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Book Review
God’s compassion
N.S. RAMANUJA TATACHARYA
DAYAA SATAKAM OF SRI VEDANTA DESIKA — Vols. I and II containing three old commentaries in Sanskrit and Tamil: Edited with Tamil and English notes by V. N.Vedanta Desikan; Sri Andavan Sri Poundarikapuram Swami Asramam, Srirangam-620006. Rs. 150 each.
According to Srivaishnavism God is the repository of infinite auspicious attributes. These attributes are the subject of many hymns. The Lord has two dimensions in His attributes: one, that of transcendence (Paratva) and the other of compassion (Daya).
Vedanta Desika composed a Stotra on the Lord’s boundless mercy. The lyrical compositions of Desika are known for their literary splendour, metrical magic, philosophical import and emotional fervour. When an elevated theme and a grand style embellish the lyric, it lays claim to being called a “Stotra kavya”. Dayasatakam is one such.
Desika avers that had it not been for Daya, qualities such as Jnana, Bala and Aiswarya would be instruments of punishment. He describes Daya as having two aspects. One is the inability to bear the sight of the sufferings of others. And the other is the compulsion to rush to the rescue of those who suffer. Dayasatakam is a composition praising the Daya of Srinivasa personifying His mercy as His consort. He had done it in the Paduka Sahasra, where Ranganatha’s Paduka is Paduka Devi and as the name implies Paduka is the protector. Desika’s employment of the poetic device of personification confers upon the abstract mercy, the palpability of sensuous perception.
Dayasatakam has been much commented on. Every stanza has several layers of meaning and suggestion and the mysteries can be unravelled only with the grace of God and that of the Acharyas. One such commentary was written 125 years ago by Thiruvaheendrapuram Devanathacharya Swamy in Manipravala style and printed in Tamil and Grantha. A second commentary was by Anbil Gopalachariar in Sanskrit. The third commentary is by V.N. Vedanta Desikan. . He has given quintessential comments on the above two commentaries in Tamil and English. The verses in Devanagari script, in Tamil transliteration, word-for-word meaning, quintessential meanings and the commentaries in Manipravala and in Sanskrit are provided in this edition.
The task is immense. The subject is as deep as the ocean and as wide as the skies. The commentaries are strictly according to tradition; wherever there are deviant commentaries, they have been shaped into conformity with it.
Hermeneutic integrity is visible in every line. Literary interpretation of a Kavya may be fuelled by aesthetic imagination, but here it is bounded by the traditional canons. The text is elegantly edited, aesthetically bound and interspersed with colourful photographs.
It is a spiritual treasure, a literary jewel, and a commentarial monument. The two volumes do really constitute a compendium on the compassion of Lord Venkatesa of Tirumalai.
The poem being an essay on Daya incidentally focuses the reader’s attention on the role of Self-surrender (Saranagati) to secure the Lord’s Daya.
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