THE EGG AND THE TEXT:THE TRAVAILS OF WENDY DONIGER

Proscription of books is undemocratic
On november 12,2003,Wendy Doniger was delivering a lecture in London,chaired by William Dalrymple.A gathering of around 200 people .In an unguarded moment,a man threw an egg at her.It missed the target.Next day a mail from a woman took objection to a passage cited by Wendy from Valmiki Ramayana.In Ramayana,Wendy had said,Sita,wife of Rama has accused her brother in law,Lakshmana of wanting her for himself.The sexual thrust of Wendy's paper was unwarranted,owner of the mail,objected.
Wendy's book,The Hindus:An Alternative History has been withdrawn from the Indian market by the publisher,Penguin India.This follows an out of court settlement the publisher had with a  Delhi outfit,Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samithi.They had gone to Court,alleging distortion of history and denigration of Hindu sentiments.It is an unknown outfit of an 84 year old retired head master,Dinanath Batra.In a case under IPC 295 A,it is a conviction of three years in prison,if religious sentiments are hurt.

Wendy & her book

Wendy is a U S based Indologist(born 1940),teaching history of religions in University of Chicago Divinity School.Born to non observant Jewish parents,she graduated in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Radcliffe college in 1962.From Harvard,she took PhD with the dissertation,Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of Siva.She got D Phil in Oriental Studies from Oxford.The thesis wasThe Origin of Heresy in Hindu Mythology.Her books include,Hindu Myths:A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit.She has translated 108 hymns from the Rigveda.
Disagreement to Wendy began a few years ago.Rajiv Malhotra,in a critique of her, objected to using psycho analytical concepts to interpret non-western subjects.She is not a psycho analyst,but a Philologist.
What is the objection to her book on Hinduism?In the Conclusion of the book,Wendy endorses most Hindus embodied truly tolerant Pluralism.The Bhakthi movement included women and dalits.Then she cautions:"we must curb  optimism by recalling the violence embedded in many forms of Bhakthi,and by noting that it was in the name of bhakthi to Ram that the militant Hindu nationalists tore down the Babri mosque.We must look before we leap into history,look at the present and imagine a better future."
I need not elaborate.
In the long preface,Wendy has elaborated how different the book is from other books on Hinduism.She has used the term,Alternative,to describe how much the marginalised sections of the Hindu society,the women and the oppressed have contributed to Hinduism.She claims,she has not tried to reverse or misrepresent the hierarchies.In the olden ages,Sankrit texts were vetted by male Brahmins.There were Brahmins who whispered into the ears of the kings;but there were dirt poor brahmins who begged for their daily bread.There were creative thinkers among them.There were non Sanskrit sources in the vernacular,Prakrit.There are moments that forged bridges between factions;there was mixing of classes.
Wendy ,in her book has focussed on actions;Nonviolence,Vegetarianism,the tension between the householder task and renunciation.The addiction and control of sensuality.She feels,this focus gives continuity in the midst of the flux.It is a narrative of religion within the narrative of the history.As a Linga,set in Yoni.Like a Hindu statue on a Plinth.In Hinduism,she says,each idea was a reaction.Hinduism is context sensitive;it responds immediately,not only in economic and political contexts,but inside Budhism or Islam.It represents Kings as Gods and Gods as Kings.It seldom drew a sharp line between the secular and religious power.

A K Ramanujan

Wendy thinks her book is not about maps and chaps.It rests on the shoulders of pygmies as well as giants.The history of Hinduism,to her mind,abounds in periods of creative assimilation,interaction and in violent outbursts of violent intolerence.In the ambivalent attitude to non violence,she infers,Hindus are no different from the rest.Poet and folklorist A K Ramanujan has said that he was troubled by this dualism in his father.His father was holding together astrology and astronomy in his brain at the same time.He never cared about this double vision.There is a dark shape visible on the moon.The Euro-Americans see the face of a man.Jews a man,but Cain.Others a woman,a moose(Eurasian Elk),buffalo or frog.But Hindus see a rabbit;in the 1930's some saw the figure of Gandhi.Budhists say Budha was a rabbit in one of his earlier births,who vowed to give flesh to any beggar,inorder to protect him from having to break the moral law by taking animal life.Indra,the Hindu king of Gods,took the form of a Brahmin and went to the rabbit.The rabbit offered himself.It shook its body thrice for insects to escape death and   jumped into the magical  fire conjured up by Indra.Indra,impressed by the action of the Rabbit,painted the rabbit on the moon!
Ludwig Wittgenstein,the Austrian-British philosopher said that in the image of duck-rabbit,it was rather a smug rabbit  or a droopy duck;but it could not be both at once!But,Wendy feels, a non Hindu should strive to see both rabbit and man.Wittgenstein,in his Philosophical Investigations,used the image to describe two types of seeing:seeing that;seeing as.Remember the Mirror/Reflection simile in Indian philosophy.

Wittgenstein's rabbit

After delineating her premise thus,in the preface,Wendy takes on the RSS and BJP:The Hindus are diverse in their attitude to diversity.Some are proud;some have anxiety.The right wing Hindu nationalists or fundamentalists have anxiety.They are against Muslims,Christians and the wrong Hindus.This book is so alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they may tell.
I NEED NOT ELABORATE.
She goes on to say,in Indian history,individuals have turned the tide of tolerance or violence even against the current of the Zeitgeist.Ashoka,Akbar and Gandhi did it for tolerance;Aurangazeb,Brigadier Reginald Dyer and MS GOLVALKAR turned the tide towards intolerance.
I NEED NOT ELABORATE.
Wendy Doniger,as we have seen,has taken the man-rabbit image as central to her book and played on the theme af ambivalence.She quotes E M Forster who said,Every Indian hole has atleast two exits.The example:Manu argues for and against meat in the same chapter in Manusmrithi.She refers to A K Ramanujan retelling the Jamadagni/Renuka myth.In Sanskrit she is Renuka.But in Tamil she is both Mariamma(brahmin) and Ellamma(pariah).The brahmin ascetic,Jamadagni,father of Parasurama,cursed his wife to death.At the moment of her execution,she embraced a pariah woman,Ellamma,for sympathy.In the fray,both lost their heads.Later when he pardoned,the heads of the women got transposed.Mariamma had  Brahmin head and pariah body;Ellamma had Pariah head and Brahmin body.To Mariamma goats and cocks(not buffalo)were sacrificed;To Ellamma,only buffaloes.Here we see emancipation of the lower castes during the Bhakthi movement in South India.Wendy has mentioned this movement and ofcourse,Adi Sankara's crocodile,serpent and the rope.She has closed doors on the marginalised sections that appear in classical Sanskrit:for instance,the Jabala satyakama story.
I feel that both Wendy Doniger and the Hindu fundamentalists have missed the point.You may have by now seen the fact that there is an overemphasis on dualism,dwaita  in  her book,Hinduism:An Alternative History.Hence her oratory on the ambivalence.It was the practice of the Upanishad Gurus to place the contradictions before the pupil.Then the pupil was asked to select the right path himself.The Guru is only a tool or a medium.It can't be assessed as diverse attitudes to diversity.She it seems,has failed to understand the philosophy of Maya.Philology fails at the doorsteps of philosophy.
It is clear from the two stories she has mentioned in the book that she is ignorant of Advaita.In his 1939 novel,Finnegans Wake,Irish writer James Joyce has punned that Hindoo(the earlier British spelling for Hindu)is infact two Irish men,Hin-nessy and Doo-ley.Harvard Professor,Roman Jakobson notoriously objected to the Russian Novelist Vladimir Nabokov's bid for Chairmanship of the Russian Literature Department.Jakobson said:"I do respect very much the elephant.But would you give him the Chair of zoology?".
It meant that a Zoologist won't ask the questions on zoology(I studied zoology;I never asked questions;I was interested only in Genetics!).When Wendy quotes it,it means Hindus won't ask the right questions on Hinduism and she is the right person to ask .I have no objection to her mention of Lakshmana's sexual preference in Valmiki Ramayana.In India,people have not generally read Valmiki Ramayana,they usually read Ramacharitamanas,Kambaramayana or Aadyatma Ramayana.In all this Rama is God.But in Valmiki Ramayana,he is a man,hapless at times.I have admired Lakshmana questioning his dad,Dasaratha when Rama was exiled to the forest.Rama tells his dad that he is driven by lust at the embrace of Kaikeyi,mother of Bharatha.Lakshmana was more positive to Sita than Rama.So it is possible to work a love triangle.When one sees such human stories of lust and despair,one should also not forget the fragrance of democracy in Valmiki Ramayana.When Bharatha meets brother Rama in the forest,Rama asks:Are you not honouring the Carvakas still?.
It is a wonderful moment in  world literature.Carvakas had administered India for almost 900 years;they had preached Lokayata,the materialistic,atheist philosphy.The Marxism ancient India had developed.They were enemies of Rama.But Rama is reminding Bharatha that he should honour enemies.It is a democratic principle. The original Ramayana has such deep references,even environmental.Since Wendy has not gone deep,She fails to mention wonderful Indian books like Hinduism by K M Sen or Argumentative Indian by his son,Amartya Sen.She has fortunately mentioned D D Kosambi ,the Marxist historian who asked historians to ask not who was king,but who among the people who had a plough.Ofcourse,Balarama had a plough.Janaka got Sita when the earth was ploughed!Infact,No other historian has written the alternative history as Kosambi did.He was a Mathematician and a Sanskrit scholar too.

The most quoted person in the book is A K Ramanujan.An Essay of him,Three Hundred Ramayanas;Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation was withdrawn by the University of Delhi from the B A History syllabus in November,2011.The essay originally appeared in  Paula Richman's Many Ramayanas.His contribution in translating medieval Sanskrit poetry and retelling ancient stories is tremendous.Michael Witzel'sThe Origins of the World's Mythologies(2012)was also withdrawn from Indian market.The book,Shivaji:The Hindu King in Islamic India (2004)by James Laine had the same fate.Laine had doubts about Shivaji's paternity.Salman Rushdie's novel,Satanic Verses (1988) is banned in several countries including his native India.

A BRAIN IN CHAOS:THE DEATH OF SWATI THIRUNAL

Swati Thirunal had a fight with his friend Vadivelu, towards the end

I was always interested in the 'mysterious' death of Swati Thirunal. So, when a source told me that Dr K Rajasekaran Nair presented a paper on Swati Thirunal in a seminar conducted by the Neurological Society of India in Kolkata, I became inquisitive. It was December. The 150th death anniversary of Swati Thirunal was coming closer. I called Dr Nair. Since I don't keep a diary, here is the incident from his book, Manassinte Bandangalum Saidhilyangalum (The Mind: Affinities and Aberrations-2008):

It was when the dailies were contemplating what to do on the 150th death anniversary of Swati Thirunal, Ramachandran of Manorama got wind of me. Ramachandran came on the night of December 23 and took notes from the paper I presented. I thought they may carry a small bit somewhere on the inside pages. But I was taken aback when I saw the daily of that Christmas (1996 December 25). This story, on the front page, is spread over three columns on the right top. And a Wonderful headline: "Swati gets relief from History's Discordant Notes". It was an array of phone calls then.

Swati Thirunal died on December 27,1846. His condition began deteriorating on Christmas. Dr Nair's paper saw light of the day on Christmas. Some new facts on death have emerged since. Dr Nair's father, Sooranad Kunjan Pillai was a well-known scholar and recipient of the first Ezhuthachan prize instituted by the Government of Kerala. I had met him a couple of times in his Karamana house. He was the biographer of Swati Thirunal.

Fight with Cullen

Swati Thirunal ascended the gadi when he was barely 16 years old and reigned for 18 years. Travancore had come fully under the yoke of the British Raj. The transition created a feeling of humiliation and servitude. The change was intolerable for Swati Thirunal. His own top officials were corrupt. It is well known that the  Resident, General William Cullen and Swati Thirunal were not on talking terms and the broken relationship took a toll on Swati Thirunal's health. Cullen who was then a Colonel with the Madras Artillery Regiment was made Resident of Travancore and Cochin in 1840. During the 18-year rule of Swati Thirunal, Cullen was there for only six years. Their relationship was cordial initially, but there was a communication problem. Cullen's hearing was a little impaired and the Raja had to speak loud. For the frail Raja, this was a strain on his lungs. So, Swati Thirunal tried to avoid the meetings. This communication gap was exploited by an official, Krishna Rao, who was a protege of Cullen. Cullen brought Rao along with him and asked Swati Thirunal to give him a job. He was made Deputy Peshkar. Rao played on Cullen; Cullen objected to every action of Dewan Subba Rao, who was also Swati Thirunal's tutor. Cullen assumed authority and the Residency became the centre of intrigues.

Dewan had to resign and Krishna Rao was promoted as Head Dewan Peshkar, who became Acting Dewan. With Cullen's reports, the Madras Government concluded that Swati Thirunal is weak. Swati Thirunal called his father Raja Raja Varma Koil Thampuran and Elaya Raja Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma for a meeting and showed them a letter relinquishing Travancore's ties with the British. His father, Elaya Raja and aunt Paravati Bai pleaded with him not to send the letter to Madras. Parvati Bai, who was Regent was a mother figure to Raja; his mother Lakshmi Bai had died early, at age 23. Raja Raja Varma had eloped with family members, from Parappanad in Malabar to Changanachery during the siege of Malabar by Tipu Sultan. They stayed in the Neerazhi palace in Changanachery; Queen Lakshmi Bai, his wife, built the Lakshipuram palace for his family members, later. He was a poet and translator and had equal felicity in English and Sanskrit.

General Cullen

Against the wishes of Cullen and Krishna Rao, who was ambitious to become the Dewan, Swati Thirunal recalled former Dewan  Venkata Rao, popularly known as Reddy Rao, who had retired 20 years back, to be the new Dewan, in 1843.

Though Madras approved this, Cullen objected to the subsequent appointment of Palace Peshkar, Kochusankara Pillai. After six months, to add to Cullen's animosity, Swati Thirunal dismissed Krishna Rao and sent him to Kollam, thus alienating him from Cullen. Cullen then insisted on removing former Dewan Subba Rao from Travancore. He went back to Thanjavur. Though Swati Thirunal became successful in recalling him, this incident made him depressive. He was attached to his tutor. After this, Swati Thirunal devoted most of his time to religion, prayers and ablutions. He gifted large sums of money to the Padmanabha Swamy temple, and in one instance, one lakh Surat rupees. From several bags, he poured them into several silver vessels in front of the idol. It took an hour. A total of Rs 34,00,000 which was surplus in the treasury was spent by the Raja in vows and ceremonies. Treasury became empty. The old Travancore historians, who extol the virtues of Swati Thirunal are silent on this. Maybe you get a peep into the mystery of the treasure of the temple.

History says a "complaint added to Raja's uneasiness". Maybe the complaint was against the extravaganza. He resorted to fasts and abstained from food. He denied audience to all including family members and personal physician Dr Colin Peterson. The Raja referred to Cullen as Sweta, Pandaram or Vellan. His dislike for Europeans distanced Dr Peterson completely from him. Peterson was a relative of Cullen, according to Robin Jeffrey, the Kerala scholar. It was with great difficulty, at the interference of his aunt, Lord Hay, the visiting son of the Governor of Madras, Marquis de Tweedle, was given an audience.

Illustrated London(1952)/Victoria's letter to Cullen for Raja

Against the wishes of Cullen, Dewan Reddy Rao appointed his two sons in his own office. It became an issue in Fort St George and they were removed. 

In 1845, the Dewan went on a circuit to the northern districts while the Resident was in Bolghatty Palace, in Cochin. At Paravoor, he received gifts from Anantha Raman Iyen, who was the son of the late Dewan of Cochin, Nunjappiah. Some of his settlements there, including a case against a Tehsildar, were suspicious. Both Cullen and the Raja received complaints and Reddy Rao was asked to resign. Sreenivasa Rao was made Head of Dewan Peshkar. The treasury was empty and Swati Thirunal went to Kollam to recover health. At the end of the year, there were huge losses due to a storm and floods; Raja's father died. From then on, Swati Thirunal led a secluded, sedentary life. He loved solitude. The physician, Dr Peterson had no information on the illness; Elaya Raja was the medical attendant. He was afraid to enter the Raja's chamber. Swati Thirunal was unable to walk a few paces.

Rajaraja Varma, with Son, Swati

One day Swati Thirunal called Elaya Raja and told him to take back Krishna Rao to the Travancore service. Sreenivasa Rao is weak, he said. Let us give Krishna Rao a try, and assuage Cullen's raw feelings, he said. Krishna Rao was called and given the appointment letter as Dewan Peshkar."From this day, you are my man, not Cullen's", Swati Thirunal smiled, and Rao wept. The Raja asked him to assist Sreenivasa Rao well. It was December 10,1846. The last appointment was made by Swati Thirunal.

On the morning of Christmas, Swati Thirunal didn't go to the bathroom. When he didn't stir out of his bed, it struck alarm bells. No one dared to venture into his chamber. When alerted, his aunt Parvathi Bai and his brother-in-law went to Kuthiramalika. They and the Ilaya Raja waited outside the door. Around 11 AM, he got up heard his aunt's voice and tried to walk. He scolded the attendant who tried to help him. His legs failed to support him and Swati Thirunal held on to the wall with one of his hands."Mother, have you had your breakfast?", he asked his aunt. He said he slept a little longer.

The next day too, he didn't go to the bathroom. He had ablutions in the adjoining room. He had a light meal at 11 AM and went to bed. He was sinking. The doctor was not allowed inside. Elaya Raja asked Krishna Rao to alert Cullen. Ilaya Raja went to the palace more than 10 times. Around 10 Pm, Swati Thirunal ordered liquid food, sipped it a little and went to his last sleep. At three in the morning(December 27), the attendant saw him motionless.

Achuthsankar

Holloway's ointment

Dr Achutsankar S Nair, a bioinformatics expert who sings Carnatic music brilliantly, and Catherine Logan have jointly published a paper, Colin Peterson and his Medical Report of Travancore (1842). Catherine is related to Peterson(1815-1863). We have seen Peterson was never allowed inside the Raja's chamber. In the paper, they said:

"In 1846, a few months before Swati Thirunal's demise, it is known from several advertisements that appeared in the London Times that Colin Peterson administered a drug marketed by Holloway on Swati Thirunal. For instance, The Times, London dated 8 December 1846 (Tuesday) on page 8 carried the following, classified as an advertisement:

The Raja of Travancore and Holloway's ointment-On the 11th of July 1846, Professor Holloway was honoured with an order for six of the largest pot of Holloway's ointment from no less a personage than his Royal Highness the Raja, or reigning sovereign King of Travancore through the eminent firm of Messrs J Cockburn and Co, East India merchants, No 15, New Broad Street, London. The ointment, it appears, is for the personal use of the Raja, and will be employed under the superintendence of his private physician. Holloway's ointment is sold all over India, being a certain cure for ulcers, wounds, sores....of 28 years standing and may be obtained of the proprietor...London and of every medical vendor.

Holloway

Achutsankar, further in an article, The Demise of Swati Thirunal: New Facts, said: "Holloway's ointment is known to have been created by Thomas Holloway, who termed it a 'cure anything' ointment and made him rich. It is also today known that Holloway's medicines contained aloe, myrrh and saffron, which are unlikely to cure anything in the modern view. However, the diseases claimed to be cured are pointers to the medical conditions of Swati Thirunal and require further research by medical practitioners".

ointment pot

True. There is a theory that Cullen may have administered Holloway's ointment on the King with the help of Krishna Rao and the King's Physician. And that they may have poisoned him.Very unlikely. Swati Thirunal, who was suspicious of Cullen would have certainly taken precautions. It is evident from the fact that no European was allowed inside his chamber. Only Lord Hay was allowed. The Raja had refused to take medicines, even from the local vaidyars. Krishna Rao was allowed only once inside the chamber and was made happy just before the Raja's death.

Epilepsy

Dr Rajasekharan Nair had written an article on the disease of Swati Thirunal in Malayalam. It was devoid of medical language and I think it didn't contain the details his paper had. Dr Nair had done a retrospective diagnosis of Swati Thirunal's disease, considering symptoms and found that it was a normal death due to TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY. He had definitely rejected the prayopavesam theory, death by fasting. Raja was having food, though scarce. The immediate cause of death, according to Dr Nair's inference, is the blockage of the circulation of blood to the Cerebellum, characterised by Swati Thirunal's inability to walk.

Dr Rajasekaran Nair

Temporal lobe epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition manifested by recurrent seizures which originate in the temporal lobe of the human brain. The seizures involve sensory changes, like, smelling an unusual odour that is not there and disturbance of memory. Epilepsies fall into two main categories: partial and general.60% of all adult cases are partial. There are two types of temporal lobe epilepsies: Medial(MTLE) and Lateral(LTLE).MTLE is the common one. It arises in the inner aspect of the lobe, whereas LTLE arises in the neocortex or outer surface. The symptoms are, De ja Vu(a feeling of familiarity), Jamis Vu(feeling of unfamiliarity), amnesia, producing abnormal sounds(auditory), abnormal taste(gustatory), smell which is not physically present(olfactory), visual, sensory sensations, fear and anger. In the last stages, it impairs consciousness: motionless staring, automatic movements of hands or mouth and unreal speech.

The causes of the disease are encephalitis, meningitis, stroke and tumour. There are genetic syndromes. But it is not the result of mental health disorders. Human herpes virus has been seen in the affected area. The disease is said to be chronic when it is seen for more than three months; it is characterised by the high prevalence of depression. Now we move on to the celebrated neuroscientist, Vilayanur S Ramachandran, who wrote the great book, Phantoms in the Brain. He is the Director, of the Centre for Brain and Cognition, in San Diego, US. He is the grandson of Sir Alladi Krishna Swamy Iyer.

V S Ramachandran

V S Ramachandran's research has found that patients affected with TLE showed enhanced responses to religious words, diminished responses to sexually charged words and normal responses to neutral words. It means the medial temporal lobe is involved in religion, images and symbols. I am not a scientist, but I think the key to Swati Thirunal's disease lies here. Hence I emphasised religiosity in Swati Thirunal's actions when I quoted from history. His religious activity was excessive. A lot of religious leaders of yore have been found afflicted with TLE.J E Bryant's book, Genius and Epilespsy(1952) lists more than 20 mystical and great personalities. Famous neuropsychiatric, Peter Fenwick has questioned the trend of reverse diagnosis about religious leaders. Suffice it to say that Ramachandran's findings support Dr Nair, though it is not specific to Swati Thirunal.

Swati Thirunal was a writer and musician who became excessively religious towards the end. His eccentricities have been detailed. All of the kin were afraid of him because of his actions. The religious figures who were epileptic include Ezekiel, Paul the Tarsus, Saint Birgitta, Joan of Arc, Saint Catherine of Jenoa, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Catherine of Ricci, Saint Marguerite Marie, Saint Therese de Lisieux. Excessive religiosity and hypergraphia or excessive writing are part of a disorder called Geschwind Syndrome.

Several celebrities, Socrates, Julius Caesar, Elizabeth Munroe (wife of James Munroe, 5th President of the US), Napoleon I etc have been found epileptic in retrospective diagnosis.
Musicians afflicted include Jimmy Reed, Neel Young, Lil Wayne, Lindsey Buckingham, Chris Knox, Ian Curtis, Richard Jobson, Susan Boyle, Edith Bowman, Peter Jeffries, Vusi Mahlasela, Hikari de, Mike Nolan, Adam Horowitz, Mike Skinner, Geoff Rickley, Prince and Lauren Pitford.Among writers, Dostoevsky, Karen Armstrong, and Stephen Knight. Edgar Allan Poe, Tolstoy, Lewis Carrol, Alfred Nobel, Tchaikovsky, Roosevelt, Truman Capote, Richard Burton etc had one or more seizures. Alexander, Da Vinci, Martin Luther, Louis XIII, Moliere, William, JonathanSwift, Samuel Jonson, Rousseau, Byron, Shelley, Dickens, Kierkegaard, Flaubert, Maupassant, Van Gogh and Graham Greene had similar symptoms.

Among political leaders, Lenin is a famous case. So, Swati Thirunal is in good company. Some suspect that Swati Thirunal had some venereal disease and Holloway's ointment has something to do with it; people affected with TLE are known for sexual dysfunction. Swati Thirunal was not impotent before he became ill; he had a son from Narayani-Anantha Padmanabhan Thampi. The Travancore historians, out of devotion to the dynasty, were very antagonistic towards Cullen. Swati Thirunal's successor Uthradam Thirunal had no quarrel with him; in fact, Cullen became his protector. Cochin had no problem with him. Let history speak for itself. While delivering a speech, on Swati Thirunal's relations with Cullen, on February 5, 2013, Dr Robin Jeffrey said Cullen loved Travancore and did his best to protect it from Dalhousie's doctrine of lapse annexation. It was with the contribution of Cullen and Krishna Rao, the museum was started in Thiruvananthapuram. Cullen retired in 1860 and settled in Travancore. On the way to Nilgiris, he got a fever in Kollam and died in Alapuzha on october1,1862. He was cremated in CSI Church there.

Vadivelu

The neurologist and the historian have missed the crux while unravelling the mystery of Swati Thirunal's death. A year ago before his death, the Raja got estranged from his asthana vidwan Vadivelu whom he had nurtured. The reason for the estrangement is still a mystery; T Lakshmana Pillai (1864-1950) has stated that Sarasijanabha, the famous keerthanam ascribed to Swati Thirunal was a fact written by Vadivelu. Vadivelu was drawing more than double the salary of the Magistrate. The estranged Vadivelu moved from Aryasala where Swati Thirunal had built a house for him, to Haripad. The court musicians interfered and they were reconciled. When Vadivelu praised the Raja in a Varnam in a performance after reconciliation, Swati Thirunal admonished him and told him to praise HIM. The very next day, Vadivelu changed the line in the verse: it is the Adathala Varnam, in Natta, Sammugamu. Vadivelu died a few months before the Raja, in 1845.No doubt, it hastened Swati Thirunal's death.

I never knew how to finish this-so I called Dr Nair, a friend of the legendary Oliver Sachs, now. He told me, as President of the Neurological Society of India, he was the first to invite V S Ramachandran for a talk in 1999. I do remember film actor Murali telling me that he invited Ramachandran to Thiruvananthapuram, after reading Phantoms in the Brain. Dr Nair told me he chaired the NSI session, and a neurologist at Apollo Hospital, a classmate of Ramachandran, who has his name in Vathapi Ganapathim Bhaje discouraged him. He told Dr Nair that Ramachandran is an eccentric! Eccentricity is tolerable; not mediocrity. It was the problem with Swati Thirunal. 

Reference:
1. History of Travancore/P Shangunni Menon
2.Swati Thirunal/Sooranad Kunjan Pillai
3.Colin Peterson and his Medical Report of Travancore(1842)/Achuth Sankar S Nair & Catherine Logan
4.Manassinte Bandangalum Saidhilyangalum/Dr K Rajasekharan Nair
5.Rogangalum Sargatmakathayum/Dr K Rajasekharan Nair
6. The Demise of Swati Thirunal/New Facts/Achuth Sankar S Nair
7. Genius and Epilepsy/J E Bryant
8. Demystifying Swati Thirunal/V Sriram

© Ramachandran 

See my blogs, MASTERS IN MASTER BEDROOMS & VIOLIN COMES TO CHENNAI




 

MIRROR AND CAMPHOR:JNANESWAR AND THE OUTCASTES

Amritanubhava is his masterpiece

Every new day brings you surprises,though you think that your life is under your control.
Once you are out of your home,you are not even sure of whom you will meet or what is going to happen to you.So,I avoid morning and evening walks.There are trucks on the NH which go to the Willingdon Island.My neighbor breathed his last under a truck while crossing to buy masala dosas from the hotel just opposite.Though Shakespeare has said,life is a tale told by an idiot,full of sound and fury signifying nothing,I was enamored by a single line in the Jnaneswari by Sant Jnaneswar:Life is death in disguise.Swami Ranganathananda quotes an English poet repeatedly in his discourses:Beating of the heart is the bugle of the funeral which began at the time of birth.He has not named the poet.Maybe John Donne.

The surprise is,I found there is another book by Jnaneswar:Amritanubhava-Ambrosial Experience.I got it from the bookshop in the sprawling Sreeramakrishna Ashram in Mylapore.My daughter was sitting in an examination hall in Thiruvanmiyur.My wife and myself decided to spent the next three hours in serendipity.
 Serendipity is a word coined by Horace Walpole in 1754,for an unexpected discovery.I first encountered this word in a book by Gay Talese.We went to the Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy temple in Adyar, Ashtalakshmi temple in Basant Nagar and then I asked the auto driver to straight away go to Mylapore.I also bought the english translation of Tirumular's Tirumanthiram from the Ashram.

John Higgins

Great literature has flowed from outcastes or people from the lower rungs of society.Jnaneswar was an outcaste from Brahmins;Kambar was son of a widow and Kankadasa,who composed Krishna Nee Begane Baro(listen to John Higgins singing it)in front of the Udupi Sreekrishna temple was from the low warrior caste and the brahmin fundamentalists didn't allow him to enter the temple.The legend has it that he prayed from outside and the wall of the temple broke giving him darshan.So in Udupi,we see Sreekrishna through a window! Higgins was also restrained from entering the temple;Like Kanakadsa,he sang it from outside.But there was no opening of another window.

Kanakadasa

Jnaneswar (1275-1296) was a Maharashtrian hindu saint,philosopher and yogi connected with the Nath tradition.Both Bavartha Deepika(Jnaneswari) and Amrithanubhava written by him are masterpieces of Marathi literature.One of the first original philosophers in Marathi,he was born before the Muslim invasion,during the Yadava kings,who nurtured art and literature.He was the second of four children of Vithal Pant Kulkarni and Rukmini from Apegaon  near Paithan on the banks of Godavari.Vithal knew vedas.He married Rukmini,daughter of Sidhopant Kulkarni from Alandi,30 kilometres from Pune.Kulkarnis are traditional revenue officials.
On a pilgrimage to Kashi,Vithal met Ramananda Swami and asked him for an intiation into sanyasa.After doing it,the Swami who went to Alandi
found Vithal had lied that he was a brahmachari and asked him to go back to his family.
Vithal,who broke from asceticism was excommunicated by brahmins.

Jnaneswar

The couple had four children,Nivrithi,Jnandev,Sopan and Mukta.The family went on a pilgrimage to Thryambakeshwar near Nashik.There in a whirlwind,Nivrithi disappeared,found his Guru Gahini Nath in a cave and became his disciple.When the time was ripe to do upanayana (sacred thread ceremony) Vithalnath went to the brahmins and begged to take them back.They refused and ordered the couple to jump  into the waters at Prayag were Ganga and Yamuna embrace eachother.Even after their suicide the brahmins remained adamant. They asked the children to go to Paithan,the spiritual centre ,and apologise to the brahmin leaders there.They appeared before the religious court.The scholars ridiculed Jnaneswar.When the trial was on,an ass passed by.When asked,legend says,Jnaneswar made the ass to  recite vedas!He proved the Almighty resides everywhere,has no caste or creed.The brahmin verdict was they wont take the children back because they are superiors.
Nivrithinath,elder brother who initiated Jnaneswar,instructed him to go to Nevasa,Ahmed Nagar .He gave discourses in the Adimaya temple and completed the commentary of Bhagavat Gita,Bhavartha Deepika.He was just15.Amritanubhava followed.Then,Jnaneswar with Namdev and other saints went on a pilgrimage.The fame of Jnanadev spread everywhere and hat yogi Changdev tested Jnaneswar by sending a blank note to him.Jnaneswar laughed and wrote 65 verses,the quintessence of vedanta,on it.This is called Changdev Pasashti.Another legend:Changdev rode on the back of a tiger with a cobra as whip and came to Jnaneswar again.The siblings were sitting on a masonry wall.When Changdev arrived,Jnaneswar made the wall to  move up!Whipping up of animal instincts through knowledge.

jnaneswar

Changdev and moving wall

After the pilgrimage,Jnaneswar came back to Pandharpur and decided to end his mission.He travelled to Alindi and entered into permanent samadhi in the Sideswara temple.It was october 15,thursday,1296,Krishnapakha trayodasi day.He was  21.After seven months,the three other siblings bid farewell to the world.On the day of his samadi,every year there is a procession carrying his footwear on a palanquin,from Alandi to Pandharpur.It is a 228 kilometres walk for 18 days.Three lakh devotees join the march.They worship the saint who founded the Bhakthi movement.

procession from Alandi

Amritanubhava,is too heavy for a 15 year old.So he says:"The world of words which can talk about us has yet to come into existence".It is very difficult for words to convey correctly the experience of enlightenement .Individual merges with the absolute and there is no use for the legion of words.As soon as the words issue forth before their meanings follow in  their wake,they disappear like the picture of a fish drawn on the water surface.But though difficult,Jnaneswar described his ambrosial experience.It deals with Illusion,knowledge and reality.The entire world of movea
bles and immovables is the creation of the Supreme for himself to enjoy;the difference which is experienced as the seer and the object of seeing is not real.Even his seeing is not real because when he sees he sees not and when he does not see,he sees.The speech transcends the silence of silence.

Amritanubhava is a text of 800 verses.In it he has repeated the simile of mirror and reflection 25 times and the illustration of camphor 10 times.Reflection in the form of the universe is caused by one's face alone and it makes one realize one's own face in its place;similarly the colour,lustre and fragrance of camphor are all aspects of camphor only.You know the simile of Serpent and the rope of Adi Sankara-it is the same.It is a misreading of the rope as serpent.Maya.If you know Sankara,you are very close to Jnaneswar.The two books of him are Marathi epics.I have not seen such sublime poetry in any literature in the world.I quoted Shakespeare;You may read the Song of Myself in Walt Whitman's epic,Leaves of Grass:
My respiration and inspiration
The beating of my heart
The passing of blood and air
Through my lungs....
Same heart beat. It reverberates through the sublime to the Absolute.

Reference:
Amritanubhava/Translation by Ramachandra Keshav Bhagwat
Jnaneswari/Translation by M P Chandrasekharan Pillai
Leaves of Grass/Walt Whitman

View my blog,EGG AND TEXT:THE TRAVAILS OF WENDY DONIGER

THE DUET:HINDI EMBRACES MALAYALAM

HINDI MUSIC DIRECTORS IN MALAYALAM

Three music directors who enriched Malayalam movies,literally lived in the streets,in their formative years.Two of them were from the Hindi music world:Naushad and Bombay Ravi.The third one,the legendary M S Baburaj,or Babukka was a street singer in Kozhikode.Pather Panchali means Song of the Road,isn't it?

Naushad,who was born in Lucknow and repaired harmoniums,had run away to Mumbai in 1937.He slept on the footpath in front of the Broadway Theater.
Bombay Ravi ,born in Delhi as Ravishankar Sharma was an electrician.He lived in Mumbai streets;slept in Malad railway station.They  made palaces in the air,with sound waves.

In the beginning,it was the duo Shankar Jaikishan.They did music for the 1952 Malayalam movie,Desabhakthan.Two songs,Sahayamare Bale and Oh Chinthayil En were sung by P A Periyanayaki;Radha Jayalakshmi was given the song,Oh Athimodamarnna.Lyrics were by Abhaya Dev.No song is available today.Hailing from Panrutti,Periyanayaki made her foray into films at age 
10 in C V Raman's Urvashiyin Kadhai.She attracted attention in T R Raghunath's Prabhavati.Her big moment came  when Meiyappan of AVM studios sent for her for Srivalli.She had sung for him in Balayogini in 1937.She was influential in Tamil industry as actress and singer as well as the close relative of the dance duo,Sayee-Subbulakshmi,singer Padma and the sound engineer in AVM,V S Raghavan.Padma was Sayee's mother in law.Nayaki had entrusted Subbulakshmi and Sayee to dance director,Muthuswamy Pillai.
 

Periyanayaki

In the duo,Shankar was a South Indian,born in Hyderabad.Jaikishan was from Vansda,Gujarat.Their famous song,Man mohana Bade Jhoote from the hindi film Seema was resung by Madhuri in the movie,Charam(1983).Another gem of them in Aawara(1951),sung by Mukesh was re sung by Mohanlal  in Vishnulokam(1991).It was clunky but endearing.
MOVIE:VISHNULOKAM/AAVARA HUM/MOHANLAL

MANIKKAVACAGAR AND CHRISTIANS IN KERALA

The poet of Madurai's tryst with Christianity

I began  listening to Tiruvacakam after I bought an audio cassette  of it from a shop infront of the temple at Sucheendram.It was in symphony,an oratorio composed and orchestrated by Ilaiya Raja(2005).Tiruvacagam is a garland of Siva hymns written by Tamil poet,Manikka Vacagar.Even a Malayali would have definitely heard of him:his name appears in a line in the famous song,written by Bichu Thirumala,Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya,in the path breaking movie,Manichithrathazhu(1993),directed by Fazil.The line of course,is,Manikkavacagar Mozhikal Nalkee Devi,Ilngovadikal Chilambu Nalkee....

That Manikka Vacagar is a poet is known to all.He is one of the main authors of Saivite Tirumurai,the key religious text of Tamil Saiva literature.What I want to recount here is another important facet of him:he reconverted lot of native early Syrian Christans of Kerala back to Hinduism,or more accurately,Saivism.They still carry his name-maniyani nairs(we had a judge,K A Nair).Mani is Manica Vacagar.His festival is celebrated in Tamilnadu in Aani or Aavani,June-July,the month of his reconversion to Saivism.

Sambandhar,Appar,Sundarar,Manikkavasagar

Before going  into his proselytism,let us do a pilgrimage through his tormenting life.
He was born in Vadhavoor or Thiruvadhavoor,near Melur,ten kilometres from Madurai,on the banks of river Vaigai.He belonged to a Brahmin Siva fold which wore a top tilted knot to show servitorship to Siva.A statue of him with this knot is seen in Tirupperunthurai,near Pudukkottai.But he was a Vaishnavite in the beginning of the story.

In his teens,seeing his exemplary talents,Pandyan King of Madurai,Varagunavarman II(Circa 862 CE-885CE),also known as Arimarthana Pandyan made him Prime Minister.The King entrusted a lot of money with Manikka Vacagar and sent him to Tiruperunthurai to buy horses for his cavalry.

Once in Tiruperunthurai, Vacagar heard a divine music and found a sage under a kuruntha (trichilia or forest Mahogany tree;Karuvilangam in malayalam).He realized that it is the Guru he was searching for.Vacagar parted with all the treasure he had and became a disciple.He was converted to Saivism.His assistants went back to Madurai and informed the King. King sent his army and made Vacagar,captive.The sage who was Siva himself,told Vacagar that the horses will arrive on 19th of Aavani.

When Vacagar was imprisoned,  darkness engulfed Madurai and information came to the King that the horses are on their way.Arabs came with horses for eight times the money Vacagar had carried.In the night,the new horses were transformed to foxes and they pounced on the existing horses in the stables and killed them.The King,who became furious,decided to kill Vacagar.He was made to stand below the scorching sun,on the banks of Vaigai;soldiers placed a huge stone on his back.The sky exploded and floods erupted.Once it was evident that Vaigai would swallow his capital,the King freed Vacagar.The foxes became horses again.Vacagar became an ascetic and the King abdicated.Vacagar went on a pilgrimage starting from Uttarakosa Magai,10 kilometres away from Ramnad,finally settling down in Chidambaram.Thiruvacagam is placed near the idol there(I had been to Chidambaram;From there I called Shaji N Karun,Cinematographer of Chidambaram the movie of Aravindan,asking him where did they shoot Chidambaram.He told me it was not shot in Chidambaram!).He travelled through Thanjavur,North Arcot,Chengalpet,Tirunelveli and Madurai.He had traveled to Ceylon,invited the King to Chidambaram and defeated his scholars in intellectual discourse and converted the King and his dumb daughter.

Avudayarkoil

There is a war of words between scholars as to the identification of Tiruperunthurai.T A Gopinatha Rao said it is Avudayarkoil,which is same as Tiruperunthurai of Pudukottai.The Siva temple there has no Sivalingam;only pedestal or avudayar.The temple is near Aranthangi.Tradition says Thiruvacagam originated there;Vacagar built the temple with the money intended for the war horses and converted the King of the region to Saivism.The temple has six sabhas,covered with 21600 copper plates.The temple is administered by Nambiar brahmins.

T Ponnambalam Pillai says Thiruperunthurai is Tripunithura,my place.I am happy about it.He doesn't accept Thiruperunthurai of Pudukkottai because it is not a port town.According to the available sources,Vacagar went to a port town and had initiation there.Thiruvacagam says the town is in the western land.It was girt with coconut groves.In Paranjothi it is stated that he crossed endless forests and mountain lands.The Vathavurar Puranam,a hagiography of Vacagar mentions a western harbor.Such a country according to Chilappathikaram lies between Madurai and the West coast.So,Ponnambalam Pillai anchors in Tripunithura.I know  Tripunithura was a flourishing port till the great flood of 1314.The ancestors of Poonjar and Pandalam palaces had migrated from Madurai via Palakkad to the transit point of  Tripunithura before moving on to their destinations.

But Gopinatha Rao refutes this saying Tripunithura is outside the Pandian kingdom.K G Sesha Aiyar identifies it with Vaikam.It is not outside Pandian kingdom.Vemban in Vembanad lake that surrounds Vaikam,means Pandian.Vaikam Sivan is known as Perumthurai Koil Appan.The Ashtami festival there is a commemoration of Siva's manifestation to a sage at the foot of a tree in the outer quadrangles of the temple.Tradition says the sage was Vyagrapadar.According to Aiyar,it could be Vacagar.Thewords,achan,enthuve,Ninnalai,parai etc that appear in Thiruvacagam are Malayalam.

Both Aiyar and Ponnambalam Pillai mentions the reconversion of the early Syrian Christians of Kerala by Vacagar.

Aiyar states:Pandian kingdom was there centuries before Christian era.Strabo speaks of an ambassador from Pandyan king to Augustus.At the time of Periplus(80AC),Pandyan kingdom included Kerala.


Ponnambalam Pillai quotes one  Ittoop who wrote on the reconversion Vacagar did:"In the Year about 270 AD a certain Manes who hailed from Persia, and who travelled allover China and other places in the far east,went to Malabar(Malabar refers to Kerala:Ramachandran)and tried to influence the Christians there with his own peculiar views,a mixture of Christianity and Budhism....

"About the same time,a man who was named Manikka Vacagar,came from the Chola country,practiced sorcery,healed diseases of man and beast by means of his incantations,instructed people in the use and efficacy of the sacred ashes,the five letters or panchaksharam(Namasivaya)and panchagavyam-the five products of the cow,and thus established a separate community called the Manigramakars which was acknowledged by the then reigning sovereige of Malabar-Veera Raghava Perumal by dubbing the leader of them "the Loga Perum Chetty" or the greatest merchant of
the World".

Rev.Thomas Whitehouse in his Lingerings of Light in a Dark Land quotes historian Mosheim thus:"Eight families were perverted by Manikka Vacagar and these so far increased as to form at length a community of 96 houses whose members had renounced the worship of the true God.The reigning Rajah or Perumal Prince having granted to their headman,Iravi Corttan,ground whereupon a settlement was formed called Manigramam,they were called Manigramakars or(as we should say) the people of the village Manes and the remnant of their descendants still bear the same name among the Syrian Christians".

G T Mackenzie,British Resident of Travancore-Cochin,who wrote Christianity in Travancore extracts two passages confirming this,but quotes Dr Rae of Madras Christian College to dispel the story connected with Manechians,a myth.Manechians were heretic Christians.Thus Manigramam finds its founder in Manikka Vacagar.

The incident mentioned in the above quotes is granting of the charter which is known in history as Tharisappally Sasanam.

Tharisappally copper plates (AD 849)is a grant issued by King of Venadu(Kollam),Ayyan Adikal Thiruvadikal to Manigramakars , christians(not to the Christians only, as they say) ,Jews and others in the 5th regular of the Chera ruler Sthanu Ravi Varma.Inscription describes the gift of land to to the Teresa Church near Kollam,to the Christians led by Mar Sapir Iso.He was a Nestorian priest.Teresa Church was an existing Church.In relation to this Sasanam,Whitehouse mentions 30 families of manigramakars of Kollam and their Priest,Naimar.He had a subordinate called Veera Udayan with a weapon,Yamadhudha.He used to collect the duty from low caste artisans.He mentions Manigramakars maintained only a remote connection with the Christians.The signatories of the available(it is incomplete) sasanam have signed in Hebrew,Pahlavi and Kufic.Jews,Persians and Arabs.Language denotes politics.On the cross on which Jesus was hanged,INRI was written in three languages:Hebrew,Latin and Aramaic.The last was the language Jesus spoke.

K Sivasankaran Nair in Venadinte Parinamam has rightly pointed out that the charter was granted not only to Christians and Jews.According to him,Anchuvannam and Manigramam were two merchant guilds who were entrusted with the implementation of the provisions of the Sasanam. Gundert and Logan viewed Manigramam as  Christian and Anchuvannam as Jew. It is a missionary position!Sivasankaran Nair in his book,Vanijyathilude Parathantryam views Manigramam as a guild of Jains,Vaishnavites and others.He considers Manigramam of Tulunadu as their capital.If we are to accept Vacagar as the founder,this theory will have to be recast with the inclusion of neo saivites,the maniyani nairs.

Manickavacagar was nicknamed Mani,which meant a Brahmin youth.Mani in Tamil,Canarese and Tulu  refers to an unmarried Brahmin,a Brahmachari.Mani bacame Manikkam or ruby after he became a sage.Manigramam,which was founded in Cochin spread to Kollam,Kottayam,Kayamkulam and Mannar.If it was founded in Cochin as some historians say,the theory that Vacagar came to Tripunithura gains currency.To my view, Manigramam of Tulunadu need not be considered the capital.There is a village called Manigramam in Nagapattinam,25 kilometers from Mayiladuthurai.Manigramam founded in Kerala coast in 9th century spread to Tamilnadu and flourished there during Pallava and Chola periods.In the Tiruppatur Sivapuri temple wall of Ramanthapuram,there is an inscription related to Manigramam.They funded the temple.

Ancient Cochin

We find vysyas or chettis allover Tamilnadu.It is a mystery why only few vysyas are there in Kerala.The vysyas of Kerala are definitely christians,the traders.K M Mathew,who was my Chief Editor,  told me once that they,the Kandathil family were enna(oil)chettis before conversion.With the help of Vacagar,another historical mystery is getting solved.
Though there is a debate as to which century does Vacagar belong,Some Christian texts suggest to him to be in the second century.The texts say that alarmed by Vacagar's feat,Kerala Christians sent a deputation to Demetrius,Bishop of Alexandria,requesting him to send a learned scholar to refute the arguments of  Vacagar.Pantaenus,Professor at the Seminary of Alexandria came to Kerala in AD 190.He,the texts say,defeated Vacagar in the debate and brought back the apostatized to Christianity.

There is another mystery about Vacagar-such a powerful advocate of saivism is not counted  among 63 Nayanars.Is  proselytism the reason?If the story Pantaenus is true,the defeat maybe the reason.It is a fact that Hinduism of Aryans doesnt accept reconversion.Only Aryasamajam does it.But Saivism of Dravidians is known for reconversion.The famous Thirunavukkarasu or Appar who was brought in Saivism went to Pataliputram,became a Jain and a chief priest.He was reconverted later.Jnanasambandhar  defeated Jains in Madurai in intellectual discourse.Several Jains were reconverted.What did you learn from the symbolic horse myth of Vacagar?It is the story of reconversion of foxes to horses!

The Christians converted by Vacagar as Nairs didn't become full fledged Nairs.I quote Whitehouse:"If a Nair makes a feat,the males of the Manigramakar maybe invited,but not the females;and if they make a feast in return,the Nair guests will not eat the food if cooked by anyone of the same caste as their host.When the Nairs and they fall out,it is very common thing for the former to upbraid them with their mongrel origin."
It is an inhuman area I don't want to tread.

There is a claim that Maniyani Nairs are temple architects who worked with Mani(bell) and Aani(nail) and are descendants of Agasthya.Again,an area of myth I don't want to tread.The horse myth was exotic:it spoke about metamorphosis.

____________________

Reference:
Manikkavacagar and His Date/K G Sesha Aiyar
Manikka Vacagar and the Early Christians of Malabar/T Ponnambalam Pillai
The Syrian Christians In India/G T Mackenzie
Lingerings of Light in A Dark Land/Rev Thomas Whitehouse
A Survey of Kerala History/A Sreedhara Menon
History of Christianity in India:Source Materials/M K Kuriakose
The Dance of Siva:Religion,Art and Poetry in South India/David Smith
Footprint India/Roma Bradnock
A History of Indian Literature/Sisir KumarDas
Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair
Vanijyathiloode Parathantryam/K Sivasankaran Nair. 

See my Post,A CHRISTIAN IN THE ZAMORIN FAMILY