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Book Review
TAMIL
Elucidation of the Ramayana
V.N. GOPALA DESIKACHARIAR
Ramapiranaikkarpom (Volume-3): Paravakkottai Srimad Andavan Gopala Desika Mahadesikan: Poundarikapuram Swami Asramam, 43-A/13, Asramam Road, Srirangam, Tiruchi-620006. Rs. 250.
THIS IS the third volume in the Ramayana series from the facile pen of Paravakkottai Andavan Swamigal.
This covers the Aranya Kanda, exuding tranquillity and peace – called santa rasa in Sanskrit poetry – with Rama enjoying a placid life in the forests, along with Sita and Lakshmana, admiring the scenic beauty and rich verdure all around and interacting with sages, except for encounters with the demons who terrorised the sages. This peaceful atmosphere is marred towards the end with the abduction of Sita by Ravana and, Rama and Lakshmana going in search of Sita.
Vaishnavas eulogise the Ramayana as “Sarangati Sastra”, preaching the efficacy of total surrender to God. The Swami, in his inimitable style, shows how this theory is well-established in the Aranya Kanda and how the Lord rushed to protect the sages, who sought refuge in Him and slayed the demons in the process, mild protestations from Sita notwithstanding. The author takes the Valmiki Ramayana as the base and chips in, in a large measure, parallels from the Kamba Ramayana and the Tirukkural. Besides, useful references and quotations from other texts like the Adhyatma Ramayana, the Nalayira Divya Prabandham of the Azhwars and Vedanta Desika’s works add flavour.
The printing and get-up are very good and the book is almost free from printing errors. Proper references to the texts quoted, which would have facilitated the reader, are missing at quite a few places.
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