understanding that the married
couple would follow dharma together.

In Arsha, according to Manu, "the relatives do not accept price for the
girl, for it is not a sale." But they do take some symbolic gifts." Some
suggest that in this type of marriage the groom was a rishi.

In the daiva mode, the bride, well attired, was given by the father to the
priest who conducted a sacrifice for the father. BaudhAyana says that she
was offered as a dakshiNa.

The most sophisticated marriage mode, one that is also widely practiced to
this day, is the brahma, so called because it was deemed appropriate for
Brahmins. The smRtis consider this the most honorable type. The marriage of
SUrya and Soma, described in the Rig Veda, is the model for this. It is here
that we have the rite of kanyAdAna.

In the VivAhapaddhati, this is the saNkalpa that the father (guardian) of
the bride says: "For the obtainment of absolute happiness, as the
consequence of kanyAdAna, for our forefathers, for purifying my twelve
preceding and twelve succeeding generations through the progeny born of this
girl, and for the propitiation of Lakshmi and NArAnaNa.. I make this gift
(kanyAdAnam ahaM karishye)."

In current marriage rituals the father of the bride says:
"mahato puthro bhavAn
bhavAn ap ca mahAn
iyam kanyAtvayi samarpitA
tasyaguNasca prashansa nIyAh."
[Rough translation:
The noble son that you are,
And from a noble family too,
Our daughter we entrust to you this day
Keep her with such qualities and cheerful this way.]

As I see it, the goal of NS should be three-fold:
(a) To clarify and re-affirm whatever is best in the Hindu tradition.
(b) To reject and remove whatever is socially and spritually misgruided and
untenable any longer.
(c) To improve, modify, and make more just (when possible) those aspects of
the tradition which are beautiful and meaningful.

In this context, we may add to the kanyAdAna ritual a putradAna one in which
the father of the groom is asked to repeat the same mantra substituting
puthri for puthro. Thus the gifts are mutual, each parent entrusting the
offspring to the love and care of the incoming spouse. [I have introduced
this in the few weddings that I have conducted, much to the delight of both
bride and groom and their parents.]

These words were written by Keshab Chandra Sen (1838 - 1884), one of the
growing numbers of Anglicized Hindus in the 19th century who, having gone to
Westernized schools and come under the influence of Christian thought. To
this day countless Hindus are tormented by a similar predicament.
K. C. Sen and many like him began to lose faith in the traditional modes of
worship of their own heritage. But neither could they abandon totally the
deepest elements of their faith. When they did, they felt they had lost
their mooring, for they felt they belonged neither to the East nor to the
West.

They saw little meaning in idol worship - as mUrti pUja is described in
English - but neither were they introduced to the subtler realms of yogic
meditation. Inspired by alien models, some of them tried to fashion their
own navyashastra (like the Brahmos of Bengal), but they were at best a small
and elite class of sophisticated intellectuals. They realized that their
religion has far deeper roots than a generation's new modes, but they could
not accept everything in their society either.

At its core Hinduism, with all its superficial faults, is an enormously
powerful system with great cultural value, civilizational impact, and
spiritual depth. Individuals may sneak away from the constraints of
traditional customs and beliefs, but no one who has grown upon the Hindu
world, no one whose soul and spirit have been shaped by Hindu culture, can
formulate a rebel-religion that does not incorporate some of the basic
elements of the ancient roots. Whether Buddha or Guru Nanak, or any of the
other saints and yogis who have gathered disciples to spread their own
messages, they invariably preach around the insights that were articulated
millennia ago by Vedic rishis. Such has been the power and impact of the
originators of Hindu culture. Their essential visions have lasted millennia,
leaving indelible imprints even on those of the Hindu faith who have
embraced religions that are not indigenous to India.

V. V. Raman

"I think there is a way of atoning for one's faith: one must radically
criticize the doctrine with which one identifies, pointing out its
weaknesses, its foibles, and the clay feet of its founders and sustainers,
at every step."

This was the view of Swami Agehananda Bharati, one of the most scholarly and
controversial modern converts to Hinduism. Bharati was not just an
analytical philosopher and professional sociologist, he was more than a
polyglot and mantra-chanting Hindu: he was also a mystic, i.e. one who had
had the mystical experience. He was not universally liked, either by Western
scholars or by orthodox Hindus, but he had some profound insights into the
nature and significance of the religious experience, especially of the Hindu
kind.

The opinion he expresses here is clearly that of a radical thinker, and
though it is stated in the context of faith and spirituality, it is no less
valid for customs and culture. Those who critically speak and write about
the beliefs and practices of their society and values often do more good for
their people than those who simply sing its glories and mindlessly mimic the
practices and patterns of past generations. Any careful student of history
will realize that societies that discourage auto-criticism and constantly
venerate the past tend to stagnate, rather than change.

However, just as not every defense of age-old beliefs is good for a
culture's continuing health, not all the change that comes from repudiating
the past is necessarily for the better. Cultures and religions are rooted in
visions and doctrines that carry the weight and wisdom of centuries. The
purpose of criticism should not be to uproot the bases, but to cut out the
dead branches that harm the organism. This is what thoughtful thinkers try
to do.

In Hindu history, a great many sages and saints have engaged in this pruning
endeavor, which accounts for the resilience of the system. But most
revisions of doctrines have occurred at the metaphysical level, leading to a
variety of schools of philosophy and sectarian paths to spirituality. There
have not been as many calls to change the social structure, at least not to
great effect. Perhaps one reason for this is that in the Hindu framework
religion has often been a separate endeavor, devoted to one's own spiritual
advancement, rather than for the betterment of the human condition at large.
The pilgrim who flings a coin at the hungry mendicant in the precincts of a
temple often does so, not for improving the plight of the indigent, but for
gaining punya.

Fortunately, of late the linking of religion to social and humanitarian
commitments has been occurring with greater vigor in the Hindu world.

The vehicle of Bhairava deserving of praise
came and took away the vehicle
of the four-faced one.
It became NArAyaNa's vehicle on high,
and nobody looked at my face.
But the sheep-vehicle one
Burnt in my stomach
when this was done.

This poem sounds like a riddle, and it can be understood only when one is
familiar with the mythopoesy of the Vedic/PurANic framework. In particular, we
need to know that the vehicle (vAhanam) of Bhairava (Siva) was a dog, of BrahmA
(the four-faced one) was a swan, of NArAyaNa was a vulture, and of Agni (Fire)
was a sheep. Note the ingenious away in which the poet has brought together the
three primary divine principles (trimUrti: BrahmA, VishNu, Siva) of Hindu vision
as well as the primary deity (Agni) in the Vedic framework.

The context of the poem was very mundane: Once, when this poet was on a
pilgrimage, carrying some food, he stopped by a river to take a bath. When he
was in the water, a passing dog ate off the cooked rice he had kept as meal
after his bath. The food flew away, as it were, like a bird. The result was that
the poet was left ignored by all, and he began to feel the fire (pang) of hunger
in his stomach.
The imaginative and verbal richness of Tamil and the countless allusions of the
poets to the broader Indic tradition are reflected in this verse. But equally it
is an instance of the word-plays we find in Tamil literature. Here, for
example, aside from the allusions, there is a bi-lingual pun. The Tamil word for
swan is annam (from the Sanskrit haMsa). But in Tamil, annam also means cooked
rice. So instead of saying his rice (annam) was taken away, the poet says that
the vehicle of BrahmA (annam) was taken away.

This poem is credited to a little known, but highly esteemed Tamil poet by the
name of Andakkavi VIrarAgavar. Andakkavi means the blind poet, for he is said
to have been blind. He once declared that he could see more with his inner eye
of wisdom that most people see with their ordinary eyes.
Andakkavi VIrarAgavar is regarded as a saint-poet of the Saiva tradition. He is
also known as YazpANanAyanAr. According to tradition, many centuries ago this
poet from the ChoLa country went to Sri Lanka. The local king was so impressed
by his poetic gifts that he ceded to him the region of Jaffna to which many
Tamil people migrated in the distant past.

The word yAz is the name of a musical instrument (somewhat like the lute). One
who plays on that instrument is a yAzpANar. The Tamil spoken in Jaffna is also
referred to as yAzpANattamiz.

All too often, the poetic imagery and subtle humor of Tamil (and Sanskrit)
writers are lost sight of in the heavy emphasis on spirituality and religiosity
on which most commentators tend to dwell. The frequent association of all major
works with spiritual/religious weight makes it difficult for lay (secular)
scholars to study them in schools and colleges as works on philosophy,
literature, or pure poetry. It is an unfortunate fact of Indic culture that to
this day (more than fifty years after India's independence from foreign yoke),
people in India can get degrees from colleges and universities without ever
having studied in a systematic way even selections from Kamba RAmAyaNam or
Ramacaritra Manas, let alone the Vedas, the Upanishads, or the Gita. We are more
interested in whether the Vedas have reserved this or that rite and ritual for
Brahmins alone, than in appreciating their poetic, aesthetic, and literary
merits.

nITRu alarpEr oLinerungGum
appadiyin niRai karumbin
cATRu alaivan kulai vayalil
tagaTTUvarAl ezappakaTTU Er

ATRualavan kozukkizitta
cAlvaziyOi acaindu ERic
cETRu avalan karu uyirkka
muruku uyirkkum cezum kamalam

In the shimmering light of the ashen waters,
In that region of sugar-canes, full,
Within the banks of the juice-filled field
Constrained by ramps is the plowing bull.

To bear its tiny progeny
A crab from the mud moves and climbs
Over a furrow by plowshares torn.
A lovely lotus exudes honey
For the little ones that are born.

This is a snippet of a scene in the sugar cane field bordering the small town of
AdanUr. There are the furrows made by the plowshares drawn by an ox. In that
marshy land one sees a mother crab slowly finding its way to a safe spot where
it gives birth to its little ones. When this happens, a lotus plant gives out
some nectar on which the new-born creatures feed.

Only the keen eye of one who has great sensitivity for all creatures great and
small could make this careful observation, and only a gifted poet could express
it in rhythmic verse that unfortunately loses its original charm in translation.
Aside from the beautiful description of an insignificant episode in nature, the
poet is trying to say here that all nature is in harmony, and that in the
village he is describing, everyone cared for one another.

What makes this utterly worldly verse even more remarkable is that it occurs in
what is regarded as a sacred work in the Tamil world. It is in the Periya
PurANam which is a compendium of the lives of sixty-three Tamil saints of the
Saiva tradition, referred to as NAyanArs. The saints come from every caste and
creed: from cEkaliyars and Cekkars to VeLLALars, and BrAhmaNars. Thus they
included washer men, fishermen, hunters, weavers, and more, revealing a glorious
side of a caste-ridden society. The author of this immortal work was CEkkizAr
PerumAn (11th-12th centuries), and his work is credited with the arrest of the
Jain faith in the Tamil kingdom, and the propagation of the Saiva sect.

The verses quoted above are from the life of Tiru-nALaippOvAr-nAyanAr, popularly
known as NandanAr. The story of how this massive poetical work of 4286 stanzas
came to be written is fascinating in itself. We will look into it on another occasion.

yAdum UrE yAvarum kELIr
tIdum nanDRum piRartara vArA
nOdalUm taNidalUm avaTROr anna
cAdalUm puduvu anDRE.

It is all my town, where I'm in.
Whoever they are, the're also my kin.
Evil and good do not ensue
From what others may, or may not do
Aching and relief are likewise too,
Even death is not something new.

These are the first few lines of a poem thrice as long, written by a little
known poet called KaNian. The first Tamil line above (which I have translated in
two English lines) is perhaps the most oft-quoted line from all of Tamil poetry.
It is even known to some Non-Tamils, for it expresses an enlightened vision that
occurred to very few in the ancient world.

KaNiyan was a poet of the Cangkam (ancient Tamil) age. It was a time when many
poets sang the glories of chieftains and kings, of the territories and kingdom
where they lived. KaNiyan lived in the town of pUngkunDRu. He felt that a poet
ought to write about ideas, principles, and nature, rather than extol the local
ruler, for he felt no affiliation for any particular place or potentate.

So he wrote the poem which begins with the simple line: yAdum UrE yAvarum kELIr
which essentially says that he regarded every place as his own, and all human
beings as his own kin. Like Shakespeare's "To be or not to be," this line is
known to practically all Tamils who have even a modicum of education in their
language and culture, except that not all may know the name of the author.
This pithy motto deserves to be reflected upon by people of all castes and
faiths, of all races and nations, for it expresses quite simply the humanity
that binds us all. The Latin poet Terence had said in a similar vein, Homo sum,
humani nil a me alienum puto: I am a man, and nothing of the human condition can
be foreign to me.

In the rest of the poem, KaNian reminds us that we alone are responsible for
the good we experience as well as the bad, that both our pains and pleasures are
results of our own previous actions, that we must bear responsibility for our
aches and ailments, as also for their mitigation and cure. He does not use this
(kArmic) vision to say that the suffering deserve their pain or as a
justification mistreating groups of people. On the contrary, this should remind
us of doing good for others, and of not hurting others, for these are the
highest karmic actions we can engage in.
Later in the poem he goes on to say that he will not pay homage to people simply
because they are rich, not look down upon those that are not.

In the month of MArgazi, on an auspicious full moon day
If you wish to bathe in the river, please come my way!
Adorned maidens of rich AyappaDi,
The son of sharp-speared Nandagopa, you see,
Beauteous Yashoda's lion-like son,
With body dark, reddish eyes, like Moon and Sun,
NArAyaNa himself his drum will give,
May all the world sing this, May his glory live!

These are the opening lines of one of the most beautiful (Tamil) hymns of the
VashNava tradition, a marvelous love-poem in the bhakti mode where a simple
narration of what sounds like joyous romance hides beneath its amorous
exclamation esoteric truths about the call of the Divine to the enchained soul.
It reads like it is about the intense love of a damsel for the enchanting
Krishna. She calls upon her friends to join her in a loving sport with the
irresistible youth, beckoning them to the local river where they would meet the
one with the flute. It was a happy day, she says, for she has felt the urge to
abandon herself to this mirth and merriment. She proclaims that Krishna will let
them share his drum.

These are loving images by a divinely inspired poetess of the Tamil tradition
who conveys her longing for the Supreme. In the Tamil (VashNava) world, the
AzvArs were a group of twelve devotees of Vishnu who composed hundreds of
beautiful and heart-felt songs and poems in praise of the Divine or of one of
His avatAras. The greatest of the AzvArs was PeriyAzvAr: the Elder Saint, who
wrote profusely on Krishna and his lIlas, as well as on Vishnu and on Rama.
It is said that one day, when PeriyAzvAr was in the garden to pick flowers for
his worship, he came upon a female child under a Tulasi tree. He brought the
child home and adopted it as his daughter. This daughter, who later came to be
called ANDAL, began praying many hours each day in the great temple of SrIrangam
even at a tender age. She gradually developed such devotion for RanganAta of
that temple that, she imagined she had fallen in love with the deity.

ANDAL's passion for God found expression in verses. From her heart and lips
flowed magnificent words of supreme beauty: soothing poetry and music. She wrote
two masterpieces known as TiruppAvai and NaicciyAr Tirumozhi which are lyrical
dedications to Lord Krishna, exuberant expressions of an aspirant in longing
love for her chosen beloved.

TiruppAvai (whose opening lines we saw above) describes how on a festive
morning which had been preceded by a night of fasting, a bevy of gopis
(milkmaids) marched cheerfully to the local river for a refreshing dip as part
of certain rites that would win them good husbands. It is an uplifting
experience to hear it sung in divine Tamil.

In another poem, ANDAL recounts a most magnificent dream in which she had been
wed to Krishna. The song narrates joyfully the colorful series of rituals for
the wedding, with references to Krishna's teasing naughtiness. Like
Mendelssohn's Wedding March, one of the hymns in this poem has become part of
Tamil tradition in (VaishNava) weddings. Here poetry blends with spiritual
longing and has subtly entered the culture of a people. No other poet or poetess
has accomplished this.

ANDAL's call to her comrades is the persistent call of the Divine unto Itself.
In the framework of everyday life, this call is the urge to do good, to be kind
and compassionate, and to think of the everlasting, which is deep inside every
one of us. In the midst of the chores and challenges of living in a stressful
world with its many demands and opportunities for selfishness, hate, and paltry
pleasures, those innate virtues lie hidden, even as precious gold is often
covered with dross and dirt in the depts. of mines. But now and again, we hear a
call to better our lives, a shrill inner voice it may be or passage from an
inspiring book, or talk from an enlightened speaker. Then, all of a sudden our
life changes. And that is indeed an auspicious day, and the full moon the poet
mentions is the lustrous awakening that comes to us.

Leaving aside the powers that quote shastras,
Just for a moment look deeply within.

Reflections
This is couplet 1604 in TirumUlar's (6th century C.E.) Tirumantiram.
Long before Karl Marx described religion as the opium of the masses,
TirumUlar wrote about mayakkum camayam: intoxicating religion. Marx was
referring to the way in which the upper classes manage to keep the lower ones in
subservience by making them believe in all sorts of self-diminishing status in
the name of religious doctrines. But TirumUlar was referring to the dulling
effects of mindless repetition of ancient and anachronistic sayings and
practices.

In this couplet he is speaking in the context of realizing the Divine, i.e.
achieving spiritual fulfillment. This cannot be done, he declares, by quoting
the shAstras: rules and regulations regarding religious practice. For this, one
must look deep within oneself. He was, in fact, reminding us of the mahAvAkya:
aham brahmAsmi. I am brahman. For ultimately, from an enlightened perspective,
God is not a entity out there to be uncovered behind fanciful symbols, but the
cosmic consciousness that undergirds the universe, of which each and every being
is a faint and flickering flame. It is the recognition of that spark within each
of us that ultimately is God realization. Or else, it would be like groping for
a nugget of gold everywhere in the darkness of a room, when in fact the nugget
lies in a wallet that is thrust into one's own pocket.

TirumUlar is reckoned as the foremost of the Siddhas (realized souls) of the
Tamil Saiva tradition. His pithy pearls of wisdom included the maxim that Love
alone is God (anbE civam), going beyond the notion of Truth being God. It is
good to remember that the search for God as Truth leads to metaphysical esoteric
talk, whereas the recognition of God as Love results in harmony, the spreading
of joy, and a fuller experience of life. TirumUlar did not subscribe to the view
that God can be realized through ascetic exercises. He recommended, instead,
that we offer a leaf to the Divine, grass to cattle, food to the hungry, and
kind words to all. His simple wisdom and mystic maxims reflect a superior state
on the ladder spirituality.

In the context of the title of his work (Tirumantiram), it may be noted that
according to TolkAppiam, the earliest extant work in the Tamil Language, a
mantiram (often taken as the equivalent of the Sanskrit mantra) is the utterance
of a personage of wisdom. Its deeper meaning is more important than its magical
prowess.

As today happens to be KandaSaSTi, the major celebratory day on the calendar of
Tamil Saivas, I wish to reflect on Lord Murugan, a foremost Divinity of the
Tamil people.

When the demonic personage SUrapadman and his associates who were then ravaging
the world, saintly spirits went to Lord Siva and pleaded with him to do
something about the havoc: and so was Murugan born. He emerged when a spark from
Siva's third eye merged with Agni in a forest of thickets (Sharavana). We see
the parallel with the genesis of Rama when VishNu was thus approached at a time
when RAvaNa was playing mischief. Murugan is taken as the Tamil equivalent of
KArttikeya.

The sacred history of Murugan, from birth to the final defeat of SUrapadman who,
upon repentance, was transformed into a peacock which became Murugan's vehicle,
is narrated in the magnificent Tamil epic by Kacciyappa SivAcArya. Known as
Kanda PurANam and composed in the 14th century, this work has all the majesty
and meaning of other great epics. In its massive content of 10,345 verses, we
not only read of exploits of grand proportions, but also savor the delights that
Tamil can offer, and recognize deeper meanings of relevance and value in the
conduct of everyday life: For that is the ultimate goal of sacred history.

And there are hidden meanings as well behind the exciting episodes. Thus, when
we read that Murugan won two brides, VaLLI and Deiva-yAnai, one may wonder how a
God could engage in bigamy. But as we probe deeper, we find a symbolism here.
Deiva-yanai was a daughter of Indra. She sought Murugan's hand and obtained it.
VaLLi was raised by a hunter. When Murugan in disguise went to have her as his
consort, she resisted at first. Upon being frightened by an oncoming wild
elephant, she rushed to Murugan's arms. The symbolism here is that the Supreme
Principle takes unto itself not only those evolved souls (Indra's daughter) who
seek it, but also the unevolved (hunter's daughter) ones whom it seeks out. When
we are unable to recognize the Divine in its many forms, fright and fear
sometimes draw us to it.

Murugan is known by many other names in the Tamil world. They include Kandan,
Guhan, VElAyudan, SubrahmaNian, TangavElu, KumAran, SvAminAthan and
Sharavana-bhavan. A great many temples are consecrated to Murugan in the Tamil
country and beyond. The more important of them include the temples at Pazani,
SvAmimail, Torupparankuram, and Tirukkazukkuram.

I have not met too many Hindus from the non-Tamil tradition who have even heard
of Murugan. Unlike VaishNavism which spread widely in the south of India, Tamil
Saivism has generally remained only among the Tamil people, within and beyond
India. The translation of the RAmAyaNa and the BhAgavatam into Tamil without a
reciprocal translation of Kanda PurANam into northern languages could partly
account for this lack of symmetry in mutual understanding and appreciation. And
since no English version of the Tamil epic as been propagated and commented upon
by Western scholars, like PeriyapurANam, RAmalingasvami's saintliness, and
Bharatiyar's poems, they are little known to the outside world.

For many years and many years,
Many thousands of years,
Nay, for countless billions of years,
May your shoulders strong
Which, to triumph over fighters belong,
And your feet that are bless?e
auteous and red,
May they for ever be,
Oh charming Divinity!

Reflections
This is the opening verse in PeriyAzvAr's Tirumozi: sacred utterance. This
is the invocatory hymn in the NalAyiradivyaprabandham which is regarded in the
Tamil VaishNava tradition as equivakent to the Vedas of the Sanskritic tradition
in sanctity and status of reverence. Like other bhakti hymns, their full impact
is manifest only when sung or heard in the language of the original.
We see in this verse the genius of the bard in articulating with great
intensity his deep-felt love of the Divine. His powerful repetition, starting
from many years, to many hundreds and thousands and millions of years has a
magical impact. It may be mentioned in passing that nowhere else but in the
Hindu world were times periods of such stretches conceived or uttered in ancient
civilizations.

Note the poet's vision of the Divine as a most beautiful and charming
personage (MaNivaNNan). PeriAzvAr alludes, like his fellow poets of the Azvar
constellation, to the sacred-historical aspects of the Divine, for when he talks
of strong and victorious shoulders, he is referring to the supernatural powers
of Lord Krishna who subdued and decimated evil wrestlers (mal: wrestling) like
MushTikan, KamsA, and more. In the Indic tradition, veneration of the feet is
symbolic of complete surrender to a higher power.

This verse has been interpreted by lay and saintly scholars in different
ways. One of them sees a calendrical significance in the word cevvi which means
beautiful, but also refers to the fourth lunar asterism (cittirai). Because of
that, this invocation takes on special significance in that festive month.
But what could the poet mean by saying, "May your strong shoulders and
beautiful feet last for billions of years?" Of course, Divinity is ever-lasting.
What is meant is the wish to be associated with the Supreme for ever. The
victorious shoulders assure protection from God in perilous times, and the feet
assure that one could always take refuge in the Divine. So the poet exclaims
that these be there, not just for himself, but for everyone and for all times to
come. Indeed, as if in answer to the poet's longing, the glory of Divinity has
been sung for ages, and millions of people in all cultures and at all times have
been reassured as a result.

Among the religious traditions of humankind, only four regard their
scriptures as having been revealed directly by the Divine to humans. These are
the Vedic, the Biblical, the Qur'anic, and the Saiva-VaishNava traditions of the
Tamil people. For this reason, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, and Tamil are the only
languages that are described in the respective cultures as divine. This is also
the reason why, for many centuries, scriptures from these traditions were not
allowed to be translated into other languages, and why, in the sacraments of the
religions, only these languages were/are used.

Having studied in Kalikota for many years I happen to be
familiar with Bengali which is sometimes described as the French of India for
its sweetness, delicacy, and charm.

The poets of every linguistic tradition express some of the deepest and most
profound insights. They also reflect the values and culture of a people. Above
all, they express thoughts and ideas in the most beautiful way by wielding the
language as a virtuoso wields a violin. Sometimes, they also influence a culture
in profound ways.

The linguistic variety in India, as in Europe, has thus resulted in an abundance
of lofty thoughts and majestic expressions. Sharing these can bring to light
the unity behind the diversity in Indic civilization which is a magnificent
mosaic of culture.

It is unfortunate that Indic Renaissance is occurring with so much internal
strife and external threats. It would be so much more uplifting if it involved
only a re-affirmation and re-discovery of whatever is good and positive in our
rich traditions: ancient insights and wisdom that have lain separate and
submerged for too long.

This is what I try to do by these postings.

Bengali Gems
[Note: the letter e should be read as ay: thus, more is to be pronounced as
moray.]

1. hA hA prANopriya sakhi kina more
kAnu prema-bishe mor tanu mon jare.
rAtridine pore mon soyAtha nA paoM
yAhAM gele kAnu tAhA uRi jAoM

Oh, my loving, life-long friend, what to me is happening?
The love-poison of KAnu consumes my whole being.
My mind finds no relief in day or at night
Wherever I can find KAnu, there I'd take a flight.

Reflections
This verse in medieval Bengali is attributed to the VaishNava poet Chandidas
who is believed to have lived sometime between the 15th and 16th centuries. The
poet Thomas Gray wrote:

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness in the desert air.

So it would have been with this gifted lyricist, lost in oblivion for future
generations, had it not been for Sri Chaitanya MahAprabhU (the fount of modern
Bengali VaishNava culture) who immortalized the name of Chandidas by saying that
his (Chandidas's) songs were among the elements that gave him "emotional
sustenance."

Many songs of Chandidas are part of the repertoire of Bengali kIrtans, and
they have, over the centuries, brought immense spiritual delight to the
listeners and participants of such KIrtans. I fondly recall a time in my
youthful years when it was my privilege to enjoy such kIrtans conducted by one
Krishnananda Brahmachari of Calcutta.

Very little is known for sure about the poet Chandidas, but legends about
him of dubious authenticity abound. According to one, for example, he was a
Shakta who practiced tantrism with a woman of a lower caste. Sometimes he is
referred to as a baRu (a non-Brahmin temple attendant) and sometimes as a dvija.
This has led some to believe that there were perhaps two Chandidases, prompting
Professor Sukumar Sen to say: "Even a single Chandidas is second to no other
name! What of a pair of Chandidases in matters of love in the Vraja?"
[A part of VrindAvan and Mathura where Lord KrishNa's impact is said to have
been first felt with great intensity is known as Vraja. Historically, a Telugu
scholar named Narayana Bhatta of the 16th century who visited BrindAvan and was
initiated into the GauDiya VaishNava SampradAya wrote several books in Sanskrit
on Vraja worship modes which led to the propagation and proliferation of this
movement. I mention this to show the inter-wovenness of Indic culture.]
In the verse above, we see the Bengali term of affection for Lord KrishNa:
KAnu (KrishNakanaiya in Hindi and KaNNan in Tamil). It also reminds us of the
love poems on KrishNa which are part of VanshNava sacred literature in many
Indian languages. As in all bhakti modes this verse expresses the longing for
KrishNa as a lover would yearn for the beloved, suffering acutely from being
away, and tormented day and night by the thought of the object of one's
emotional entanglement.

V. V. Raman
November 5, 2003

Mounds of rice and lentil as food.
A canopy held by columns of wood.
On the floor was sand gently sprinkled,
And lighted lamps inside twinkled.

A happy morn with crescent in sky.
No evil portents from stars on high.
Bride and groom were garlands wearing,
Pots of clay, some dames were bearing.

Some had bowls they were giving or taking
Older ladies were noise making.
Moms of youngsters who'd beauty spots on belly
Adorned with jewels all very lovely

Gently pored on the head of the bride
Some water which made it shine at a side,
With petals of flower and grains of rice.
They blessed her in terms which were nice:

"Swerve not," they said, "from chastity's way!
Serve your spouse in every way!
He loves you dearly as his wife,
May you be with him for all your life!"

The night after all that ceremony
The ladies together in harmony
The bride to the groom, they merrily sent
With some trepidation the bride there went.

Reflections
As the archaic Tamil original is also long, I am only presenting my
(approximate) English translation of this poem.
This poem should remind us that not all classical Tamil poetry is God-talk.

A unique feature of Sangam Tamil literature (<800 C.E.) is that it
classified poems into two broad groups: Those that dealt with various aspects of
love, and those dealt with other topics, especially war. The first group
consisted of what were called aham topics, and the second , of puram topics.
In due course there appeared several anthologies of such works. The best
known of these are two, each consisting of four hundred poems: aha-nAnUru and
pura-nAnUru.

The themes of the love poems in aha-nAnUru included the following:
passionate and secretive love between youthful couples in the woods (kuri?,
the pain when the two are separated (palai), which is followed by a period of
patient waiting (mullai). Then there are poems relating to the period of more
intense and painful longing (neidal). Finally, there is the phase of quiet
peace and harmony punctuated by episodes of marital infidelity (marutam). How
much more secular can one get!

When one looks into these poems it becomes clear that the ancient Tamil
people were a vigorous, life-and-love affirming lot, not always as other-worldly
as the bhakti hymns might suggest. Indeed, this has been so all through Indic
history, except that the more expressive and articulate poets and writers were
often spiritually inspired authors whose works appealed considerably to the
religiously inclinations of the people. The poetic compositions of the
devotional kind are so magnificent and powerful that they tend to give the
impression that all the people of the culture were perennially God-bound.
The poem above from a aham anthology is a simple description of an ancient
wedding. Notice that the use of a canopy (pandal) in marriages goes back to
really old times. So is the custom of garlands for groom and bride. We also see
a reference to the eating of rice and dAl, the sprinkling of rice, the
participation of the guests, and the trepidation of the bride as she gets close
to her new husband for the first time.

We are grateful to the observant poet who also left a picturesque record of
a typical but significant event in the culture of those distant times, and whose
echoes continue to this day.

V. V. Raman
November 6, 2003

ERumayil ERiviLaiyADum mukam onDRE
IcanuDan ?mozi pEcum mukam onDRE
kURum aDiyArkaL vinai tIrkkum mukam ondRE
kunDRuruva vEl vAngi ninDRa mukam onDRE
mARupaDu kUrarai vadaitta mukam onDRE
vaLLiyai maNam puNara vandal mukam onDRE
ARumukam AnaporuL nI aruLa vENDum
Adi aruNAcalam amarnda perumALe.

It's the same face that on peacock rides and plays,
The same face that to the Lord words of wisdom says.
The same face that erases the deeds of devotees who call.
The same face that took the hill-form spear and stood tall.
The same face that destroyed evil creatures which one dreaded
The same face that came down and VaLLi wedded.
The Essence that became the Six-Face: Give your grace, be kind!
You who are first in AruNacalam enshrined.

These are the opening lines of the magnificent hymnal to Lord Murugan by the
great poet AruNagirinAthar of the Tamil Saiva tradition.

Each time I construct a pale rendering of a moving verse like this, I feel my
inadequacy, and of English more generally, for the difference between my
translation and the original is like that between the excited jubilation in a
celebration with dance, merriment and sweets, and a miniature black-and-white
photograph of the event taken with a primitive camera.

The only impulse that fuels my enthusiasm is the hope that some others might get
at least a glimpse of the glory in the lines. I also like to think that by
this effort I do my little part in sharing with the world some information on
the creative geniuses that have made Tamil literature and culture rich and
sparkling.

To fully appreciate the content of the verse above, one must be familiar with
the lore of Murugan (Kandan/Skanda/KArttikeya) or ShaNmugan: the six-faced
divinity, who is identified with the Pleiades cluster of six (visible to the
naked-eye) stars in the sky.

At the close of the epic of Kanda PurANam which narrates the saga of Kandan, we
come to know that evil SUrapadman, upon repenting his misdeeds, was transformed
into the peacock that became Murugan's vehicle (vAhana). In this work we read
about how, at one time, little Murugan expounded the significance of aum to
Brahma. It tells us that those who surrender themselves to Murugan will be
absolved of their kArmic misdeeds. In this PurANam we also read about Murugan as
he appeared with a gigantic spear with which he destroyed the evil principles
that were rampaging the world. In it we are told of his encounter and eventual
marriage with VaLLi, the adopted daughter of a hunter. All these are referred to
in the verse above.

The poet says that though the Divine manifests itself in a six-face aspect, all
the faces are of the same Supreme principle. This should to remind us that the
multiple visions of God doing various things in various religions belong,
ultimately, to one and the same Divinity.

The poet pleads with the Divine to bless us with grace, and recognizes
AruNacalam which has the holiest of all holy shrines of Murugan. This where
practically every poetic giant of Tamil Saiva tradition has gone and sung.
AruNagirinAtar (14th - 15th centuries) who wrote these lines was a poetic
genius whose hymns in the tiruppugaz are among the most jubilant of bhakti
poems. In sheer rhythm and joyous melody, it is unsurpassed. When one listens to
the sacred songs of tiruppugaz, the devotee's heart is filled with an ecstasy
that only the best of religious compositions can bring. No wonder it continues
to be sung in every assembly that pays homage to Murugan: there is even a saying
in Tamil to the effect that the tiruppugaz minstrel has no reverence for any
other deity.

There is a touch of trust-not-women in some of the saint's works, but this theme
was not unusual in a framework in which the lure of lust was seen (as it still
is) as the primary impediment to spiritual growth. Today we rejoice in the
saint-poet's songs for their music and deeply felt love of God, rather than for
its admonition against falling prey to women's wiles.

AruNagirinAtar is reputed to have been involved in debates with the eminent
VaishNava poet/thinker VillibhArati. There have often been inter-sect rivalries
between sampradAayas in Indic history. Not to acknowledge them would be a
distortion of recorded facts. We should take them as overflowing expressions of
profound faith, like the blind love that proclaims unabashedly that one has the
best mother in the world.

Most of all, like other sage-poets, AruNagirinAtar recognized that God is not a
topic for intellectual discourse, and is beyond those who are bereft of purity
of heart. The Divine is even beyond rote muttering of mantra and the subtleties
of space. The primordial cause of everything can only be directly experienced,
he declares. And through his songs he treats us to a little of that lofty
experience.

If an opportunity to listen to a verse from Tiruppugaz comes your way, don't
miss it.

V. V. Raman
November 10, 2003

nilmf tI nIrf vqi viCmfepaD _nfTmf
klnfT mykfkmf ulkmf ~ti[i[f
....... Ev]fDmf.

nilam, tI, nIr, vaLi, vicumpoDu aindum
kalandu mayakkam ulakam Adinin
.... vENDum.

Earth, fire, water wind, and ether: since the world
is mingled and composed by these five,
(therefore it is necessary that ...)

Reflections
One would think that these lines are from an ancient book on science. Not
really. They are from one of the earliest works in the Tamil language. Known as
TolkAppiyam, it is primarily a book devoted to what is called iyaTRamiz or
natural Tamil, as distinguished from icaittamiz (Tamil for music) and
nAtakattamiz (Tamil for plays and dramas). Many sections are described with the
word iyal: Nature of. Thus the work talks about the nature of letters, the
nature of nouns, the nature of verbs, the nature of love, the nature of
chastity, etc. In the Latin world, many books used to be written with the title
De rerum Natura: On the nature of things.

Tolkappiyam is perhaps fifteen hundred years old. It is divided into three
parts. The first part discusses the alphabets (ezuttu) of the language. It opens
with the statement that the Tamil alphabet starts from a and goes to na. The
second part deals with words (col). The third part talks about the subject
matter (poruL). Tradition says that the author TolkAppiyar received all his
knowledge from Rishi Agastyar who is regarded as the founder of Tamil language
and tradition.

Academics who have dissected every word of the book have concluded that the
work, certainly of the Common Era, is that of an author who was well versed in
the Sanskritic language and tradition, as he himself proclaims.

Nevertheless, TolkAppiam is a Tamil classic. It is impressive that of the almost
1600 nUrpAs (lexicographic verses/lines) 483 are devoted to the letters of the
language. The letters are classified into pure sounds (mei-ezuttu:
body-letters), vowels (uyir-ezuttu: soul-letters), and sounds that can be
pronounced (uir-mei-ezuttu: soul-body and letters), as in the pure sound of k,
a, and ka respectively. Part two is an extensive discussion on words: ranging
from parts of speech to origins of words, and it speaks of twelve regions where
standard Tamil (centamiz) was used in various ways. The third part talks about
aham (love) and puram (other) themes, figures of speech, idiomatic expressions,
etc. It is a matter of amazing cultural continuity that these basics have been
taught to generations of children in the Tamil world for well over a millennium.
No other book on grammar (save PANini's) has this honor.

That such a detailed and erudite work on Tamil was written at that time suggests
that Tamil was must have already been a fairly sophisticated language when
TolkAppiyam was published. This is not surprising when we recall that the Tamils
are known to have traded with Rome in very ancient times.

What is interesting in the lines I have quoted is that this verse (635)
justifies a literary rule on the basis of the composition of the physical world
(from the five basic elements of ancient science). This not only reveals the
author's knowledge of the scientific views of his time, but also establishes a
validity for the rule on a scientific basis. There may not be many parallels for
this in the field of grammar and literary conventions elsewhere in human
heritage.

We also note here a poetic description of the role of the constituent elements
of matter. He describes the material world as an inseparable intertwining of the
five fundamental basic ingredients, as the ancients pictured. The phrase kalandu
mayakkum could also mean, deluding/bewildering by mixing. Indeed, the perceived
world is not what it seems, and it is certainly true that all illusions arise
from the intermingling of its composite parts in complex modes.

nUTruvaraik kolliyoDu
tUkki yeRi pORiyun
tOTRamuRu pEikLiRu
tuTRu perum pAmpunG
kUTRmana kazuku toDar
kundsmoDu kONmA
..
Devices that a hundred slew,
Threw people down and beat them too,
Demons one with eyes could follow,
Elephants, snakes that could humans swallow.
Death-like vultures causing pains,
Man-made tigers, lances, chains.
Bows and arrows auto-released,
Machine-horses and swords that never ceased,
Stone-hurling gadgets, so it's said,
And statues spitting flames in red,
Hot balls of iron, storks and owls,
Head-crushing rays, molten metals from bowls,
Arrows and spears, flung from slings
Man-made snakes and pigs, Greek things and strings
That could sever anyone's head:
Such were the weapons that all did dread.

Reflections
These lines (verses 101- 104) are from what is regarded as the oldest (extant)
Tamil epic. It is known as CIvakacintAmaNi. This work is the first of the five
major epics of the Tamil world. The story was written in poetic format by a Jain
monk by the name of TiruttokkadEvar.

The theme is anything but what we would expect a monk to be meditating on: For
it is a nice narrative of the naughty deeds of a married prince by the name of
CIvakan. The adventurous youth was in effect what 16th/17th century Western
literature celebrated as the women-chasing Don Juan. CIvakan too seduces women
with great facility. The author paints the amorous exploits of the hero in
picturesque poetry. One critic went so far as to say that this is perhaps the
only book in all of Tamil literature that deserves to be banned. In the end, of
course, CIvakan renounces the world of pleasure in favor of loftier goals. St.
Augustine is said to have prayed: "God, give me chastity, but not yet." It is
fair to say that this prayer was answered for the hero of CIvakacintAmaNi.

Literary critics have not thought much of this work mainly because it lacks an
interesting plot and is weak in character development. Yet the book seems to
have been popular in its time. Even in those days, and even within the
framework of Indic culture, a story with lots of sex had great appeal. In fact,
there is a story to the effect that the COLa king was so fascinated by this
Jaina epic, that there was the danger of his turning Jain himself. It was to
prevent this imminent calamity (from the Hindu perspective) that the great
CEkkizAr composed his magnum hagiographic opus, PeriyapurANam which was to have
a major impact on the religious history of the Tamil people. One might say, in a
strange sort of way, that it was thanks to CIvakacintAmaNi that we have come to
remember all the NAyanArs of the Tamil Caiva tradition who are enshrined in the
PeriyapurANam.

CIvakacintAmaNi might have been lost to vaguely remembered archives but for the
work of an enormously erudite scholar by the name of Narccinarkkiniyar who wrote
commentaries on many classics. Thanks to his notes, the book has survived as a
significant legacy of ancient Tamils. And yet, TiruttokkadEvar's sheer mastery
of Tamil prosody is beyond question. Some literary analysts have pointed out
that in style, though not in substance, the great Kamban - the most sparkling
gem of the Tamil world - had been inspired by CIvakacintAmaNi in versifying
techniques.

What is impressive in the passage above is the science-fictional nature of the
weapons described. How the author's imagination drew pictures of machines of
mass murder: humans-gobbling elephants, automatically firing missiles, vats of
molten metals and such, is a reflection of the creative genius of poetic minds,
rather than, as some would be tempted to claim, proof of high-grade weapons
technology in those times. The reference to Greek inventions suggests that the
poet must of heard of other mythologies as well.

V. V. Raman
November 17, 2003

nilattinum peride vAninum uyarndanDRu
nIrinum Ar aLavu inDRE cAral
karungkOl kuRincip pUkkoNDu
perundEn izaikkum nADanODu naTpE

Larger than land, higher than sky,
Deeper than river waters is on slopes high.
Like (honey) from dark Kurinci flower
Is how I feels the friendship of my lover.

This verse is from KuRuntokai (3) which belongs to the Cankam period (<8th
century CE). The work was edited by one PUrikkO. In the invocatory verse in the
Kuruntokai, Murugan is described as the Lord of the entire universe. It
concludes with the affirmation that the whole world is under his care and
protection. It is attributed to a poet by the name of DevakulattAr. KuRuntokai
is an anthology of 401 poems, authored by some 205 poets, showing the
abundance of verse-composers in the Tamil world already in those days. Few
other cultures have a legacy of such a plethora of prosody, dating back to more
than a millennium.

The poems in this anthology are all from four to eight lines: hence the
collection is known by a name which means, an anthology of short poems. All the
verses deal with the broad theme of love, some of them expressed with great
sensitivity, and some in raw rustic language.

We note the poet's insight that love is not only a grand experience but can be
very deep, and a lofty expression of the human heart. The reference to honey
from a flower brings to mind bees, and this reminds us of the sting that is
sometimes associated with love. Rarely is mundane love bereft of an occasional
pang. The honey brings home the idea that a feeling of sweetness is invariably
a feature of the love-experience.

In another poem in this anthology, a young man says to his friend, speaking of
a girl he loves:
Her breasts are full grown
Her long hairs flow down,
Her well set teeth sparkle in the dark,
Her body has many a beauty mark,
Because of her, I suffer a lot,
But of this she knows absolutely naught.
Her parents are rich as no other,
Oh, what will happen to her?

Many flowers are mentioned in Tamil poems, but the one called kuRinci occurs a
great many times.

Kuriqnci was one of the five types of habitable regions into which the classical
Tamil people divided land areas. In the Tamil country it corresponded regions
of low hills. There were wild beasts there, but also protected areas and secure
caves. It is believed that in pre-historic times, fire was discovered there,
and again it was in the Kurinci region that bow and arrow are said to have
evolved, and man became a hunter. The fact that such a traditional belief grew
reflects an awareness of and hypothesizing on cultural history among classical
Tamil thinkers.

V.V. Raman
November 24, 2003

nanDRI maRappady nanDRanDRu nallallAdadu
anDRE maRappadu nanDRu.

A kind deed to forget is not good.
The non-good, the same day to forget is good.

This is a simple precept from the TirukkuRaL which includes not only pithy
saying about human nature, but also useful guidelines for leading a happy life.
In the course of our lives we meet and interact with many people. We do good
things to others, and we are also the beneficiaries of the good that others
have done for us. In this couplet the poet (TiruvaLLuvar) says that is not good
to forget the kind deed that someone did for us. It is customary to give thinks
right away for an act of goodness or kindness. But it should be more than that,
says the poet. We should remember such acts for as long as we live.

On the other hand, it is also possible that some people do us wrong. In that
case, counsels the poet, it is good to forget such behavior right away. It
will guard us from harboring hate and seeking revenge. If is far better to
forget such acts right away. It may be argued that it is almost impossible to
forget the serious harm that others might have done towards us. Here what is
meant for forgetting is actually forgiving. In other words, even if we cannot
erase from our memory whatever harm was done, let us forgive and move on. Let
us, however, always remember with gratitude the positive actions of others.
Such remembrance will inspire us to do likewise: That is act with goodness
towards others.

It would be helpful if we can apply this between groups. It is no secret that
various groups, subgroups, and nations have wronged others in the past. Rather
than constantly harping on mutual hurt and hate that have been perpetrated by
previous generations, if we choose to forget (forgive) the wrongs and remember
whatever good might have come from past interactions, we will not reduce the
number of unhappy hearts in the world, and soften our urge to take revenge, but
may be able to start new and healthy relationships in building societies and a
world community. This is, of course, more easily stated than achieved. But that
is what all ideals are about: They at least remind us of loftier ways of
living, and inspire at least some people to strive towards such goals. Therein
lies that value and importance.

Note in passing two pints about this kuRaL. First, it is one of the kuRaLs
which states two opposite, yet complementing principles: The negative of not
remembering the good, and the virtue of forgetting the bad. Second, it is also
one of the kuraLs where the poet - a master in the art of playing with words
has constructed a tongue-twister with several repeated sound in it.
Non-Tamils may learn the word for gratitude (also for thanks) in Tami: nanDRi.

[Today is observed as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. This KuRaL is not
inappropriate on this day.]

V. V. Raman
November 27, 2003

manattinAl tigaittu nGALum
mANpalA nGeRikaL mElE
kanaipparAl encei kEnO
kaRaiyaNi kaNTat tAnE
tinattanai vEdanG kunDRAt
tillaicciTRambalattE
anaittunGin nilayanG kaNpAn
aDiyanEn vandavARE

The mind confused strays into wasteful ways.
What can it do when it merely brays?
Oh, the One with the throat that has a stain,
Dwelling in the little hall where Vedas reign,
Your every shrine I got to see:
Of your feet, I'm a devotee.

Reflections
This verse is from TEvAram: a sacred compendium of devotional poetry, attributed
to three of the giants of Tamil Caiva CiddAntam. The senior-most of the
triumvirate was MaruL NIkkiyAr, a saint from the VELLALa (agriculturalist)
caste. He was honored with the title of TirunAvukkaracar: King of the Sacred
Tongue, for his poems reveal a mastery of sacred language that may well be
described as being royal in stature. He lived prior to the 7th century CE, and
came to be called with reverential affection as Appar by another author of the
TEvAram.

Appar had once become a Jain, and even embraced monk's life in that tradition.
In those days, Caivism and VaishNavism were vying with Buddhism and Jainism for
the people's loyalty. The remarkable cure of his chronic stomach ailment by his
Caiva sister brought him back to the Caiva fold. After this re-conversion to the
Caiva path, Appar began to write profusely on his ardent devotion to Lord Civa.
He is known especially for a genre known as tANDakam. One of these glorifies
Civa as follows:

He is celestial, superior to all the gods.
He is Sanskrit and Tamil too, and is the four Vedas.
He is immersed in milk, He is the Master.
He is the forester who did his dance with fire in hand.
He blessed the logger.
He is the honey that seeps in the flower-heart of his devotees.
He is the Loved One beyond our reach.
He is Civa, the Beloved One who resides in Civapuram.

Appar's invocations are invariably joyous, and he is ever confident that Civa
would never abandon him. He is unusual in not asking for an end to the
birth-death cycle. In one of his works he says it is good to be born for it
gives us an opportunity to experience NaTarAja in Cidambaram. Elsewhere he
proclaims that he would worship an outcaste or a leper as long as God is in the
heart of the individual. Appar befriended Brahmins and kings too, and is
credited with the re-conversion of the Pallava King to Caivism. In another of
Appar's poems we read that Lord Civa taught Tamil to Rishi Agattiyar who is said
to have brought it to the people of the region. This story is one of the legends
that have inspired the Tamils to regard their language as divine.

It is said that the TEvAram, once sung by minstrels and inscribed on mounds of
Palmyra leaves, were lost for some centuries until portions of the hymns were
discovered by a boy-prodigy named Nambi ANDAr Nambi during the reign of King
RAja-RAja I (11th century). Tradition says that Appar had composed some 49,000
hymns, of which only a few thousand have come down to us.

The verse above (IV.23.8) is from a section entitled KOyil, which means Temple,
and actually refers to the famous one at Cidambaram, renowned for its
magnificent NaTarAja. The little hall there is where, as per sacred history,
Civa's cosmic dance is said to have occurred: the one which symbolizes the
rhythmic tumult of Cosmic Creation and Terminus, poetically far more thrilling
than the explosive fury of the Big Bang of current scientific cosmology.

Appar who traveled to every Civa temple in the land, expresses in this verse the
spiritual joy that came to him from that accomplishment. And he says that the
human mind wanders here and there in wasteful ways, unable to seek and reach
that which is of lasting value. He compares the noises we make in this brief
life-span to the braying of donkeys, for they are so devoid of meaning or
inspiration compared to the chanting of the glories of the Divine.

Aside from their spiritual significance, the hymns of Appar are among the
powerful elements that have enriched the treasure-chest of Tamil literature.

V. V. Raman
December 1, 2003

kiLLaiyoDu pUvai azuda; kiLir mADattu
uL uRaiyum pUcai azuda; uru aRiyAip
piLLai azuda: periyOrai en colla?
vaLLal vanam paguvAn endRu, uraitta mATRattAl.
..
Avum azuda; adan kanDRu azuda; anDRu alarnda
pUvum azuda; punal puL azuda; kaL ozagum
kAvum azuda; kaLiru azuda; kAl vayap pOr
mAvum azuda; - am mannavanai mAnavE.

Parrots wept with Mainas too.
In lighted palaces, cats wept too.
Formless bodies (embryos) wept that way.
Of grown up ones, what to say?
'cause into the woods the generous one will fade,
In accord with a promise made

Cows wept and their calves wept.
The flowers that blossomed that day wept.
Sea-gulls wept, honey-dripping gardens wept,
Male elephants and powerful horses wept,
To honor that prince, they all wept.

Reflections
These two verses are from the most precious jewel of all Tamil literature, which
is titled: irAmAvatAram. It describes the reaction of the world around to the
impending exile of Sri RAma into the forest. The people of Ayodhya were dejected
that their beloved prince had to go away for fourteen long years. But RAma was
so universally loved and regarded that even the animal kingdom was deeply moved,
says the poet. So he lists birds and mammals. And he also speaks of the unborn
that wept, of flowers and gardens which also wept. If this is not imaginative
poetic exuberance, what is!

But there is more to this description than poetry. It conveys in a powerful way
the full impact of that sorrowful scene on the world at large. Metaphorically
and more importantly, it tells us that there are human events that affect
non-humans too. When bull-dozers erase lush fields to build homes for humans,
they rip trees and plants off their roots, they force birds to abandon their
nests, deer and wolves have to flee to seek shelter elsewhere. Figuratively
speaking, don't they all weep? Such is the havoc wrought by human activity on
the environment when we act in callous and self-serving ways. We don't always
reflect on this.

The removal of RAma from Ayodhya was like the diverting of the course of a river
that has been nourishing the flora and fauna of a fertile land. Human activity
is not without consequence to our fellow creatures on the planet.
Great poets are known by their many works, but one work alone is enough to
recognize the greatest poets. Kampan is among the greatest poets of the world.
Kampan was well versed in Sanskrit. He was as familiar with the VAlmIki version
of the epic as with other philosophical writings in the primary sacred language
of the Hindus. Kampan's work is the supreme creation of a consummate poet whose
genius has few parallels in the history of world literature.

Kampan took for his theme the uplifting saga of Rama which is narrated so
powerfully in the Sanskrit cantos of VAlmIki, and he chiseled it in the language
of the Tamils with supreme artistry. So when the Tamils speak of Kampan they
have only his RAmAyaNa is mind. The work consists of nearly 13,000 verses of
four lines each, all in the same specific meter of Tamil prosody.

Others in the Tamil world had written about RAma before Kampan came. But it was
given to this towering giant of Tamil Poetry to recast the epic of RAma in his
own version with imageries that reveal him as a divinely inspired minstrel with
a command of words and visions unsurpassed by any in the Tamil world, before and
since.

He was no mere translator of the ancient bard. Like the 17th century classicists
of French literature, Kampan transformed an ancient theme with descriptions of
scenes and events intelligible to his people and times, yet maintaining a
universality in it all. Kampan's SarAyu resembles more the Krishna or the
GodAvari, and he makes Rama a vegetarian. Kampan metamorphosed the idol of the
epic from a human hero to god incarnate. Rama, for Kampan, was not just an ideal
prince, he was the Divine Principle who must be worshipped. The AzvAr poets had
already deified Rama and the bhakti movement was well in vogue when Kampan
composed his masterpiece.

There is a beauty in Kampan's poetry that no serious student of the Tamil
language can fail to feel. For this is a word-artist's work replete with
similes, word-plays, and delightful hyperboles. The work is at once ennobling
and aesthetically uplifting, even if some may find it verbose here and there.
Who was this Kampan whom the Tamil people extol as the embodiment of their
language's glory, whose musical meters and pleasing imageries bring such joy to
Tamil readers? All we know is that he was once a court poet of a Chola king, and
that he found compositions of poetic adulation of ephemeral royalty neither to
his taste nor to his deeper satisfaction. He therefore retired from the royal
splendor of the court to spend his creative energies for the work that was to
make him immortal, and which we call KamparAmAyaNam. This is not a devotional
hymn, but a literary chef d'oeuvre.

Incidentally, in ValmIki's RAmAyaNa, when RAma was leaving the capital the horde
of Brahmins who beseech him not to leave Ayodhya say that the tall trees which
cannot move were weeping with the coarse sound of the breeze, that birds on
their branches which were unable to go in search of food, were begging of the
prince to come back.

V. V. Raman
December 8, 2003

paNNEn unakkAna pUcai oru vaDivilE
pAvittu iRai? AngGE
pArkkinDRa malaruDu nIyE irutti ap
panimalar eDukka manamum

naNNEn

I'll worship you not with flowers,
Bowing to any form of yours.
Seeing you in each fresh flower,
Even my mind can't pluck one, ever.

Reflections
This verse is from the works of the poet TAyumAnavar (18th century). He was
named after the name by which Siva was known in the local temple, to Whom his
parents had prayed for the birth of a son. He became a Saiva scholar of great
eminence in Tamil literature, one who was versed in Sanskritic learning no less.

Like the great MAnikkavAcakar who had lived a thousand years earlier, this
eminent personage had also served as minister in the government. The ruler's
wife was so taken by the charm of the youthful bright minister, that when the
chieftain died, she offered him everything if he would only become her husband.
The spiritually inclined man in his early thirties is said to promptly left town
and taken refuge in a remote town with his older brother. Here he was married,
but his wife died after their first son was born. TAyumAnavar gave up worldly
pleasure, position and property for a mystic's life. Like other sages before
him, he rightly declared that knowledge and learning don't lead us to God
realization. Yet, he used his scholarship in his efforts to bring together
divergent sects within the Saiva fold. A firm proponent of the doctrine of
grace, TAyumAnavar was undoubtedly one of the most eloquent, persuasive, and
genuine Caivaciddhantins of all times.

It is said that on one occasion, when there was a famine-causing draught, he
appealed to the Divine with such devotion and sincerity that torrential rains
ensued.

Like the Nature poets of England, TAyumAnavar saw the divine presence all around
him. As William Blake had seen a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild
flower, TAyumAnavar saw God in the form and body of a blooming flower, and felt
it would be harsh to pluck it from the stem, even to offer it to the Divine in a
worship mode.

The point is, though we worship God as the transcendent, when we recognize
Divine presence as immanent in the world around, our deepest reverence for
Nature is evoked. When one sees Divinity in mountains and rivers, in trees,
shrubs, and flowers, one begins to understand the glory of creation, and also
feel an innate respect for the natural world.

We may see more in this verse that the outpouring of a sensitivity poet, for it
has meaningful relevance to both prayer modes and to the current human
condition. Indirectly, TAyumAnavar is suggesting that puja and temple worship
are not necessarily the best ways of realizing God. Like other personages who
had attained enlightenment, he did not care much for traditional rites and
rituals, although he did regard pilgrimages very highly. But he insisted more on
being good and on being tolerant.

As to the relevance of this verse in our own times, though it is commendable and
useful to tap the natural world for human ends, if this becomes reckless
exploitation of land and sea, the very structure of the world that sustains us
will be mutilated, and we ourselves will perish. That is what deforestation,
global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer are all about. Thus, when
TAyumAnavar hesitates to pluck a flower even as an offering to God, we realize
that unless we see some sacredness in Nature, we will continue to pillage and
plunder every aspect of it, creating chaos and confusion and devastation. Indeed
that is what has led to the ecological crisis confronting technological
civilization.

V. V. Raman
December 11, 2003

pittAp piRaicUDi perumAnE aruLALA
ettAn maRavAdE ninaikkinDREn manattunnai
vaittAi peNNait tenpAl veNNei nallUr aruT TuRaiyuL
attA unakkALAyini allEn enal AmE.

Oh delirious one with the Crescent in your hair
Oh Great One Whose grace, for all does care!
I'll never forget you, You're always in my heart,
You placed River PeNNai in the southern part
Of TiruveNNai nallUr's sacred water-way.
That I'm not your slave, how can I ever say?

Reflections
This famous verse, composed a thousand years ago, is still a very popular hymn
that is sung in bhajans in the Tamil world. It is the first verse in Part III
of TEvAram.

I recall listening to it many times as a lad, never quite understanding what it
meant, literally or otherwise.

As often happens in Hindu hymns, there are some allusions here: one from sacred
history, one universal, and one local. The delirious Siva refers to Siva either
in his drug-intoxicated state to which there are references in the lore, or in
the aspect of performing the Cosmic Dance (NaTarAja) which, in the poetic
vision, was done in a state of ecstatic nonchalance. In ordinary parlance, the
word pittan refers to a crazy individual, but this poet is known for addressing
the Lord with utter familiarity, so his calling Siva by this epithet is not
surprising. I will explain presently the reference to the slave.

The crescent moon on Lord Siva's head alludes to the PurANic episode in which
Soma (the moon) who had wedded the twenty seven daughters of Daksha, showed
(contrary to his promise) preference for one of them (ROhiNi), for which offense
he was condemned by Daksha to shrink to total obscurity. When Soma sought refuge
and help from Lord Siva at the point of being extinguished for good, Siva took
him on his matted hair and allowed him to wax and wane instead of always shining
in his fully glory as he used to do before. The waxing and waning of the moon is
taken as a reminder to us that such is life too: with elations and dejections,
joys and sorrows. Indeed in yuga-cycle the whole universe evolved and ends, only
to be re-emerge again. The universal allusion is to the Saiva doctrine by which the Divine's grace
cares for all of creation (pasu).

As to the River PeNNai, it is a river by the temple of TirukOvilUr which is not
far from Tiruvennainallur: the place where the author of this verse, the eminent
Sundarar, attained liberation. Legend has it that the treatise on dance (nAtya
sAshtra) was taught by Lord Siva at this very sacred place.

The author of this verse was born in the 8th-9th century, and given the name of
as Nambi-Arur. Later he came to be known as Sundarar (the beautiful one: more
fully, as SundaramUrti NAyanAr) because he was a very handsome youth. He is
counted among the major saints of the Saiva tradition, not only for the miracles
associated with his name, but also for his devotional compositions which form
part of the TEvAram: He is one of its triumvirate authors. It is said that
Sundarar composed some 37,000 hymns during his all too brief life, but only
about a thousand have survived.

In one of his poems Sundarar listed sixty personages and nine groups whom he
considered to be the true devotees of God. This poem was the inspiration for the
grand hagiography of the Saiva tradition, known as Periya PurANam.
It is said that on the eve of his wedding, an old man interrupted the ceremony,
claiming that Sudarar had been given as a slave to him. He had the palm-leaf
document to prove it. When Sudarar disagreed, he was taken to court; and when he
tore it to pieces, the old man produced another palm leaf, saying the first was
only a copy. The stunned Sundarar followed the man to a temple where the latter
vanished. Now Sundarar realized that the man was none other than Lord Siva
impersonating.

From that moment on Sundarar became an ardent Siva-bhakta. But he was an unusual
bhakta. In his works, he sometimes took liberties with the Divine, treating God
as a comrade whom he would tease, and even order Him about, demanding a porter
to carry his grains. He asks God to given him not just rice and curry, but also
a gold-headed cane. Later, he was married to two women at the same time. It is
said that as punishment for bigamous behavior he lost one eye, whereupon he
wrote, Milton-like, some beautiful poems on his blindness, and demanded of Siva
to cure him.

It must be noted that this extraordinarily gifted poet was very much a youth,
for he is said to have died at the tender age of eighteen.

V. V. Raman
December 18, 2003

iDumpaiyAl aDarppuNDu iDumino
tuTRu enDRu irandavarkku illaiE enDRu
neDu? maRutta nIcanEn andO!
ninaikkilEn vinaippayan tannai
kaDu?Ar kaDiyAr kAlanAr tamarAl
paDuvadOr koDumiRaiku a?aD
inGgi nAn vandu un tiruvaDi aDaindEn,
NaimisAraNyam.

When the poor and the hungry begged for food,
From them I turned away.
I didn't think if my actions were good
How lowly I was, I say!
The agents of Death I now will meet,
I dread the pains I'll get from them.
I take refuge in your sacred feet
Oh Lord of NaimisAraNyam.

Reflections
In the course of our lives we commit many misdeeds, often oblivious of the
consequences, whether short range or long-range. And then, when the moment of
death approaches, we may begin to wonder, indeed fear, what punishments we might
receive for those terrible things we did. And at that moment we confess to the
Almighty our unconscionable behavior, and seek forgiveness. It is this
predicament of the repentant sinner that is expressed in this verse. And it
should inspire us to be more thoughtful in what we do.

The sin emphasized here is ignoring the hunger of other people. Of the many
commissions and omissions that taint our lives, there is perhaps nothing that is
so abominable as callous neglect of the poor and the helpless. Something that
is even more horrible is heartless indifference to the plea of the hungry. Some
of us have experienced this in the streets of some cities in India, often in the
vicinity of temples. We may fling a coin or two at mendicants, but we rarely
care about their sorry plight. It is to such behavior that the poet refers here.
The author of this verse is TirumanGgai Azvar (8th century?), listed as the
twelfth of the saint-poets of the VaishNava tradition.

As with other poets of very distant ages, very little that is authentic is known
about him. But scholars have put together scraps of information from here and
there, including from his own poems, and legends too have enriched hagiography.
In the ancient world, trades and professions were hereditary, and often the
people of a particular calling were classed together in a clan. It is said that
Kalian (TirumanGai AzvAr's original name) was born in the KaLLar (literally:
robber) clan. It is also believed that he was a chieftain (he has been called a
mannan, prince). According to some accounts, he used to rob especially Saivas.
A vision of VishNu transformed him from a robber into a devotional poet who made
pilgrimages to scores and scores of sacred shrines, going all the way to the
Himalayas. We may recall that the great VAlmIki was also a robber before he
became Adikavi (the First Poet). There is also a tradition which says that he
became a devotee of Vishnu under the influence of his wife.

A good portion of his poetical compositions, collectively called Pariyatirumozi,
is part of the Divyaprapandam. Indeed he is the most prolific contributor to
that magnificent compendium of religious poetry. The quoted verse is from 1.6.5
in Tirumozi.

Historians of Tamil literature are unanimous in calling him a master of prosody
who handled with great skill four different metrical forms, which won him the
title of NAlu-kavi-perumAL: Lord of Four (modes of) Poetry. He extols the name
of NArAyaNa, but also decries Buddhists and Jains. He speaks in moving and lofty
terms of the Divine, but has also problems with those who do the same in the
name of Siva. Ironically, scholars have detected in his writings the influence
of some Saiva poets, especially Appar. And, for sheer eloquence and poetic
genius, he has been described as the Sambandar of the VaishNava school by some
literary commentators.

The last line of the verse needs a word of explanation. According to the
PurANas, Brahma once flung a discus (cakra), and it fell in a forest known as
NaimishAraNya (instantaneous forest), so called because VishNu destroyed many
asuras in this place. The forest is located on the banks of River Gomati, now in
Uttar Pradesh. Sixty thousand sages followed that cakra and assembled in this
forest, and did penances there. As per sacred history again, it was here that
the MahAbhArata and PurANas were recited for the first time. There is a spot
here where RAma is said to have cleansed himself of the sin of killing RAvaNa.
Thus Lord of NaimishAraNya sometimes refers to VishNu Himself. TirumanGai Azvar
refers to VishNu by this name in a number of verses. The poet describes VishNu
as My Mother in NaimishAraNya (NaimisAraNyattuL en tAi). In this context VishNu
is also known as DevarAjan.

A?e onDRu peTRAn, A?e onDRu tAvi
A?e onDRu ARAka Ar uyir kkka Eki
A?e onDRu peTra aNanGkai kaNDu, ayalAr Uril
A?e onDRu vaittAn, avan emai aLittuk kAppAn

He was born of one of the Five,
To protect all that on earth is alive,
He leaped across one of the Five
And through one of the Five.
Having seen the woman born of one of the Five,
In the alien's town, he placed one of the Five.
May he protect me generously.

Reflections
This verse will sound like a comundrum, if we ask at the end: To whom is the
poet referring? Those familiar with the Ramayana may recognize that the
reference is to Rama's most ardent devotee, Hanuman.

How, one may ask, and where does the Five come from?
Here, we recall the ancient view in which the world arises from five fundamental
elements (mahAbhUta): These are AkAsha: aether or space; vAyu: air or wind;
tejas: fire; Apas: water; and pRthivI: earth. In the NyAya philosophical
framework, these elements are manifestations of the primordial substance or
tanmAtra through which the cosmic energy that gives rise to the world of
experience. It is through them that we perceive the tangible world. The
mahAbhUta are associated with our sensory faculties.

Specifically, AkAsha is associated with sound; vAyu with sound and touch; tejas
with sound, touch, and form; Apas with sound, touch, form, and taste; and
pRthivI with sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.

Each one of us breathes air, drinks water, needs the warmth of fire, lives on
earth, and moves through space.
The Five in this verse, then, refers to the five maAbhUta, and indicates how
they were combined in the life and deeds of the epic hero HanumAan.
HanumAn was born of the Vedic Wind-god VAyu (VAyu-putra) who is known for his
strength, persistence, and swiftness of motion.

When it was known that Sita had been abducted by the king of Lanka, HanumAn
leaped across the waters that separate India and RAvaNa's island realm.
When he did this, he flew threw the space between the lands.
In Lanka he met with Sita. Recall that Sita was born of the earth (in a furrow).
Finally, HanumAn set fire to the kingdom of the alien kingdom of RAvaNa.
And he did all this for the welfare of one and all.

What is interesting in the verse is the clever way in which the poet combines
the theory of the five elements with the life and deeds of HanumAn with
fascinating insight.

It is in the sheer poetic brilliance (of writers, whether in Tamil or in
Sanskrit), as in art and music, in metaphysical subtleties and stupendously rich
imagination, that the true greatness of Indic culture lies. Unfortunately, due
to undue emphasis on religiosity, and a near-obsession with spirituality, the
core of Indic genius is often lost, distorted, or misdirected. In overplaying
the divinity of Rama, Krishna, and other poetic visions of the Divine, one
often loses sight of the genius of classical Indic writers who composed some of
the most magnificent and penetrating poetry in humanity's literary legacy.
This verse occurs in an early part of Kamban's RAmAyaNam. Some scholars believe
the entire section where it occurs to be an interpolation, but that is
irrelevant for our discussion. It may be mentioned in passing that there is also
a different version in the second line where Ar uyir kAkka (to protect life on
earth) is given as AriyarkkAka (for the sake of the ARyan, i.e. Rama).

V. V. Raman
January 26, 2004