SCHOLARLY PURSUIT

Subject:	SCHOLARLY PURSUIT
Date:	Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:40:27 GMT

Forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Scholarly pursuit

By Pradeep Chakravarthy
The Hindu

http://beta.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00028/29FR-THANJAVUR_SARAS_28232f.jpg

Sanskrit and Tamil are N. Srinivasan's twin passions. And his job at
Thanjavur's Sarasvati Mahal Library fostered that interest.

Among the many treasures of this State is Thanjavur Serfoji
Maharaja's Sarasvati Mahal Library. The core of the library dates
back to the 16 and 17th centuries, which has many rare manuscripts on
topics ranging from philosophy, religion and astrology to literature,
magic, medicine and horticulture.

The scholars whose works are housed here are just as important as
those who preserved these priceless treasures, and painstakingly
converted the manuscripts into books that can be accessed by the
public. One such person is N. Srinivasan. He worked with the library
as a Sanskrit pundit from 1979 to 2002.

Srinivasan's father was a school teacher who loved Sanskrit and
Tamil, and persuaded him to study Sanskrit at the Thiruvaiyaru
College. After this, he went to the Madras Sanskrit College.

Srinivasan wanted to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Thanjavur
Ramasubramania Sharma, a well known Harikatha performer. He did work
with him but family circumstances forced him to look for a job. He
joined the U Ve Saminatha Iyer Library and had his first exposure to
palm leaf manuscripts. Soon, his expertise in

Sanskrit was matched by his expertise in Tamil. The intricacies of
Tamil grammar were not easy, he recalls, but he learnt them by
reading many genres such as Thoothu and Ula. He remembers, "By then,
I needed a full time job and when the Sarasvati Mahal began
recruiting, I applied. I was selected… the first out of 33
applicants."

One leisurely Sunday afternoon, Srinivasan is happy sharing some of
his experiences. "After I got the job, I worked in the library with
the determination that I would help bring credit to great people such
as Dr.V. Raghavan, who headed the selection committee. Many scholars
including Padmanabha Sharma, Navalpakkam Devanathachariar and Telugu
pundit N. Viswanathan inspired me a lot."

In the library, Srinivasan has 35 publications to his credit, mostly
in Sanskrit. He always looked for ancient manuscripts that combined
literature and history and tended to delve deep into the intricacies
rather than gloss over details; that has been his passion, and
something that the library is also famous for.

Among his interesting publications is 'Veda Sara Shiva Sahasram', a
work from the time of Shahaji (1684-1712) that is a compilation of
all the instances where Siva is mentioned in the Vedas. This is
authored by Paramashivendra Saraswati, a pontiff of the Kanchi Math.
The only other copy of this paper manuscript is in London! "Even
today when I think of the book, I feel proud and honoured," he says.
He adds, "My knowledge of Tamil and Sanskrit has helped me immensely
in my translation work."

He lists some of his works. "'Surya Sathakam' is a set of 100 verses
on Surya that was popular even during the Pallava times. I translated
the Sanskrit original into simple Tamil. Then I did one with my late
colleague N. Viswanathan from Telugu to Tamil -- ' 'Vipranarayana
Charitram', a story of Thondaradipodi Azhwar where Srirangam is
substituted with Mannargudi, authored by Vijayaraghava Nayaka in the
17th century. This was done specifically keeping in mind the
Bhagavatha Mela. I also worked on 'Mohini Vilasa Kuravanji,' a unique
Kuravanji drama authored by the Maratha King Shahaji where the text
is in Sanskrit but the meter is Tamil. My interest in Harikatha
prompted me to work on 'Sita Kalyanam,' 'Markandeya Charitram' and
Tyagaraja's 'Nauka Charitram.' My interest in music prompted me to do
a detailed study of the veena, tracing its history since the ancient
times."

He continues, "Among the Tamil publications, an interesting one that
I did was 'Thaathu Varusha Karippu Kummi', a dance that reflects the
plight of the people of South Arcot who were hit by famine in the
19th Century."

Harikatha performer

Besides being a Sanskrit scholar, Srinivasan is also a Harikatha
performer and has given many performances. He recollects, "Despite my
hectic schedule at the library, I managed to to present more than
2000 Harikatha performances. I have also brought out a book in Tamil
on important Harikatha exponents of the State, many of whom were from
Thanjavur. Among the honours I treasure the most is an award I
received from The Music Academy for a Sanskrit Harikatha I presented
in 2000. I am also the recipient of a Senior Fellowship for Harikatha
from New Delhi. I help the Melattur Bhagavatha Mela for their
performances."

Srinivasan who has "not lost touch with Sanskrit", is currently
working on 'Amarakosham,' a thesaurus and dictionary of sorts for
Sanskrit, and offers his services at the Siddha Medicine Research
Institute.

The contented scholar remarks, "Today, I keep myself busy with work I
enjoy and have ample time to spend time with my family."

He then laments, "However, the growing apathy that youngsters show
towards heritage in general and manuscripts and languages in
specific, distresses me. We know nothing about so many scholars whose
works have become famous. Surely that is reason enough for us to do
our bit in preserving and propagating the country's heritage at least
on a part-time basis, if not full time," are his parting words as he
bids me goodbye.

(The author is at present engaged in writing a book on the cultural
history of Thanjavur, to be released later this year.)

http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article96595.ece

End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

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