REVIEWS
Selected
Poems–Joseph Furtado.
Published by Phllip Fertado:
5, Hazarat Terrace,
Dasavatara and Other Poems–R.
Rabindranath Menon. Writers Workshop, Calcutta-45.
Price Rs. 6.
It is difficult to get at two books of poems more essentially contrasted than these two. Of the poets one is a Goan, the other an Indian. (Of course, Goans too are Indians now.) One is rural, the other urban. One is untaught, the other sophisticated. One is simplicity to the point of simpleness, the other complex to the point of obscurity. One
Dreams
and sings
Of
simple things,
The other
Of
movie seats and parlour chairs
the coffee breaks and social airs.
The
publication of the one is the work of filial devotion carefully canalized by
Philip Furtado; the publication of the other the work
of the Writers’ Workshop of Calcutta, ably supervised by Sri P. Lal, the
Secretary, The Goan is Indian to the tips of his
fingers and the Indian is cosmopolitan. Sri Menon’s
Dasavatara is a 20th century Dasavatara and his Ahalya is of
today.
But the Goan Fiddler
sweats of
I
take my tunes from the birds on my way
They
are all the tunes I know–
He is the laureate of
It
made the angels smile
To
hear an ox called son
or
Of
all the girls, the Brahmin girls
Are
fairest of the fair
or
Dear
as life art thou to me
or
And
either side the tulsi plant
A
guava tree and palm
The
milkman’s hut–for such it was
Had
quite a homely charm
or
A
woman young and fair
A
child against her hip;
Sweet
mogras round her knot of hair
A lilt upon her lip.
Furtado’s poetry has the
run of a ballad and the love of a Wordsworth. Even ‘bidee-makers’
are material for his poetry. A poem like the Cobra Woman reminds one of Keats’
Who
else knows the little thrills
the rivulets weave around hills?
or
alliterative as in
Teasing
present had a toasted past
or
novel as in
The
sun is free to shine outside
not in the little room
or
strikingly beautiful as in
The ponds in his eyes pondered in waves.
Sri
Menon’s thought is aphoristic which indicates settled
convictions:
Status
lies in status quo
Everything,
in its proper place,
preserves its plume
The
web builds its spider!
In
Sri Menon’s poetry things misbehave (except the
poetry, of course). It is for the literary psychologist or detective to
discover why he is fond of the word ‘misbehave.’ Men misbehave, the sea
misbehaves, the lava misbehaves.
We
are the wronged men
with a strong message
We
know not what!
Sri Menon underlines
the undoubting processes of nature in
Tiger
eats the tender cow
without worrying why or how.
He pleads for social
justice and opportunities in
Freedom
is fine, not when free to starve,
But
free to climb, and free, ones destiny to carve
or
Work,
not an end, but mere means to regain;
that freedom from wants and to leisure attain
He
loudly emphasizes
the journey that will lead me on
to the lunar erewhen
or desires
which like chrysanthemums gold or tulips red
In
life’s green pastures a glow of splendour spread.
Sri
Menon is an interesting writer with a future: he has the poise of common sense
and the strength of uncommon thoughts. His sensitiveness to ‘time surrounds’
and the urge to go beyond the Gentility Principle (as defined by Alvarez) alert
the reader to watch his future word-play. Sri Menon says,
With present I am out to step
He
recognizes
Rules
framed long before
No
longer hold good
Let
us hope his future poetry shatters to bits this sorry scheme of things and remoulds the world nearer his heart’s desire.
On
pp. 37 and 47 the reader finds misprints like lauguid
and sauvity.
–K. VISWANATHAM
Preceptors
of Advaita–Jagadguru
Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Pitharohana Diamond
Jubilee Volume. Edited by Dr. T. M. P.
Mahadevan. Copies can be had at Personal Book Shop, Madras-6. Rs.
25.
The
grand, sumptuous volume of scholarly articles on Advaita by learned pandits and laukika scholars,
sixty in number, starting from sage Vasishta down to
the present acharya of Kanchi, is a fitting tribute
and fruitful offering to mark the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee Year of
the ascension to the Sri Kamakoti Pitha by His
Holiness the Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekharendra
Saraswati, Sri Sankaracharya of Kanchi.
Tradition
holds the view that Advaita, as a philosophical system was first revealed by
the Lord to the four-faced Brahman. Prior to Sankara
there are four sages who have expounded the doctrines of Advaita–Vasishta, Suka, Vyasa, and Parasara. We have an
article on each of them, starting from the pen of our revered elder Sri K. S.
Ramaswami Sastri, the untiring and indefatigable writer and a savant of vedantic thought and Indian culture, on sage Vasishta. The article on Suka,
the propagator of the immortal Bhagavata, his life and teachings are carefully
culled from different sources by the insightful and keen perpetual student and
savant of Hinduism, Sri K Balasubramanya Iyer. The article is not the mere result of learning but
arises out of his Krishna ahaituki bhakti and enjoyment of the rasa
in the Bhagavata.
The
scholar editor of the volume Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan who has dedicated his life
to the preaching of the gospel of Sankara, by word,
thought and deed, has given us the article on Gaudapada,
the Paramaguru of Adi Sankara. It is a chip from his philosophical workshop – I
mean his larger study on Gaudapada (3rd Edition, Madras
University). Besides this, the Editor has given us the article on Vidyaranya and the concluding one on the present Acharya,
an account full of devotion and discernment.
The
volume is the first of its kind. It gives a comprehensive account of all
important Advaita preceptors. It includes a critical account of
the Kamakoti Pitha and the icons worshipped. The
influence of the sage of Kanchi on lives of millions of us is enormous and most
healthy. There is a remarkable revival of the best in Indian tradition not only
in religion, but also in fine arts and ancient cultural institutions. It is
difficult to single out articles for special mention. Those of Sri Raghunatha Iyer, Dr. V. Raghavan, Sri K. Chandrasekharan,
Sri Ramesam, and several others are good accounts of
the different preceptors. The range and the depth of Advaita Philosophy is
described in its historical setting through the work of the preceptors. It is a
memorable publication to mark a celebrated event of a great sage who lives
amidst us.
–P.
NAGARAJA RAO
Social Welfare
Organisation–by V. Jagannadham.
Published by The Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. 1967.
pp. 150. Price: Rs. 5-50.
For
a long time a need was felt in India for a comprehensive and uniform policy of
social welfare administration. But what should exactly be the shape of things
to come was not visualized clearly. Prof. V. Jagannadham
of the Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, should be congratulated
for performing this task very ably and for placing before us through his book Social
Welfare Organisation, a comprehensive blue-print of a desirable social
welfare administrative set-up based on sound organizational principles.
In
suggesting the guidelines for re-organisation of the pattern of social welfare
administration, Prof. Jagannadham took full account
of the peculiar socio-economic and political conditions the country and also
the defects in the present-day administrative set-up both at the Central and
State levels. Some of the important suggestions made by him towards the
re-organization of the welfare administrative structure of the country are:
creation of a Ministry of Social Welfare at the Centre;
transfer of the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the scheduled
castes and backward classes from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the newly
suggested Ministry of Social Welfare; placing of rural and urban community
development subjects under a single department in the Ministry of Social
Welfare; creation, in each state, of a separate Ministry of Social Welfare and
establishment of a Directorate for Social Welfare, headed by a person trained
in social welfare and social work, and the establishment of a separate Social
Welfare Department in every Zilla Parishad
and Municipality. He feels that the Welfare Departments as well as the Social
Welfare Advisory Boards in the States have separate but important
functions to perform and hence they could coexist. Despite alleged criticism
from some quarters, the author’s stand that “without legislative support, administrative
discretion tends to suffer from personal predilections” seems to be basically
sound.
Professor
Jagannadham does not put forth any concrete
suggestions regarding the re-organization of the voluntary sector. He says that
“the omission is deliberate and purposeful” for, he felt that “voluntry/private sector organizations must have the freedom
to experiment ...(and)...should not be as rigidly bound by heirarchy
and rules and procedures as a Government department.” Even so, from the point
of enhancing the administrative efficiency of the entire welfare organization
in the country, it would have been better and proper had the author taken into
account the voluntary sector as well and suggested necessary guidelines for its
proper functioning.
On
the whole, the book Social Welfare Organization is a valuable addition
to the scanty literature in the field of social welfare administration in
India. One way, this book is an extension of the Renuka
Ray Committee Report on Social Welfare and the Welfare of Backward Classes
submitted to the Government of India in 1959; and as such, if read together
with the Report, this book will prove of immense use to all those interested in
the field. Since the study was undertaken by Prof. Jagannadham
at the request of the Government itself, it may be hoped that his
recommendations will be given a fair trial. No doubt, certain of these
suggestions are already in practice in some States. But from the point of
toning up the overall administrative efficiency in the field of social welfare,
it is essential to put into practice in toto the
entire recommended net-work of administrative reforms.
–K. RANGA RAO
Administration and
Society in the Carnatic: By
Dr. K. Rajayyan, Sri Venkateswara University,
Tirupati. Pages 170. Price Rs 8.
The
book under review is a study of the Carnatic of the
18th century. The term ‘Carnatic’ was a geographical
expression of the 18th century. It stood for the coastal tract of South India
extending roughly from the river Gundlakamma (Guntur District, A. P.) to the extreme tip of the
peninsula. The Carnatic, as is well-known, served as
a first foot-board for the political expansion of the East India Company. The
author, Dr. K. Rajayyan, has attempted to capture the
political atmosphere of the times and its impact on the society.
A
study of the 18th century India discloses the reasons for the easy conquest of
the land by the British. The political power of the Carnatic was in the hands of Nawabs
of Arcot. These Nawabs,
nominally owed allegiance to the Subedar of Deccan who maintained a similar type of relationship with
the Mughal rulers of Delhi. “Engaged in wars,
besieged by creditors, harassed by the English and distracted by harems, the
rulers showed little inclination to improve the administration.” The
weakness of the Central Government led to the rise of poligars,
or military chieftains. In order to quell them, and to settle their personal
scores among themselves, the Nawabs depended more and
more on the British and ultimately
this led to the triumph
of the latter.
Dr.
Rajayyan, during the course of the book, describes
the village, its economy, religious and social structure. According to him, the
18th century village presented a picture of a degenerated society.
Chapters like the second, “Extortion vs. Evasion”, are important in that
they bring to light the dichotomy between the rulers and the ruled and its
effect on the prosperity of the country. On reading the conditions of the 18th
century, one pauses and wonders if even today dichotomy, this hiatus between
the organs of the Government and the people is absent.
For
the study of the modern history, there is an abundance of source material and
the author of the present work has fully utilised
this to present an instructive picture of the 18th century Carnatic.
There are, however, typographical errors on a number of pages. On the whole,
the work is a welcome addition to the research publication on Modern Indian
History and Dr. Rajayyan deserves to be
congratulated.
–K.
SUNDARAM
Life-Literature-Yoga. Some
letters of Sri Aurobindo, collected and edited by Shri
K. D. Sethna. Published by Shri
Aurobindo Ashram. Pondicherry-2. Price Rs. 6.
The
present publication of Life-Literature-Yoga is a revised and considerably
enlarged second edition of the book originally published in 1952. It is a
collection of a few of the innumerable letters of Shri
Aurobindo, the recipient of the letters being Shri K.
D. Sethna, the editor himself.
Shri K. D. Sethna, one of the foremost disciples of Shri Aurobindo, Editor of Mother India, a monthly
review of culture from the Ashram, is quite well-known in the literary world,
both as a poet and as a spiritual journalist. In the Ashram and to the
disciples and followers of Shri Aurobindo and Sri
Mother, he is better known as Amal Kiran meaning Clear Ray, a significantly meaningful
name conferred on him by the Master.
Shri Aurobindo’s
correspondence is extraordinary, unique and nonpareil. They are not mere
letters. The correspondence constituted a way of life, a way of Yoga with Shri Aurobindo in the Ashram. Letters written by him during
this period are literally countless, all of them addressed to the disciples in
the Ashram. As one of the Sadhaks stated, though in a
lighter vein, the wielding of his “Mighty Magical Pen”, by Shri
Aurobindo for the Yogic transformation of his disciples may be aptly compared
with the “incessant fluting of the reed by Shri
Krishna to melt the hearts” of his Gopis.
Correspondence
was the chosen medium of the Master by which he kept close contact with, and
transferred his consciousness into, the inner beings of aspiring Sadhaks. As a part of their Sadhana,
the disciples wrote seeking guidance of the Guru; on several, writing was even
obligatory, a daily samskara. So it is that outsiders
can seldom know the real value of these communications. Sometimes, even the
recipient himself could not comprehend correctly or completely the significance
of a letter except after meditation.
And
see how much time Shri Aurobindo spent on this
“letter-writing business, 12 hours–3 hours in the afternoon and the whole night
upto 6 in the morning.” So much importance to the
correspondence! Why? Because in the hands of the Master it was then the
effective instrument to achieve his central purpose–“the
needed capalisation.” Piles and piles of notebooks
and letters went up; Mother and Shri Aurobindo poured
over them the whole night, month after month “(apparently) answering all sorts
of questions.”
Some
of the questions on which one Sadhak or other sought
the Master’s guidance might appear ridiculous to another Sadhak
or others. But the Mother and Shri Aurobindo never
considered non-Yogic any question “from the sublime to the ridiculous” coming
from a sincere Sadhak. So comes, there is not a
subject which Shri Aurobindo has not touched upon in
this correspondence.
In
one of his letters Shri Aurobindo wrote: “Every mode
of expression by the Sadhak can be made a vehicle of
a superior power which helps to open the consiousness.”
For instance, in answer to the question “Need one aspire even for writing
poetry?” Sri Aurobindo answers “Aspiration is an essential part of Sadhana.”
The
present collection, though few, is all important and significant. But in
reading these, or for the matter of that any of the letters of the Master, one
has to remember always what Shri Aurobindo said about
his correspondence in general–viz., “What is written
for X is not meant for Y.” This is necessarily true so far as the personal
touch in every letter is concerned and so Shri K. D. Sethna has very carefully edited the letters “prefixing to
every letter the relevant notes of the questioner to bring out the personal
touch” as best as possible. But most of the letters, if not all, have a
universal application.
For
instance: The question: (vide page 21) ‘Why is X acting so strangely and what
could be his grievance against us?” Apparently purely
personal, concerning the conduct of a particular individual X. But look at the
answer: “….But a man who has a mental life ought surely not to be dependent on
others for it, once that life is formed within–there
ought to be springs within that flow by their own force.” Doubtless this answer
has a profound universal application.
The
present collection is unique in one or two respects. These are letters received
by a poet, one of the very few to whom Shri Aurobindo
gave the exceptional privilege of drawing him out; to quote the Words of Dilip Kumar Roy “Amal has
successfully employed his skill and art to dispossess the Master of his vast
wealth of knowledge.” So, in this collection we have an
abundant wealth of knowledge regarding poetry, literature, life and yoga which
the divine has chosen to manifest, classified under several titles.
Any
one reading these letters is sure to agree with the words of Chadwick (known as
Arjava in the Ashram) “How crystal clear, not a trace
of haziness any where, no abracadabra, wanting to show off and yet how
luminous-shedding light without heat–like his eyes.”
–V.
VENKATRAMA SASTRI
Pothanacharitramu–by
Vanamamalai Varadacharyulu.
Royal size. Pages 514+132+XVIII. Copies can be had from the Author. Chennuru, via., Manchiryal, Adilabad District, Andhra Pradesh. Price: Rs. 20.
Among
the great poets of Andhra, Pothana occupies a high
and respectable place. His great epic the Mahabhagavata
has immortalised him. Pandits
of all schools agree that Pothana excelled the
original in Sanskrit while rendering it into Telugu. The book under review is a
highly laudable work on the life of the great poet Pothana.
To attempt almost a mahakavya on the life of a poet
itself shows the high appreciation and respect the author has for Pothana. It is a great thing to conceive of a mighty
subject but it is greater still to execute the work in all its glory.
Even
a casual reading of the book impresses the reader that the author has
practically imbibed Pothana’s easy and mellifluous
style. A further scrutiny tells that the author is an adept in the nuances of
Telugu prosody. He has a chaste, free and easy style which enchants the reader.
The
Telugu-knowing readers are very much indebted to the author for his very fine
portrayal of their beloved poet Pothana, and they
eagerly expect many more similar kavyas from the
author, who had already earned a high place among the Telugu poets of the
present century.
–BHAVARAJU