TAMIL
Study on Savitri
CHARUKESI
SAVITHRIYIL ORU PAYANAM: Prema Nandakumar; Pub. by Savithri Bhavan, Auroville-605101. Rs. 150.
THERE CAN be no better person than Prema Nandakumar to write on the life of Sri Aurobindo or on his magnum opus Savitri. Savitri, according to the Mother, is the revelation of Aurobindo's farsightedness. The legendary story of how Savitri wins over Yama, the lord of Death, and gets her husband back alive is part of the Mahabharata.
Aurobindo, says Nandakumar, found in Savitri the grit of a yogi. She avers he did not follow the blank verse style, but chose to adopt the Sanskrit format, with Vyasa's majesty, Valmiki's clarity, and the Upanishadic features incorporated in it. Before starting to write Savitri, Aurobindo told the Mother that he was entering a new realm of adventure and was not sure if he would succeed.
The book under review is a compilation of the speeches made by Prema Nandakumar, who has to her credit an award-winning research work on Savitri. She acknowledges that she made use of the translation (into Tamil) of Aurobindo's verses rendered by her mother, woman of scholarship and devotion. Nandakumar's narrative style is pleasing, like a whiff of fresh air, and the reading experience quite rewarding.
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