THE DEVELOPMENT OF TAMILIAN RELIGIOUS
THOUGHT
|
SWAMI
VIPULANANDA
|
The beginnings of
Tamilian civilization may be traced far back to the ancient days when the
waters of the Pahruli river brought fertility to the regions that extended
southwards beyond Kumari (the present Cape Comorin). The Pandya king Ma Kirti
at whose court the Tholkappiyam was published flourished before the time of the
great deluge1 which submerged several ranges of hills, the river Pahruli and
the fortynine countries adjoining it. The waters of the Indian Ocean rol over
the spot where the proud city of Kavadapuram stood. This city of great wealth,
rich in gold, celestial and adorned with pearls and gems, was the second
capital city of the Pandyan kingdom; the original swallowed up by the sea at
the end of the first Ozzhi. The commentator Nachhinarkiniyar ascribes to king
Ma Kiriti3 a long reign of twentyfour thousand years and proceeds to say that
the scholars at this old king's court were, therefore, men of matchless wisdom.
If years mean of very ripe wisdom. Never-the-less we, who belong to a short-lived
race of mortals, whose average span of life does not exceed the proverbial
three score years and ten, refuse to see eye to eye with Nacchinarkiniyar when
he makes this pre-diluvian monarch go through the the tradition may be
unacceptable for purposes of historical investigation it may not be
uninteresting to seek for and discover its origin. The exitence of parallel
traditions in Sumerian history suggests the possibility of a common source. The
king list4 of Larsa give the names of
1. Chilappadikaram XI,
17-22; Kali-thokai CIV 1-4; Thlkappiyam; Payiram Comm; Karpiyal 4 comm., and
Marapiyal 94 comm; Purananuru VI, 2 and IX, 11.
2. Valmiki Ramayanam,
Kishkindakandam, XLI, 19.
3. Thlkappiyam: Payiram
Comm.
eight kings before the
deluge who reigned for periods ranging between 18,600 and 43,200 years. The
civilisation of the Mesopotaminan valley has a special interest to students of
Tamil culture, for the ancient Sumerians are said to bear most resemblance to
the Dravidian ethnic type of India.5 The discovery of monuments6 belonging to
the First Dynasty of Ur. (3100-2930 B.C.), the third after the Flood has proved
to a certain extent that the records left by the scribes of ancient Sumer are
not altogether legendary. The archaeological finds at Harappa and Mohenji-Daro
may throw fuller light on the racial and cultural con-nexions of the Sumerians
and the ancient Dravidians, and the antiquity nexions of the Sumerians and the
ancient Dravidians, and the antiquity of the Sumero-Dravidian civilization. The
account given by Berosus7 in the third of fourth century before Christ appears
to suggest that the early settlers of Sumer arrived by sea, bringing with them
a fully developed civilization. This civilization may possibly have arisen in
the submerged Tamil-lands that extended to the south of Kumri.
Coming back to the court
of king Ma Kirti, we are Tholkappiyar seated in the midst of an assembly of
learned pandits, expounding his immortal tratise. Opposite to him sits
Athankottasan, a relentless critic, who at the instigation of the sage
Agattiyar (Sanskrit-Agastya) points out many flaws in the book. Tholkappiyar
successfully meets the points raised by Athankottasan and the book receives the
approbation of the wise men of Ma Kirti's court. From thenceforward the
Tholkappiyam becomes the most authoritative treatise on Tamil language and
Tamil culture. From internal evidence one is lead to beliebve that the book was
wrtten at a time when the Aryan culture was just beginning to influence the
social and religious life of the ancient Tamilians. Nacchinarkiniyar says that
the Thokappiyam existed before the time of Byasa8 the compiler of the Vedas and
the author of the Mahabharata. The high standard of excellence reached by the
book shows that the Tamils at this time were a highly civilized people. The
sage Agattiyar came into a land which was civilized and wealthy. There are a
good many legends centering round the name of this sage. He is said to have
started from the Meru; passing through Dwarapathi (Dwarasamudram), he proceeded
southwards with a band of followers until he reached Tamilakam. After his
arrival, the Pothiya9 hill, where he fixes up his abode becomes as famous as
the Himalayas.
4,5,6,7. C.L. Woolley:
The Sumerians (Oxford) pages 21,30, 187 and 189; H.R. Hall: The Ancient History
of the Near East (Methuen) pages 173, 174 and 177.
8. Tholkappiyam:
Payirram Comm.
9. Chilappandikaram 1,
14; III; VIII, 8; XV, 4, XXVII 67.
The Kaviri 10 river
(Cauvery) which is said to have originated from his water-pot becomes the
sacred Ganges of the South; Kanta-man11 the Chola king who sought his
protection is saved from the murderous battleaxe of Parasurama, the protagonist
of priestly power; the mighty Ravana12 crosses the sag's path and becomes
subdued (literally bound) not by force of arms, but by the subtler persuasive
power of music. The sage is said to have spend years in the island of Ceylon
practising severe austerities. Later he becomes deified and we see temples
erected to him in far-off Java. This half-mythical figure stands in the hoary
which like the confluence of the Ganges and the Jamna was to progess ever
afterwards as an undivided singled life-giving current.
The earliest existing
literary records of Tamilakam are to be found amoung the anthologies known as
the Sangam classics. Rescued from palm-leaf manuscripts and brought to light
during the last three or four decades these anthologies open up an entirely new
world, entering into which one meets with a god-like race of men and women,
strong in physique, possessed of a keen intellect, proud, valiant, active and
energetic. They appear to have given little or no thought to metaphysical
speculations. Life in those remote times was strenuous and the hero who won
renown by steady perseverance and indomitable courage either in the
battle-field or in the more peaceful avocations of life was held up as the
ideal to be followed. He whose valour was sung by bards here on earth was sure
of mounting the celestial car which carried the soul in its ascent to the abode
of the Immortals13. This earliest epoch in the civilization of the Tamils is
the age in which Heroism was exalted to the position of a religion. The
acquisition of fame was held up as the motive for virtuous action and the
performance of strenuous deeds of valour.
The War-God Muruga,
ruddy-complexioned, resembling the sun at dawn, was worshipped from the
earliest times as the ideal of unfailing Achievement.14 His mother the great
Goddess, whom the Tamilian soldiers invoked in the field of battle was known as
Korravai,15 the Victorious One. Even in those early days there were
philosphers, arivar, who by years of mental discipline had attained the
intuitive.
10. Manimekhalai,
Padikam 12.
11. Manimekhalai XXII,
35.
12. Tholkappiyam:
Payiram Comm.
13. Purananuru, XXVII,
7-9
14. Purananuru, LVI, 14
15. See Tholkappiyam
Purattinai Iyal and Purapporul-Venba-Malai.
insight in to the past,
the present and the future; and there were also anchorities, Thapathar who
performed severe austerities; the Ariver and the Thapathar having the
attainment of Truth as the sole aim of life worshipped Shiva, the unborn, the
embodiment of Truth16. To those who shrank from the path of Truth, the God of
Truth appeared as the God of Wrath and Destruction. Mayon, the blue-complexioned
was the embodiment of Fame.17 His brother, Valiyon, whose complexion was as
white as a conch-shell was the persionification of undisputed Strength.18.
Indra and Varuna ranked only as demi-gods. It is said that the Chola King
Thodi-thol-chempian19 went as an ally of the king of the celestials and broke
down the three hanging fortresses of the Asuras. In sealing a bond of
friendship, the king of the celestials asgreed to visit the Chola capital once
a year and participate in the great festival which was held in his honour for
eight and twenty days. This was the origin of the Indravila. Mention is made of
a Pandya king Vadimp-alambaninra-pandyan who instituted a festival in honour of
the Sea-god20. One of his descendants not only discarded this festival but also
hurled a lance of defiance at the Sea-god, whereupon the enraged sea21 swept
away the Pahruli river, several ranges of hills and a goodly portion of the
Pandya dominions. The undaunted Pandya marched northwards and conquered new
lands to make up for the loss he had sustained. Old kind Ma Kirti22 defied the
very gods and looked upon them as mere quarrelsome children. Once when he heard
that hostilities were about to break out between the Devas and the Asuras he
interposed and asked them to lay down their arms and added the threat that if
either party where to resort to acts of violence, his strong right arm would
smite down the miscreants. The threat went home and both parties slunk away in
terror from the presence of the mighty monarch. These legends help us to gain
some insight into the ideals and aspirations that stirred the heart of the old
Tamil warrior.
Paripadal, one of the
Sangam anthologies, makes mention of the Vedic pantheon23 of gods, such as the
twelve Adityas, the eigh Vasus the eleven Rudras and the twin Asvini-devas; but
the worship of these deities had not yet taken root among the mass of the
people. Some of
16. Paripada, V.##
17. Puram LVI,13
18. Puram LVI, 12
19. Manimekhalai I,
4-10.
20. Puram IX, 10
21. Chilappadikaram, IX,
17-22
22. Iraiyanar Akapporul
Sutra 35 Comm.
23. Paripada III, 6-8,
VIII, 4-8.
the kings were
peersuaded to perform Vedic sacrifices which they did more for the purpose of
winning earthly renon than for the acheiving of heeavenly rewards. One of the
Pandya kings Muthu-kudumi Peru-Vazhuthi who lived before the time of the
submergence of the Pahruli river had the distinguishing epithet of
Pal-yaga-salai, which means the possessor of many sacrificial halls and another
Chola king is known as Peru-nar-killi who performed the Rajasuya sacrifice.
Early Aryan throught appears to have been introduced into Tamilakam with Vedic
ritualism.
The Tholkappiyam and the
Paripada make incidental mention of the early speculations concerning the
Universe, man's place in it and the ultimate destiny of humanity. The Sankhya
system of philos0ophy pear to have been centred round the study of philosophy
until the coming of the Jains and the Buddhists. Within a century or two after
the time of their illustrious founders these great religions appear to have
been introduced into Tamilakam. Somewhere about this time, there appeared on
the firmament of Tamilakam a star of the first mangnitude which continues to
shed its lustre even to this day. Thruvalluvar, whose name is known to all
parts of the civilized world, and whose teachings have lent a unique grandeur
to the language in which they were uttered lived in an age of great intellectual
activity. The ferment introduced by the great heresiees of Jainism and Buddhism
made the exponents of Vaidika Dharma to revalue the traditional teachings and
to formulate a course of conduct which while reemaining within the established
tenets of the ancient Dharma would also appeal to those who whould not accept
the authority of the Vedas. The Universal gospel of Tiruvalluvar met this
demand and has ever since been acclaimed as the Uttara Veda.
When Buddhism and
Jainism were first introduced they were considered merely as systems of thought
and were received with open arms. The disciplined life of the hardy Tamil
warrior. The old soldier who might have grown world-weary of the endless number
of battles he was called upon to fight may have found a calm refuge in the
seclusion of monasteries. Those who suffered great bereavements such as the
fathers of Kovalan and Mannaki entered the monasteries to pass the last days of
their lives. Princes of the royal blood such as Ilankovadikal embraced a life of
poverty to follow the example of the noble ascetic, the scion of the Sakya
clan. Along with Buddhism and Jainism the Nyaya and Vaiseshika philosophies
were introduced into Tamilakam. In those remote times the Mimamsa system does
not appeear to have been divided into the Purva and the Uttara Mimamsas
Lokayata (materialism), Buddhism, the Sankhya, the Nyaya, the Vaiseshika and
the Mimamsa systems are knowns as the six systems of philosophy in the time of
the Manimekhalai24. A great impetus was given to the cultivation of learning
and some of the Tamilian Buddhist scholars went to China, Tibet and the island
of Java carrying with them the torch of knowledge. Mention is made in the
Manimehalai of a famous Buddhist teacher, Ara-vana-adikal. The name may be translated
into Sanskrit as Dharma-Swarupa. He is the hero of the epic as much as his
disciple the Bhikshuni Manimekhalai is the heroine. The fact that he was
extremely aged is mentioned in several placed in the poem. The force of his
personality appears to have gained many adherents to the path of Buddhism.
Later on Buddhism and Jainism gained ground to such as extent that they gave up
the spirit of toleration which characterized them at the beginning and became
aggressive religions. They aimed at the conversion of the whole of Tamilakam
and attempted to do this by winning over the exclusive partronage of princes
and scholars. After the destruction of Pukar (Kavirippumpattinam), which event
took place somewhere about the end of the second century, the Chola capital is
tansferred to Uraiyur. Madura suffers from the severe drought and famine for
twelve years. The poets of the Sangam disperse and the glories of the good old
days becomee a mere memory of the past. Several Northern dynasties that cast
covetous eyes upon the wealth of Tamilakam as early as the time of the Pandya
king mentioned in the Chilappadikaram. This invasion was successfully resisted
and the king is, therefore, known to history as Arya-padai-kadantha
Neduncheliyan. Subsequently the Aryan hordes make a clean sweep of the country
and in the next centruy we see Pallava kings well-established in Kanchi. The
Chola and the Pandya dynasties suffer a temporary eclipse and the whole country
passes through a period of transition, at the end of which, we find that the
North had achieved a cultural conquest even more pronounced than the political
conquest. The very names of the Pandya and Chola kings become Sanskritized.
It was during this time,
perhaps by the end of the third century or a little earlier, that the Yoga
system of philosophy began to appear in Tamilakam. Tradition says that
Patanjali lived a Chidambaram and wrote his commentary on Panini's grammar, a
treatise on medicine, his
24, Manimehalai XXVII.
immortal treatise on
Yoga and the Tantric rules for the worship of Nataraja. The sage is represented
as a Naga and is considered as an incarnation of Sesha Naga. This seems to
suggest that the theory and practice of Yoga were developed among the ancient
Nagas. Patanjali's name is coupled with that of Vyagrapada another sage who is
said to have arrived at Chidambaram earlier. This sage is represented with eyes
in his toes. Is he to be identified, with Akshapada, the father of Nyaya
Sastra? These two sages are said to be the first to witness the cosmic dance of
Nataraja. The account may be sysmbolic of the fact that the supreme truth of
the Shaiva religion can only bee discerned by thee combined eyes of Yoga and
Nyaya. By saying so we do not in the least deny, the historicity of the two
sages mentioned above. The agamic cult of worship which probably existed as a
cult from early times was elaborated furing this period. It was certainly
enriched by the influx of Tantric thought from the North. The worship of
Ganesha, the elephant-headed God, whose form is that of the Pranava mantra is
recognished in the Yoga system.
Yoga and Tantra engaged
the attention of Siddhars and recluses. Before they could filter down to the
mass of the people it was necessary that the doctrines taught by them sould be
actualized in the lives of one or more saintly personages. Karaikkal Ammaiyar
or Karaikal Pei (the demoness of Karaikkal) as she called hereself, was blessed
with a vision of the mystic dance at Tiruvalangadu, and having the gift of song
she has sung in immortal verse the glory of the vision that was vouchsafed unto
her, the first Alwars of Vaishnavism were probably contemporaries of Karaikal
Ammaiyar. Cholan Chenganan, the builder of many temples also probably lived
about this time. In the middle of the seventh century came Tirugnana
Sambandhar, the child-saint of Shiyali who in his third year was blessed with
the Divine vision and from thence-forward looked upon Shiva and Parvati as his
parents. The saintly old Appar, who in his young days entered a Jain monastery
and later on embraced Shaivaism is a contemporary of Sambandhar. Many sects25
of Shaivaism which are at present kown only by name were in active existence at
the time of Appar. Kapalis who made use of human skulls as begging bowls,
Mavratis with long matted hair and garlands of bones, Pasupathars and others
were seen in the streets of Kanchi and Tiruvarur. There was a whole galazy of
saints at this epoch. Andal, the mystic poetess, the beloved bride of Sri
Ranganatha, and her saintly father, Periyalwar, lived about this time.
Sundaramurti-Nayanar the last of the Devara hymnists came about
25. Appar,
Devaram-Tiruvarur, Tiruvatirai-Tirupadikam. 12 two centuries later.
Tirumangaimannan, the Vaishnava saint is probably a contemporary of Sundarar.
Sambandhar, Apar and Sundarar have left behind beautiful songs in praise of
Shiva which to this day form the holy book of the Shaivites. Alwars have left
behind the Tiruvaimoli, the Tamil Veda of the Vaishnavites. Manickavasagar, the
prince of mystics, completed the work of Shaiva revival started by the Devara
hymnists 26. Buddhism disappeared from South India; but the unseen gentle
influence of the Buddha, the ideal of compassion to all living creatures and
the ethical principles expounded by Him persisted and became permanently
incorporated in the religious life of Tamilakam. Jainism, although it received
a set-back, continued to exist in the monasteries which besides being centres
of religious life were also functioning as a sort of grammar schools. The
elemeentary treatises on Grammar, Prosody and Poetcs and the metrical lexicons
(Nighantus) placed in the hands of young students of Tamil even to this day,
have come from mediaeval Jain monasteries.
The Alwars and the
Nayanmars breathed new life into the people and roused them from their
lethargy. The pessimistic attitude of mind fostered in the Jain and Buddhist
monasteries gave place to a living faith. The glorious example of the Shaivite
and Vaishnavite saints helped the votaries of these religions to lead a life of
service and self-less devotion. Princes lavished their wealth in building
temples and in patronising poets. The old dynasties of Tamilakam felt their own
strength and refuseed to pay tribute to alien monarchs27. By successful
encounters they not only freed themselves from the foreign yoke but also
subdued their erstwhile rulers. Perhaps, it was during this time that the
religion and culture of South India spread to far-off Champa and Cambodia. As a
result of the awakening of the spirit, subsequent centuries witness an
unprecedentede literary rivival. Jayamkondan's Kalingattuparani and Kamban's
immortal epic reach such heights as were never before reached. Kamba-Ramayanam
truly reflects the religious thought of the age in which it was written. The
old cult of heroiism which regarded valour as the supreme virtue and immortal
fame heere on earth as the equivalent of immortality hereafter, forms the basis
of the lives so beautifully depicted by Kamban. The great God, who forgot His
divinity on hearing the wails of a suffering world walks in the midst of kings,
outcastes and recluses as a man among men sharing their joys and sorrows. In
Him the Kshatriya ideal of life.
26. The date of
Manickavasakar is yet an open question; there are strong reasons in support of
the claim put forward by some scholars fixing his date to the end of the third
century.
27. Sundarar Devaram:
Koil-padikam.
finds its fullest
manifestation. Kamban has pictured this ideal to its utmost perfection. We find
contemporary kings and princes of the royal blood vieing with one anotheer in
honouring this great poeet, who stands unparalleled as the poet of manliness
and Kshatriya prowess. The DDevara hymns, the works of Manicka-vasagar and St.
Tirumular and of various other Shaiva poets were collected and arranged into
the eleven Tirumurais or holy books of Shaivaism and Sekkilar wrote his story
of the Shaiva saints which formed the twelfth Tirumurai. Ramanuja, the great
exponent of VVisishtadwaita lived about this timje. The sacred utterances of
the Alwwars were collected and arranged and formed the authoritative scriptures
of the Vaishnavas.
We pass on and come to
an age in which men's minds turn once more to philosophical speculations.
Meikandan appears on the scene. The same Divine power which made the child of
Shiyali (St. Tirugnana-Sambandhar) utter words of wisdom couched in the
language of poesy, speaks once more through the tongue of the child of
Tiruvennainallur. The inspired message is now given in the language of
philosophy, the language of dialectics and abstract thought. The message is
however, the same. It is not mere scholastic philosophy that Meikandan
expounded. The first half of Siva-gnana-bodham discussses the nature of bondage
and freedom and the second half points out the path to the attainment of
freedom. Herein we find a synthesis of pure reason and Yogic mysticism which
transcends the bounds of reason. Sakala-agama-panditha, the Brahman philospher,
surrenders at the feet of this Vallalah boy and becomes his first disciple
taking the name of Arul-nandi-Sivacharya. He composes the Siva-gnana-siddhiyar
and Irupa-irupathu and hands over the torch of knowledge to
Marai-gnana-sambandha who hands it over to Umapathi-Sivacharya. Umapathi is the
author of no less than eight works on Saiva Siddhanta of which one, the
Sankalpa-Nirakarana, probably the last, was written in the Saka year 1235 (that
is 620 years ago).
About the same time,
Malik Kafur occupied the city of Madura and the subsequent centuries witness
the decline and fall of the Pandyas and the Cholas. Foreign invasions, civil
wars and internecinee intrigues well-nigh exhaust the energy of the hardy Tamil
race. With the fall of Vijiyanagar, Hindu independence becomes a memory of the
past and a sort of mental stupor sets down upon the people; they begin to dream
of past glories. The world in which they lived and moved and had their being,
had no attraction for them; they directed their thoughts to regions situated
far beyond the mortal ken. Despair seizes the heart of the people, they feel
tired of life and shrink in horror from the tortures that might await them on
the other side of the grave. The old Tamil warrior, who laughed at death, never
thought of inventing a hell; the Buddhists introduced a few, but the priests
who came into prominence in this age of degradation ushered into existence
twenty-eight crores of hells. The heroic legends of the Sangam age were almost
forgotten; the Jataka Tales imported by the Buddhists were metamorphosed into
new shapes; stories centering round the sage Agastya, episodes from the great
epics and tales fabricated by priestly story-tellers to illustrate the
inexorable working of Karma supplied the material for unusually long poetical
compositions called Sthala-puranams. The vast majority of these compositions are
but the echoes of the only consolation which priest-craft has to offer to a
fallen and degraded people. They exhort the readers not to mind their present
trials and tribulations but to make regular offerings to the deities, bathe in
thee sacred waters, observe fasts and prepare themselves to gain safe entrance
to the portals of heaven, ordering out their present life in strict conformity
to the dictates of their rightful spiritual guardians, the priests. Monasteries
sprung up all over the country. Founded upon Buddhist and Jain models, these
institutions fostered to a centain extent religious and secular learning. But
their main function was the offering of elaborate worship to the deities and
the departed saints who founded the Order. The presiding abbot was paid divine
honours even during his life-time. Slowly and steadily these houses of religion
began to accumulate large funds. Flatterers appeared in the guise of poets and
received sumptuous meals and costly presents from the presiding abbots. The
abbot, secure in his exalted eminence, often led a life of irresponsible ease
and knew littele or nothing of the miseries of the poor and the downtrodden.
The poor people were daily growing poorer, and genuine scholarship was
languishing for wat of patronage, while a motley crowd of idle parasites
consisting of priests, flatterers and the like, were fattening themselves on
the food produced by the labour of the poor untouchables. The courts of the
chieftains who ruled over Tamilakam in these troubled times were also infested
with the same kind of parastics vermin. Sthala-puranas were made to order and
wherever incidents or ideas were wanting they were freely drawn from the
inexaustible source of Sanskrit literature.
The monasteries were not
all of one persuasion. All the various sects of Hinduism had their own Maths.
In spite of the laxity that was spreading over these institutions they served
the very useful purpose of preserving the old manuscripts and keeping
inextinguished the lamp of learning that was handed down to them through the
centuries. Tiruvavaduthurai Ahinam which claims an unbroken line of succession
from Meikandan has preserved the Saiva Siddhanta Philosophy and has also
produced a school of grammarians well-versed both in Sanskrit and Tamil. The chronicles
of this Math state that during the regn of Virupaksha Raja28 (probably
Virupaksha I of Vijayanagar), one Sivaprakasa Desikar of the Tiruvavaduthurai
Math preached the doctrines of Virashaivam in the presence of Linganna, one of
the ministers of the king. The preaching was so good that the minister
requested the monk to be the head of the Virashaiva Math at Tiruvannamalai.
With the peermission of his monastic superior, Sivaprakasar took charge of the
Tiruvannamalai Athinam. This Sivaprakasar should not be confused with
Thuraimangalam Sivaprakasa Swamiga, the author of many standard works on
Virashaiva philosophy. From the Dharmapura Ahtinam came Kumara-guru-para
Swamigal, the gifted poet and founder of the Tiru-Panandal Athinam. Sivagra
Yogigal of Suriyanarkoil Athinam, is another great exponent of Saiva Siddhanata
philosphy. By the beginning of the fourteeth century Vedanta philosophy which
had its votaries from very early times had extended its influence to such an
extent as to be considered a serious rival to Saiva Sddhanta. This is evident
from the fact that Arul-nandi-Sivacharya as well as Umapathi-Sivacharya attempt
to refute at length the doctrine of Vedantic idealism. Theere were Vedanta
Maths in various parts of the country where instruction was imparted through
the medium of Tamil. Veerai Alawandar, Sri Pattar, Tatwa Rayar and Kannudaiya
Vallalar are among those who have enriched Tamil literature with Vedantic
thought. The Vaishnava Maths were instrumental in bringing out commentaries on
the Divya Prabandhams.
Towards the end of the
seventeenth century, Father Beschi was preaching the doctrines of Roman
Catholic Christianity and was creating a Christian Tamil literature. Omar, the
Tamil poet, and otheers of Pillai-perumal-aiyengar was adding to Vaishnava
Tamil literature. Thayumanavar, the mystic saint, sets at ease the warring
schools of Vedanta and Siddhanta by pointing out the harmony that underlies the
two schools of thought. About a century later, comes Ramalinga Swamigal whose
devotional humns are such as would melt the stoniest of hearts. Arumuga Navalar
appears in Jaffna and with a reformer's zeal stems the tide of Christian
proselytization and extensively makes use of the printing press to popularise
the teachings of Shaivaism. The general awakening in Bharat-varsha rouses the
South from its slumber and the message of harmony propounded by Swami
Vivekananda, Hinduism's representative to the world's parliament of religions
28. Tiruvavaduthurai -
Guru-param para vilakkam page 57
broadens the outlook of
the Hindus and makes them feel that their religion is wide enough to receive
light from all quarters and strong enough to withstand all opposition.
We come to modern times.
The venerable figure of Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Swaminatha Iyer dominates the
realm of Tamil litrature for fully half a century. Ceaselessly labouring with
untiring patience and industry, he carefully edits and brings out book after
book of the ancient Tamil classics, thereby silently ushering in a renaissance
in Tamil land. It may perhaps take another half century for Tamilakam to
realise the extent of the services rendered to it by the venerable pandit. Only
a small fraction of the material that lay hidden in these ancient books has so
far been brought to light. But that little was sufficient to infuse new life
into the Tamilians. The gloom that overhadowed the country during the past four
centuries is slowly passing away and a new dawn is in sight. The harbinger of
the approaching dawn is our latest poet Subrahmanya Bharathi. He is essentially
a religious poet. With religious mysticism he combines an unbounded love for
the poor and the downtrodden. The poems that he addresses to Kannan (Sri
Krishna) are as sweet and soul-stirring as any that we meet with in ancient
literature; the humns to Shakti are grander than the old hymns addressed to
Korravai. The charm of his lyrics, and the dignified tone of his pastriotic
songs hasve endeared him to his people. The healthy outlook on life underlying
his poems has a universal appeal. He views humanity as a whole and stands ready
to embrace the North and the South, the East and the West, the Brahman and the
outcaste as well as the educated and the illiterate. May the Tamil people, the
inheritors of a glorious civilisation, view the world with the eyes of
Bharathi, their latest poet and rising above narrow sectariansm and petty
social conventions march on the path that will lead them to the Divine Spirit,
which is the source of all goodness, beauty and truth.