The Vijayanagara Sexcentenary Commemoration Volume.– (Published under the auspices of the Vijayanagara Sexcentenary Association and Karnatak Historical Research Society, Dharwar. Printed at the G. S. Press, Mount Road, Madras.)

‘Vijayanagara’ has become a household word in Southern India for all that is good and great in Hindu society and Hindu Dharma. The rise of Vijayanagara was a noble reply that Hindu India gave to the challenge from the Muslims. Years later, the Marathas made another attempt to resuscitate Hindu greatness and to found a Maratha Empire. But Maratha greatness was partly due to the fusion of the Muslim and the Hindu ideals, and a logical result of the interaction of the two forces. The factors underlying the origin and growth of Vijayanagara, however, were purely indigenous and were subject to little influence from outside. This was the peculiar strength of Vijayanagara.

It is essentially this Dharmic aspect of Vijayanagara that was emphasised again and again during the Sixth Centenary Celebrations that took place recently all over Southern India. The contact with the British, the surging wave of nationalism, and the awakening of the masses, have lent a new value to the study of history, especially the history of the Vijayanagara Empire. The general public finds in it a picture of the Golden India of their own dreams, and the more politically inclined seek parallels that relate to the fight for freedom and independence, and the establishment of the Hindu Raj. The public response to the appeal of the Celebrations Committee was hearty and significant, and this volume of essays, so neatly published, is a fitting memento of this worthy event.

The range of topics dealt with in this volume is wide and comprehensive; and the list of contributors includes several well-known professors and scholars in Southern India. Dr. S. K. Aiyangar has written a long and illuminating essay on the character and significance of the Empire of Vijayanagara in Indian history, which is rightly placed at the beginning of the work. Next comes an essay on "Vijayanagara Empire–A Synthesis of South Indian Culture," contributed under the joint authorship of the Rev. H. Heras and Mr. V. K. Bhandarkar. Dr. B. A. Sale tore has discussed the theories concerning the origin of Vijayanagara, and Mr. S. Srikantayya has followed it up by a long note on Vijayanagara and Vidyaranya. Sanskrit, Kannada, and Telugu literature forms the subject of three separate papers, and the Fine Arts have received more than their due share of attention. Mr. V. B. Halabhavi admits in the Preface that "the object of the Celebrations is to remember with gratitude the rich cultural legacy which the Vijayanagara Empire has bequeathed," and it is therefore natural that nearly seventy pages of this volume should be devoted to the Fine Arts, Painting alone taking up over twenty-six pages. Dr. V. Raghavan has contributed a very important note on the Brahma Sutra Vritti of Praudha-deva Raya, and Mr. C. Sivaramamurti’s short essay on the Vijayanagara paintings at Lepakshi is extremely interesting. The Director-General of Archaeology evinced considerable interest in the celebrations, and several Research Assistants of the Epigraphical Department have contributed essays to this volume. Mr. R. S. Panchamukhi’s essay on the Coinage of the Vijayanagara dynasties, and Mr. N. Lakshminarayana Rao’s paper on the Nayaks of Keladi deserve special mention in this connection. Mr. R. Rama Rao writes on Hinduism under Vijayanagara Kings, and Mr. Shripad Ram Sharma has dealt separately with Jainism.

It is a pity that the publication of this volume was not entrusted to a responsible editor, and Dr. S. K. Aiyangar was evidently approached in the later stages to ‘review’ the material available for publication and exercise general supervision over the task of publication. Still, the learned Professor has done everything he could, in spite of ill health, to revise many of the manuscripts and improve the general get-up of the work considerably. No attempt is made, however, to arrange the essays in any particular order, and the difficult problem of coordinating the efforts of the various contributors is left well alone. Hence, there is needless repetition, while some of the most important aspects of Vijayanagara history have hardly been mentioned. If Hindu religion and Hindu Dharma really formed such vital factors in the rise and establishment of the Vijayanagara Empire, there should have been a more elaborate discussion of these subjects in this volume. Mr. Rama Rao’s essay is very good as a general resume, dealing with Vira Saivism, Jainism, Advaitism, the Sri-Vaishnava and Madhva sects but very little is said about the religious and the social life of those times, or of the growth of the various religious sects, especially Sri-Vaishnavism, which grew rapidly in these times and acquired a dominant position in the royal household and in the country. Nothing is said about the administrative institutions of Vijayanagara, and the reader will get a very poor opinion of the economic conditions of Vijayanagara from a study of this work. The relations of Vijayanagara with her neighbours, especially the Muslim States, have not been dealt with, although the relations of Shahji with Vijayanagara are commemorated in a short essay. None of the chief problems in the political history of Vijayanagara has been discussed, and there is not even a general essay giving the main landmarks in the history of Vijayanagara to enable us to understand the sequential background of all that is stated about art, religion, and literature.

Many of the contributors do not seem to have kept in mind any due regard for the length of their essays, and much extraneous matter is brought in, mainly on grounds of contemporaneity, or on the basis of some slender connection with Vijayanagara. Much of the long essay on the development of Sanskrit literature under Vijayanagara (running to 34 pages) is concerned, not with the development of literature, but with a categorical enumeration of the books and the authors of this period, and with the genealogies of these authors and their patrons. To cite an example, the succession lists of Sri-Vaishnava Acharyas,

and the genealogies of the Reddi Kings of Kondavidu and Rajahmundry, and of the Padma-Nayakas are hardly relevant to the main subject of the essay. The author could well have relegated the names to an Appendix at the end (preferably in tabular form), and confined his essay to the subject of the development of Sanskrit literature. The book is full of quotations; and quotations from the originals are always useful, provided they are correctly printed and their source indicated. But little attention is paid to the accuracy of such minor points, or to utilize the available space in the best possible manner. For example, the long colophon at the end of Lakshmidhara’s commentary on Soundarya Lahari is quoted twice in the book (on page 233 and page 313 f.), and neither of these passages is free from printer’s errors. The Sanskritic portion of the book has suffered particularly badly, and the Vernaculars have escaped only by making themselves conspicuously absent.

It is impossible to refer to individual errors in this short Review, still less to make any attempt to discuss some of the controversial problems. But it is surprising that several authors have not noticed the mutually contradictory statements in their own essays. Vidwan Hulugur Krishnamacharya, for example, states (on page 369) that "Kallinatha was the originator of the

new mode of classifying ragas called the Melapaddhati, now in vogue in the whole country in its different forms"; and after thus virtually giving away the laurels to Kallinatha, he suddenly turns an ardent Kannadiga four pages later, and extols Pundarika as "the father of the system of Melas and Janya ragas." He is needlessly severe in criticising those who "assume that Ramamatya was the first to describe the ragas by the system of Melas or generic scales," and argues that they "have evidently not studied the works of Pundarika." He assigns definite dates to each individual work of Pundarika, and it is surprising that he places such absolute reliance on the accuracy of these dates, considering that they are all based on a single point, namely, the contemporaneity of Pundarika with Ramamatya. Relying on this slender evidence, Mr. Krishnamacharya argues that Pundarika’s work was earlier, and that Ramamatya was merely plagiarising, and even that somewhat clumsily, since it ultimately led to the work of Venkatamakhi, which "is not scientifically accurate in many respects." The author’s conclusion that Ramamatya was a grandson of Kallinatha, is based, in opposition to chronological evidence, on a fanciful identification of Kallinatha with Kallappa Desika, the real person mentioned in the work of Ramamatya.

One slight point in Mr. V. Venkatasubba Aiyar’s essay on "The Establishment of the Vijayanagara Rule in the Tamil Country," needs a slight elucidation. He says, "But Tiruvadirajya i.e. Nanjainadu in the South Travancore country, later came under the influence of this rule. In the time of Krishnadeva Raya, Karanikka Mangarasayyar was given charge of this region about Saka 1435. Saluva-Nayaka next held it about Saka 1446. The Tiruvadi king was defeated by Salaka Timmaraja, the brother-in-law of Achyuta-raya for harbouring the rebel Saluva-Nayaka." Who was this Tiruvadi king, and what part of the country was he ruling, if the Tiruvadi-rajya was already under Vijayanagara, and Saluva-Nayaka himself was governing it in Saka 1446? Again, speaking about the exacting of jodi from the village of Tiruppanangadu (North Arcot district), Mr. Venkatasubba Aiyar says, "Vira Narasimharaya-Nayaka who was responsible for this misappropriation fled to Tiruvadi to escape punishment. But Achyuta-raya punished with a stern hand the miscreant as well as the Tiruvadi king who harboured him."

These two passages seem to refer to two different persons. But they really refer only to one person, variously called Saluva-Narasingha-raya, Dannayakar Saluva Nayaka, Vira-Narasimha Nayaka, Vira-Narasingha Nayaka Saluva Dannayaka, and Chellappa. He was holding a responsible position as the Prime Minister at the time of Achyuta-deva Raya’s accession, and his rebellion seems to have been a consequence not of such a slight mistake as the exaction of a certain tax from which a temple was exempted, but of far deeper causes than that. Nor was it merely a question of friendship or chivalry that induced the king of Tiruvadi to ally himself with Chellappa, who ‘fled’ and sought his shelter. The Emperor of Vijayanagara would not have cared to lead a campaign against a petty ‘king’, if all that he did was to give shelter to some ordinary man who had collected a certain tax in excess (or against rules) and had thus become a victim of the royal wrath.

Mr. N. Subrahmanyam’s ‘Geographical Notes’ are very disappointing. A few lines on Vijayanagara, Penukonda, and Chandragiri hardly do justice to this subject of vital importance in the study of Vijayanagara history. Besides, some of his statements are based on scanty evidence and are hardly convincing. For example, a river can never act as a factor of segregation, as Mr. Subrahmanyam seems to think, but is rather conducive to develop intercommunication. The strategical importance of Vijayanagara does not depend entirely on the Tungabhadra; and there is little evidence to show that the strength of the Capital grew less on the expansion of the Kingdom. Again, he remarks "the transfer (of the Capital) to Penukonda was in itself a calamity, as there is not even drinking water available in the latter place." This is a sweeping generalisation arising out of an ignorance of the excellent arrangements for water supply, that existed at Penukonda during that time. The strategic importance of Penukonda is extremely great and it acts as the ‘Key to the South.’ It is unlikely that the author was unaware of Dr. S. K. Aiyangar’s excellent monograph on Penukonda.

There is an elaborate account of the Chola temple of Brihadisvara and the Nayaka paintings therein, but hardly a mention anywhere of the Tadpatri temples, universally acknowledged to be the best of the Vijayanagara style. Mr. R. N. Saletore asserts that "during the reign of Krishnadeva Raya, Painting reached a remarkable state of Realism," but does not show us what he means by the ‘remarkable Realism,’ and what evidence there is in the existing relics of Vijayanagara Sculpture and Painting to support this statement.

Speaking about Architecture, Dr. M. H. Krishna uses the terms ‘Chalukyan style’ and ‘Dravidian style,’ but it is not clear in what particular sense he uses these rather confusing terms. The Silpa-Sastras mention three distinct styles, of which archaeologists identify the Nagara style with the Northern or Indo-Aryan style, and the Dravida style with the Southern style. Under the latter term, i.e., Dravida, Fergusson included even the temples built by the Chalukyas and the Hoysalas. Professor Dubreuil, however, restricts the term Dravidian to the temples in the Tamil country: while the term Chalukyah is used somewhat loosely to denote all the temples built by the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas, and the Kakatiyas. It is even possible that this term includes also the temples of Northern form built by the early Chalukyan kings. Consequently, these two terms are very confusing and convey no clear idea of the characteristic features of the Vidyasankara temple, either in its outward form, or in its decorative detail. Since "practically nothing seems to have been worked out regarding the characteristics and evolution of the forms of decorative details found in temples outside the Tamil country," it would have been a great service to the cause of Indian Architecture, if Dr. Krishna who has studied the architecture of the Mysore temples with care, had given us a few more details relating to the architecture of this particular temple.

In a collection of this kind, it is impossible to expect the same high level of work from each and every contributor. But the Committee could have scrutinised the papers more carefully if they had given more time and attention to this work. In spite of the revision before sending it to the press, some passages in this volume are quite unintelligible. I shall quote only a single example: "The pradakshina of Vitthalasvami temple contains the beautiful stone-car, irresistibly reminding one of the car festival, which was obviously used as a shrine. Over the pradakshina rose the shrine." It is impossible to get any idea of either the pradakshina, or the car, or the shrine, from this description.

The Committee seems to have been guided by no particular principle in undertaking to publish a Commemoration Volume. If their main idea was to make the subject popular and interpret the message of Vijayanagara to one and all in the country, they should have published only the general essays and the speeches made at the Conference. On the other hand, if their aim was to focus the attention of historians and scholars on the history of Vijayanagara and help to advance study and research in this field, they should have set about this work earnestly, appointed an editor or an editorial committee, and obtained the co-operation of most of the scholars already working in this field. The volume would then have been of real service to the cause of Indian history.

However, the energy and enthusiasm displayed by the Celebrations Committee is praiseworthy, and the publication of this volume, so neatly printed and bound, with so many beautiful illustrations, is bound to attract the public to a proper study of the history of Vijayanagara.

P. SRINIVASACHAR

The Heart of a Gopi.–By Miss Raihana Tyabji (Camp., Baroda, Price Rs, 1-8-0.)

It is not often that we come across a book of which we feel we cannot say too much by way of appreciation. And when its appeal is to the higher and finer emotions and not merely to the intellect, we are apt to find, indeed, words falling short in expression of what we intend to convey. The Heart of a Gopi is not a story written solely for the gratification of the literary instincts of the author or for the mere diversion of the public. It strikes one as the vivid record, in the guise of a tale, of the spiritual experiences of a highly evolved soul which seems to have sought and attained direct communion with God. We note with surprise too that a lady belonging to a different religion could be so lost in adoration of Sri Krishna as found here, and fancy herself as a true Gopi intoxicated with the love of the Lord. This certainly is an instance of the truth that religion stands above all differences, and, to one impelled to give up everything in following the higher impulses of one’s nature, the conventions of caste and creed can be no barriers obstructing the true vision of God. When we take up this volume we instinctively think of Kabir who, though born of a different Faith, yet joined the illustrious order of Hindu Saints by reason of his absolute devotion to Sri Rama.

The writer has told in the Preface how she felt the urge to write though not knowing what, and how as she "sat at her desk with sheets of foolscap and poised pen, the story of Sharmila came pouring at the end of it almost faster than the ink could flow." It was as if some force outside herself compelled her to write and that she had no other claim to the story except in that it had been written by her hand. Even if she had not avowed this, it is easy to believe that those pages, remarkable for their simple beauty and power, could not have been written except under the force of some spiritual inspiration. This belief may be strengthened by the fact that the author relates things in the story which, according to her, she can hardly understand. It is thus that she is able to visualize a soul that is ripe for spiritual awakening and finally reaches God through all those stages of Bhakti; "first, the hearing of the Name followed by a curiosity that rapidly deepens into attraction, and then the contact with a true Bhakta, then a gradual and ever deepening sense of His presence, an intense desire for direct communion with Him, whereupon the soul turns into a Gopi, sees Him and lives near His feet for ever afterwards."

Miss Raihana Tyabji gives her own interpretation too of the Gopi’s love of Sri Krishna as distinct from that generally accepted. For, in the words of Sharmila, "The Gopis love their Lords but they adore Krishna. The two loves differ in kind, are entirely separate, and the one doth in no way interfere with the other." Again, we are naturally struck with this passage wherein we find Bhakti exalted as the highest way of realising God, in that it alone achieves for the soul the total surrender of self:

‘Thou knowest, Lord, whether it be so or not.’

‘Yea. I know. And is thy heart swept clean and pure, fit temple for the image of thy Lord?’

‘Thou knowest, Lord, whether it be so or not.’

For, to be a Bhakta, she points out later, a man must renounce all things, even his Gnyan, and his eyes when purified by love can pierce the curtain of Maya and fix the Reality beyond.

We feel that this captivating little volume, which takes less than a couple of hours to finish, will make a special appeal to a people on whom the name of Krishna has exercised an unspeakable charm for ages. In introducing it then to the readers, we can think of no praise that it cannot claim for itself.

K. SAVITRI

An Outline of Indian Temple Architecture.–By F. H. Gravely D.Sc., F.R.A.S.B. (Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum. New Series–General Section, Vol. III, Part 2. 1936. Price 12 annas.)

The production of workable hypotheses that would render intelligible the various forms and structures of temples, and their detailed decorations, will facilitate the correct dating of buildings without inscriptional record of their history and also awaken an intelligent interest in temple art. This work is a sequel to the paper published as Part 1 of Volume III of the Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum (1934) by Mr. T. N. Ramachandran and the present author on "The Three Main Styles of Temple Architecture recognised by the Silpa-Sastras." In the present work the author summarises the various types of buildings from which the temples in different parts of India have been derived and where they have merged to produce a composite type. Underlying all of them he recognises the common feature–" the production of towers by a process of vertical repetition instead of by increasing the height of any single structure, either by a repetition of roofs or the repetition of terraces, though in the North the resulting horizontal lines are dominated by stronger vertical ones"–and hence seems to infer some fundamental unity underlying all the various styles of Indian temple architecture.

He classifies the temples into two main styles, the Northern form comprising one or several styles though not definite, and the Southern form in two distinct styles, the Early Chalukyan and the Tamilian, and also recognises five apparently independent styles of more restricted range, namely those of the ancient Kadamba Kingdom, Malabar, Bengal, Nepal, and Kashmir. To this list of prototypes be adds aspidal temples and square temples. He also traces the development of the vimana, gopura and the mandapa from early times to the present day. He says that during the time of the Pallavas even the structural temples were not of enormous size, but the early Cholas built larger temples in which the vimana still dominated the gopuras, being in some instances of immense size. The later Cholas seem to have enlarged the existing temples, the shrines of which were considered too sacred to touch, in preference to constructing new ones, and brought about an innovation making the vimanas as a rule insignificant and their gopuras immense. The tradition thus established has remained in fashion ever since. The Vijayanagara Kings, though they continued the building of immense gopuras, concentrated their attention on the mandapas or pillared halls. Only with the coming of the modern period, according to the author, the Custom seems to have commenced of making mandapas in the more convenient form of spacious corridors, as seen in modern temples as well as in many earlier temples where they form additions or reconstructions.

The scarcity of temples of the pre-Buddhistic period is a great handicap for an elaborate study on a sound basis of the earlier development of temple architecture, though to a certain extent the imperceptible transition from one period to the next absorbs with it some of the characteristics of the earlier types. There is no doubt that this work will form the basis of further study on the subject, when more and more archaeological discoveries are made and more temples are unearthed and new types noticed.

C. R. VYDIANATHAN

1. Essays and Other Prose Fragments.

2. Agni and Other Poems and Translations.–By the late C. Subrahmanya Bharathi (Bharathi Prachur Alayam, Triplicane, Madras. Price Re. 1/- each.)

These essays, poems and translations from the pen of Subrahmanya Bharathi are published for the first time by the Bharathi Prachur Alayam, Madras. They cover a variety of subjects and in everyone of them we see the individuality of the writer. Even in a language foreign to him, Bharathi has the happy knack of imparting the element of freshness and spontaneity associated with his writings in Tamil. They show too the breadth of view and the catholic attitude of Bharathi, who in his earlier years was apt to be provincial, dogmatic, and exclusive. One of the most thought-provoking of these pieces is that which deals with the occult element in Tamil speech. Bharathi’s view is that the Tamil language contains a very large number of words with more of occult than secular significance. He has only briefly dealt with the subject, and if he had written any further essays on it, they would be greatly welcomed by the public. The translations of poems convey the peculiar charm and grace of the original compositions. To render into adequate English, Nammalvar’s Thiruvoimozhi, and Arunagiri’s Thirupugazhu is no mean achievement.

We congratulate the Publishers on their useful work and the steps they have taken to vindicate and establish the greatness of one who, somewhat neglected in his own life-time, is receiving his due measure of recognition at the hands of posterity.

N. S. SRINIVASAN

Srimad Bhagavata.–(Condensed in the Poet’s own words: Text in Devanagari and English Translation–Messrs. G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1937. Price Rs. 1-4-0.)

Mr. Natesan is justly proud that he has been able to present to the public, in rapid succession, compendious compilations of the great triad of Hindu religious literature–the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata. All may not agree with the method of condensation adopted in these books, exhibiting as it does at times a kind of surgical skill in clipping bits from different verses and piecing them anew; but all will agree about the elegance and accuracy of the English translation of the Bhagavata. The translator, Dr. Raghavan, has appended a short note lucidly explaining the purport of this ‘most excellent Purana.’

Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer’s Foreword reveals the strong hold the Bhagavata has even on the minds of modern educated Hindus who, at first sight, see nothing but ‘demerits’ in it. "It is full of incredible stories and miracles and embodies divergent philosophical doctrines, divers cults, stories intended to exalt some particular incarnation or manifestation of the Deity, and stories which do not hesitate to attribute faults of character to God or which may appear to the reader to have an immoral tendency." But the stories are fascinatingly told. "The lilt of the verse reveals a peculiar charm of its own; it varies with the occasion, as it is gay or grave, from the lighter and swift-recording measure of the madrigal and the pastoral-song to the slow and solemn measure of the hymn."

The object of the 0stories is clear: the stories are Artha-vada: they are intended to lure the mind to the great truths of religion. There is no need to be ashamed of them. The Gopis, for example, love Sri Krishna not as the son of a Gopi but as the Divinity residing in the hearts of all persons, as the Paramatman in the flesh. For introducing to the modern Hindu the rich treasures of his own religious literature and for weaning his soul from the devastating influence of certain types of Western thought, no better plan could be thought of than that of presenting him, as Mr. Natesan has done, with a condensed English version of the Bhagavata–the Purana par excellence.

V. NARAYANAN

BACK