Guest guest Posted October 15, 2006 Report Share Posted October 15, 2006 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 > ________ India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.