Books on 4000 Divya prapandam & Alwars

[Guest guest]

Dear Anand

Adiyen have been blessed with a chance for the last few weeks to learn few

Sampradayam Kalakshebams from Sri.MathiSrinivasan swamy who was a Professor

at Univ of Madras,( during his visit to US) and also Adiyen came to know

that (also seen) Swamy has written a 3-4 vol of Books written in Tamil along

with vYakyAnam for Divya Prabhandhams, Swamy has wriiten the book based on

Sri.PerivAchan Pillai's commentaries but it will be simple tamil not in

ManiPravalam, its available at

Sri vRahi Printers

150 Alwarpettai St

Alwar Pettai - Ch -18

Ph 433 5524

 

Pl tell them that you have been informed by Author (SriMathiSrinivasan) to

buy the books to get some discount on the Price.

Hope this helps

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

Gunaseelan Venkatachary

 

 

 

Anand Sowmithiran (IE10) [Anand.Sowmithiran]

Monday, September 16, 2002 2:32 AM

bhakti-list

Books on 4000 Divya prapandam & Alwars

 

 

Namaskarams.

 

I would like to know of publications on 4000 Divya prapandam with

explanation/commentary according to Sri Vaishnava sampradayam.

I already have a nice book from Lifco containing only the pasurams but no

commentary.

I came across 2 ads from Tamil magazines this week, here are the details :

 

1) Title : 4000 Divya Prapandam with explanation

Author : Dr. R. V. Kamalakannan PhD

9 volumes - 4736 pages, Rs. 675 by VPP

Publisher: Vardhamanan Publications,

15, Sarojini Street, T. Nagar,

Chennai - 600017, ph 435 0561

 

2)Title : Sri Vaishnavism and Alwars

( sri mukam by Sri Sriperumbudur Jeer Swamy)

Author: Nallan Chakravarthi R. Devarajan

Rs. 350

Publisher : Sri Senbaga Publications,

Old # 24, Krishna Street,

T. Nagar, Chennai 600017

ph 433 1510

 

Not sure whether the above will be authentic. I am interested in the

sampradaya meanings,Sri Alwars' bhakthi than the Tamil literal/grammar

beauties.

Can anyone suggest of any other good commentary works(if any by Sri Mukkur

Swamy, Sri Krishna Premi, Dr. MAV swamy...etc)?

 

adiyen,

Anand.

 

 

 

-----------------------------

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Your use of is subject to

[Guest guest]

> Not sure whether the above will be authentic. I am interested in the

> sampradaya meanings,Sri Alwars' bhakthi than the Tamil literal/grammar

> beauties.

> Can anyone suggest of any other good commentary works(if any by Sri Mukkur

> Swamy, Sri Krishna Premi, Dr. MAV swamy...etc)?

 

If you are looking for English, a verse to verse translation by U.Ve.Srirama

Bharathi is impeccable. This translation is the most faithful to the

original and is a result of immese maha-vishwAsam and traditional

kalakshEpam under the feet of Acharyas. It is written in simple english and

is very easy for every one to understand. Please contact:

 

Sri Kambam Deepak,

Bangalore, INDIA

kambamdeepak

kambamdeepak

 

The cost of the book is around $10. It should reach USA in 4-7 weeks. The

best way to transfer funds within 24 hours would be through Western Union.

 

Regards,

 

Malolan Cadambi

 

[ Sri Srirama Bharati's book is one of my favorites and I always

keep one near for ready reference. However, it can hardly be

considered "faithful" to either the bare Tamil meaning or the

purvacharyas' commentaries, despite claims to the contrary.

Even the taniyan 'bhUtam-saraS ca' is translated in an unusual

manner. To really see how far the translation departs from the

conventional understanding, please see Srirama Bharati's

English versions of tiruppAvai 'nAyakanAy ninRa' and mudal

tiruvandAdi 5 'aran nAraNan nAmam'. Yet, I still highly recommend

the book highly for people who want an easy-to-read English

version of Divya Prabandham. One should always keep in mind

that the translations are often quite far from the original

and traditionally understood meanings. -- Mani ]

[Guest guest]

I had written:

> To really see how far the translation departs from the

> conventional understanding, please see Srirama Bharati's

> English versions of tiruppAvai 'nAyakanAy ninRa' and mudal

> tiruvandAdi 5 'aran nAraNan nAmam'.

 

Sorry, the tiruppAvai verse in question is 'ellE iLangiLiyE'.

Please also see tiruvAymozhi 1.1.9 for another interesting

translation.

> Yet, I still highly recommend

> the book highly for people who want an easy-to-read English

> version of Divya Prabandham. One should always keep in mind

> that the translations are often quite far from the original

> and traditionally understood meanings. -- Mani ]

[Guest guest]

> > Yet, I still highly recommend

> > the book highly for people who want an easy-to-read English

> > version of Divya Prabandham. One should always keep in mind

> > that the translations are often quite far from the original

> > and traditionally understood meanings. -- Mani ]

 

Yes, I do agree. The Divya prabandham is consider as high as the prasthana

trayam. Hence the concept of anirvAchana bhedA should be applied to the

Naalayiram as well. For example, literally understanding yAne nE found in

the thiruvaIzhmozhi of Nammalwar can be confusing. This is akin to literally

understanding gnyAtratva, kratatVa and bhogtratva without bhasyams on the

Gita or the rest of the prasthana traya.

 

I second that this book is the best recommended.

 

Regards,

 

Malolan Cadambi

[Guest guest]

> > > One should always keep in mind

> > > that the translations are often quite far from the original

> > > and traditionally understood meanings. -- Mani ]

>

> [...]

> I second that this book is the best recommended.

>

> Regards,

>

> Malolan Cadambi

 

Hi Malolan,

 

I think you've not properly understood what I meant.

While Sri Srirama Bharati's translation of Divya

Prabandham is very valuable, principally because it

is the only translation in English available, it

is *highly* inaccurate and misleading in countless

places and should not be relied upon as a guide to

either the straightforward Tamil meaning or the

interpretative nuances supplied by our acharyas.

It's not that translations of Divya Prabandham are

inherently bad; it's that *this* translation is suspect

in many places.

 

In other words, this is not "the best recommended"

book; if one wanted a translation of Tiruvaymoli,

for example, I would suggest Sri Satyamurthy Ayyangar's

Tiruvaymoli Glossary or Alvar Tiruvullam as Sri Sadagopan

has mentioned.

 

Let me give you an example of where Sri Srirama

Bharati's translation goes particularly astray.

It is well recognized that in our acharyas' opinion the 'ellE

ilangiLiyE' paasuram describes the essential nature

of the true devotee and is one of the most important

verses of the 30. The phrase 'naanE daan aayiDuga'

(lit. "place it all on me", where "it" means any and all faults)

is the ideal attitude of the bhAgavata who sees no faults in others

but sees only her own shortcomings. The translation in question

however somehow misses this point and translates the phrase as

"just leave me alone!" (or "just let me be" -- I am recalling

from memory here), which leaves the reader with entirely

the opposite impression. What's more, contextually the

printed translation is simply not justified in any sense,

even disregarding our acharyas' opinions.

 

There are many others like this, but yet I spend many

hours reading this work. I like reading it because as one whose

formal Tamil is only a recent acquisition it makes many

of the poems accessible to me, at least in the first order.

It is also printed very well and is handy for looking up

paasurams. But I have learnt not to rely on the translation in any

measure and only use it as a hint to go back and study the

paasurams in their original with our acharya's commentaries.

 

Hope this clarifies,

Mani