[t'venkatam] Obituary: Sri T S Parthasarathy

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Dear members,

 

Thanks to Sri Malolan Cadambi for posting this

obituary.

 

The passing away of Sri TS Parthasarathy, the doyen of

Musicology and Sanskrit Literature of the past 75

years, is a great loss indeed. Sri TSP at the age of

94 passed away peacefully in his sleep.

 

TSP mAma was a family friend of my parents. He took a

great interest in the musical career of my mother

Sangita Kalanidhi (Dr) Smt Mani Krishnaswamy. He

helped her immensely in the production of her

commercial recordings of rendering Swami Vedanta

Desika's works "Daya Satakam", "Goda Stuthi",

"achyutha-satakam" and "BhagavadhAna-sOpAnam". He was

also my mother's guide for her research-paper on

Talapakka Annamayya which she presented for her

Fellowship of the Sangita Nataka Academy, New Delhi.

Whenever my mother had any doubt on 'sangita' or

"sanskrit" -- be it 'sAhitya' or the correct notation

of any 'kriti' or the meaning of a Sanskrit phrase or

word --- she would reflexively turn to TSP mAma for

clarification. He was a multi-faceted scholar indeed.

 

In recent years, my personal interaction with TSP mAma

was quite frequent. Whenever I visited Chennai on

holiday, I never failed to call on him at his house in

CIT Nagar. Although he remained healthy and mentally

razor-sharp throughout his life, due to a slight

physical handicap he was able to move about only on a

wheel-chair. But he was always cheerful everytime I

met him and he used to welcome me with great warmth

and affection. He was so glad about my own interest in

the subject of SriVaishnava religious literature and

philosophy. I remember fondly today the many hours of

engaging conversation that I had with him. His

erudition was phenomenal. Even at his advanced age, he

could recall Sanksrit and Tamil passages at will from

the "mani-pravAla" texts and the AzhwAr "prabhadhams".

If he could not recall from memory, he would wheel

around briskly around his personal library and pick

out exactly the book he wanted to refer, and singled

out exactly the passage from the correct page in the

book in order to make his point. He had a truly

formidable scholar's mind.

 

The last time I met Sri TSP mAma was in July when I

visited his house to formally invite him for my

father's "sathAbhishEkam" held later in the same

month. Sri TSP mAma gave me a gift on the occasion

that I can never forget and will treasure all my life.

 

 

Way back in 1952, Sri TSP had published his book, an

English translation of the "Sri Rangam

"kOvil-ozhughu". This "kovil-ozhughu" was originally

written sometime even before the time of Sri

RamanujAchArya (10th CE) and it survives to this day

as an excellent historical record of the history and

temple-practices of the great temple of Sri Ranganatha

at Sri Rangam. But since the original is in difficult

"mani-pravAla" script, which only the loftiest of Sri

Vaishnava scholars/pundits can really appreciate, Sri

TSP had undertaken the labor of love to translate the

"kovil-ozhugu" into simple and eminently readable

English. His book in 1952 was published by the

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.

 

Sri TSP gave me an autographed copy of that book of

his and blessed me profusely wishing me all good

things in life.

 

That is my last memory of a wonderful human being, a

formidable and versatile scholar with hardly an air or

pretension about him, an utterly friendly person and

an engaging conversationalist, a lover of life and of

all God's blessings on earth.

 

May his soul in 'parama-padam' revel in the presence

of the Almighty!

 

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

--- Malolan Cadambi <mcadambi > wrote:

 

>

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/15/stories/2006101504170900.htm

>

 

 

 

 

 

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