More than a century ago at Bhuvanagiri in Cuddalore district, a boy was beaten severely and sent out of home by his father for having sold a calf kept at the family cattle shed. He had, in fact, sold it for more money than his father had expected. But he did not inform his father.
He took refuge in the house of his uncle (‘periyappa’) and Vaishnavite scholar Srimath Azhagiya Manavala Ramanuja Egangi Swamigal, who was living at Keerapalayam, on the other side of the Vellaru river. No amount of persuasion would make him join his parents. He started learning Tamil and Vaishnavite literature from his uncle. He was B.R. Purushothama Naidu, the eminent scholar of Vaishnavite literature, who translated into Tamil the commentaries on Vaishnavite Acharya Nammalwar’s Thiruvaimozhi (Tiruvaymoli Ittin Tamilakkam), Acharya Hridayam (The Mind of Acharyan, who is Nammalwar) and Srivachana Bhushanam.
Authoritative work
These books, published by the University of Madras, remain an authoritative work on Vaishnavite literature. Ittin Tamilakkam was published in 1951 and Acharya Hridayam in 1965. They will leave the reader wondering how it was possible for a person to amass such a knowledge of languages and the Vaishnavite tradition.
Poet A.K. Ramanujan, who translated into English the works of Nammalwar, had acknowledged that the 10 volumes of Purushothama Naidu (Ittin Tamilakkam) were chief among the texts and the commentaries he had consulted, besides the 10 volumes of Annankarachariyar, another great scholar.
Purushothama Naidu worked as a Tamil teacher in schools before joining Raja’s College at Thiruvaiyaru with the help of Tamil scholar Karanthai Umamaheswaranar in 1935. He joined the University of Madras in 1948. After his retirement, he conducted research at Annamalai University and the University of Madras. It was during his tenure at the University of Madras that he started writing commentaries.
Five commentaries
The commentaries were written by scholars with profound knowledge in Tamil and Sanskrit. While there were five commentaries — Aarayirappadi (six thousand granthas), Onpathinayirappadi (9,000), Panneerayirappadi (12,000), Irupathinalayirappadi (24,000) and Muppattharayirappadi (36,000) — on Thiruvaimozhi, Purusothama Naidu ventured into writing a Tamil commentary “since they were in manipravalam (a mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil) and were beyond the grasp of all in Tamil Nadu”.
He had rendered into Tamil the 36,000 granthas, the most exhaustive work, known as Idu or Bagavat Vishayam, by Vadakku Thiruveethi Pillai. The seed for translating Idu into Tamil was sowed in Purushothama Naidu by Umamaheswaranar while he was working at Raja’s College. He was further encouraged by T.M. Narayanasami Pillai, Chairman, Board of Studies, University of Madras, and Chairman, Public Service Commission.
Purushothama Naidu, though fully qualified, had expressed his reservations in his preface, saying that only a person who was well-versed in Sanskrit and Tamil could do justice to the work. He would have hesitated out of humility. The 10 volumes of commentaries on Thiruvaimozhi stand testimony to his in-depth knowledge of both languages and literature.
Nammalwar is considered the greatest of the 12 Alwars and A.K. Ramanujan explains why. “The poems are at once philosophic and poetic, direct in feeling yet intricate in design, single-minded yet various in mood-wondering, mischievous, tender, joyous, subtly probing, often touching despair but never staying with it.”
The commentaries on Thiruvaimozhi running into 10 volumes opened the windows to the commentaries hitherto inaccessible to a major section. “The works tell us that Purushothama Naidu had in-depth knowledge not just in Vaishnavite literature but also in the entire range of Tamil literature, from the Sangam period to Subramania Bharathiyar,” says S. Gokulachari, the editor of Aalayadharisanam, who published a centenary volume on Purushothama Naidu.
Besides rendering the meaning of the verses, Purusothama Naidu has translated the commentaries into Tamil. Now quoting appropriately from the Sangam literature, now making a reference to The Kambaramayanam or other Tamil epics, now explaining the grammatical aspect of the verses, words, and phrases, now giving the meaning of an idiom or a metaphor, he has expanded the scope of the Bhakti literature and has given it a universal appeal. Tamil scholar and professor at the University of Madras R.P. Sethu Pillai, in his foreword, points out that in these commentaries, the explanation of philosophic thoughts and sequence of sacred hymns, the connotations of words and expressions, and the citation of authoritative texts are characterised by great erudition and profound devotion. “This is the first attempt to make the spiritual treasurers of the Idu accessible to the student of Tamil,” he adds.
Purushothama Naidu translated the commentaries on Acharya Hridayam into Tamil and the work was published in 1965. Vaishnavite Acharya Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar wrote the work and Manavalamamunigal wrote the commentaries. In translating the commentaries, Purushothama Naidu acknowledged the knowledge imparted to him by his uncle Alagiya Manavala Egangi Swamigal. He has also made use of the notes prepared by his uncle. Srivachana Bhushanam was a work of Pillai Lokacharya and the commentaries were written by Manavalamamunigal.
Purushothama Naidu, who penned 18 books, spent his last days at Thirupathirupuliyur in Cuddalore. He died in 1976.
