Rajaram Sir, What a wonderful and mighty phenomenon you are! My God,there is just no end to the flow of lessons,and contemplation triggers from you.I salute you. YM
On Sun, Jan 15, 2023 at 6:17 AM Rajaram Krishnamurthy <[email protected]> wrote: > VEDANTA DESIKAN ON KALIDASAN AND HIS HAMSA SANDESAM > > A few days back I wrote about Hamsa sandesa of the Vedanrtha > desikan. The desikan wrote the status of Sita and Rama in the journey of an > Hamsa. The idea for him arose out of Mega santhesam of Kalidasa. The > ignorant always speak of copy and paste as , originality is copying and > pasting gossips. But, as I used to say, everything had been written > already. There is no and there cannot be any originality, even if he were > to write his own life story. Every TV serial is nothing but the reflections > of the Ramayanam and Mahabharatham only. A research professor has written > the book, and I have extracted a passage where vedantha desikan is compared > to Kalidasan. > > I have been trying to understand why Vedantadesika, a writer who is first > and foremost a religious thinker, would be as invested as he is in the > poetry of Kalidasa, a poet who shows little interest in theology or > religious sentiments. In section 1, I identified which aspects of > Kalidasa’s poetry were most often taken up by Vedantadesika: surveying the > references to Kalidasa scattered throughout his oeuvre, I argued that > Vedantadesika isn’t primarily drawn to any viewpoint or “message” of > Kalidasa but to pre-propositional fragments in Kalidasa’s poetry—fragments > on the order of expressions, images, and metaphors—and more generally to > the capacity of Kalidasa’s writing to conjure vivid sensations. However, it > still wasn’t clear why Vedantadesika should be fascinated by this aspect of > Kalidasa’s poetry. In reading Vedantadesika’s texts on devotional > meditation (section 2) alongside Kalidasa’s depictions of daydreaming > (section 3), certain thematic connections between the two writers have > begun to emerge, which might be summed up as follows: > > (1) both Kalidasa and Vedantadesika are interested in the imagination’s > potential to conjure a world whose reality rivals that of the everyday > world; (2) both writers see the imagination reaching this potential in > extreme states of mind, such as lovesickness; (3) both identify the > imagination thus intensified as one of the sources of artistic creation. > That these are facts born of our observation doesn’t make them any less > true; however, their use as data for understanding Vedantadesika’s > investment in Kalidasa would be more convincing if we could somehow confirm > that Vedantadesika also saw them. We find such confirmation in the > *Haṃsasandeśa > *(“Message of the Goose”), where Vedantadesika’s interest in Kalidasa > most visibly intersects with his religious thinking. For in this poem, > Vedantadesika casts his reflections on devotional meditation into > depictions of daydreaming similar to the ones we find in the *Meghadūta*. > In what follows, I will be interested in what these depictions can tell us > about Vedantadesika’s relation to Kalidasa. > > In both the *Haṃsasandeśa *and the *Meghadūta*, as in so many works of > messenger poetry, we meet characters who are engaged in various imaginative > exercises intended to make absent beloveds seem present. Late in the > *Meghādūta*, for example, in a speech occurring entirely within the > yaksha’s imagination, the cloud reports to the yaksha’s beloved one of the > techniques by which the yaksha has simulated reuniting with her: > > “He enters (*viś*) your body with his: > > yours so thin and thin his, > > his too hot and hot yours, > > his welling with tears as you shed tears, > > yours ever longing just as his longs, > > yours releasing hot sighs and his even more sighs.” > > With these imaginings does your distant lover > > enter your body, his path blocked by cruel fate. 214 > > In the *Haṃsasandeśa*’s companion to this verse, Vedantadesika has > Rama similarly “enter” (*nirviś*) Sita by a technique of the imagination: > > “Seeing that our bodies touch in the southern wind, > > our gazes unite (*dṛṣṭi-saṃyoga*) in the moon, > > we have one home in the world, > > on the earth we are joined in a single bed, > > we have the expanse of a beautiful canopy > > in the sky decorated with stars, > > O most beautiful one, I reach (or “delight in”; *nirviś*) you > > who have become distant.” 215 > > In both verses, the physical sense of entering another’s body is > prohibited by the distance separating the two pairs, for just as the cloud > refers to the yaksha as *dūravartin *(“one who is distant”), Sita is > described as *dūrībhūtā *(“one who has become distant”). “Entering” must > therefore take on another sense, which Rama and the yaksha arrive at in > different ways. The yaksha enters his lover by supposing her body to host > the same emotional responses as his, as though the two were connected in a > mystical sympathy. For instance, when he cries, he supposes that his tears > are an instinctive response to those shed by his distant beloved; or when > he sighs, he supposes that each sigh is unconsciously repeated in her. Such > mutual responsiveness is premised on the idea that to love someone is to > take on her inner life, so that “entering” comes to mean something like > > 214 aṅgenāṅgaṃ pratanu tanunā gāḍhataptena taptaṃ > > sāsreṇāśrudrutam aviratotkaṇṭham utkaṇṭhitena | > > uṣṇocchvāsaṃ samadhikatarocchvāsinā dūravartī > > saṅkalpais tair viśati vidhinā vairiṇā ruddhamārgaḥ || *MD *2.42 || > > 215 dehasparśam malayapavane drṣṭisaṃbhedam indau > > dhāmaikatvam jagati bhuvi cābhinnaparyaṅkayogam | > > tārācitre viyati vitatiṃ śrīvitānasya paśyan > > dūribhūtām sutanu vidhinā tvām aham nirviśāmi || *H *2.40 || > > “accessing another’s mind.” In Vedantadesika’s poem, Rama still > enters Sita in a way, but by means of a different movement of the > imagination: he expands the meaning of the words “touch,” “contact,” > “home,” “bed,” and “canopy” (*sparśa*, *saṃyoga*, *gṛha*, *talpa*, > *vitāna*), allowing them through the power of metaphor to mean more than > what they customarily signify. In doing so, the sentence “I enter (reach) > you” ends up holding true, but only in a special sense. > > While the imaginative exercises recorded in these verses have > presumably been performed sometime in the past—sometime before the yaksha > spots the cloud and Rama the goose—the present of each poem is filled with > the performance of yet another imaginative exercise; namely, the use of a > messenger or intermediary as a substitute for oneself. The yaksha gives us > his understanding of this exercise in *Meghadūta *2.43, where he imagines > the cloud introducing his message to his beloved as follows: > > ‘Once he longed to say in your ear > > what could have been spoken aloud > > in front of your friends, > > for he desired to touch your face. > > Now, though he is beyond earshot > > and unviewable to your eyes, > > through my mouth > > he says to you the following words > > which have been composed with longing: …’ 217 > > In *Haṃsasandeśa *2.32, Rama has the goose greet Sita in > similar fashion: > > ‘Once your ornaments and body lotions > > I am inspired by Yigal Bronner and David Shulman’s thought to read these > verses together; however, my account of their differences slightly diverges > from theirs. See “‘A Cloud Turned Goose’: Sanskrit in the Vernacular > Millennium,” *The Indian Economic & Social History Review*43, no. 1 > (March 1, 2006): 26–27. > > 217 śabdākhyeyaṃ yad api kila te yaḥ sakhīnāṃ purastāt > > karṇe lolaḥ kathayitum abhūd ānanasparśalobhāt | > > so’tikrāntaḥ śravaṇaviṣayaṃ locanābhyām adṛśyas > > tvām utkaṇṭhāviracitapadaṃ manmukhenedam āha || *M *2.43 || > > were an obstacle to him; now the power of fate > > has led you to a distant island. > > Having placed you in the path of his eyes, > > as though he were very close, > > he who is faring well speaks thus, my lady, > > by the mouth of his friend: …’ 218 > > Both verses begin by juxtaposing a past moment, when even a > negligible distance from the beloved seemed significant, with a present in > which the beloved is beyond the range of sight and hearing; both conclude > with the suggestion that a messenger is capable of dulling the pain of > separation. But in Vedantadesika’s version of the scenario, we are given an > additional detail concerning the sender of the message: Rama has composed > his words to Sita while visualizing her, “having placed Sita in the path of > his eyes.” I take this detail to indicate the crucial role that > visualization plays in this imaginative exercise as Vedantadesika > understands it. For if the use of an intermediary is to succeed in > simulating direct communication, both addresser and addressee must be made > to feel they are in each other’s presence. For Sita, that feeling would > arise by being addressed in the voice of Rama, as opposed to the mediating > voice of indirect speech (as critics often point out, much lyric poetry > derives its power from a first-person voicing which simulates the presence > of a live speaker). For Rama, the feeling of presence is achieved by making > Sita vivid to him through an act of visualization. > > Vedantadesika makes a similar specification about visualization in his > version of *Meghadūta *2.22. There the yaksha describes his beloved to > the cloud as follows: > > “One who is slender and dark, > > who has pointed teeth, > > whose lip is like a ripe red fruit, > > 218 yasyā yasmin vyavadhir abhavad bhūṣaṇālepanādiḥ > > nītām enāṃ niyativibhavād antarīpaṃ davīyaḥ | > > pratyāsīdanniva nayanayor vartmani sthāpayitvā > > sa tvām evaṃ vadati kuśalī devi sakhyā mukhena || *H *2.32 || > > who is emaciated, > > who has the trembling eyes of a fawn > > and a sunken navel, > > who walks slowly due to her heavy hips, > > who is slightly hunched over due to her breasts, > > who seems she could have been > > the very first woman that Brahma created…219 > > Here is how Vedantadesika rewrites Kalidasa’s verse in *Haṃsasandeśa > *2.10: > > She is my seeing: > > her eyes are shaped like fish; > > her brows are curved; her hair is beautiful; > > she is thin; she bends over by the weight of her breasts; > > she is radiant as burning gold; she is young; > > her gait resembles yours; > > her waist is thin as a Vedic altar; > > her limbs are superlative; > > having learned the ocean called love, > > she seems the superior patron goddess for it. 220 > > That the particular adjectives used to describe the women are different > should be unsurprising, since Sita and the yakshini are different > characters. The more significant difference concerns the strange way > Vedantadesika has Rama begin his description of Sita: *sā me dṛṣṭiḥ*—“she > is my vision,” or even “she is my seeing.” One way of getting around the > strangeness of this expression would be to take it as a hyperbolic metaphor > meaning something like “she is as precious to me as my vision.” However, > the emphasis placed throughout the poem on the actual sense of sight > …..(contd below) > > { notes in sanskrit verse of vedantha desikan: > > 219 tanvī śyāmā śikharidaśanā pakvabimbādharoṣṭhī > > madhye kṣāmā cakitahariṇīprekṣaṇā nimnanābhiḥ | > > śroṇībhārād alasagamanā stokanamnā stanābhyāṃ > > yā tatra syād yuvativiṣaye sṛṣṭir ādyeva dhātuḥ || *M *2.22 || > > 220 sā me dṛṣṭiḥ śapharanayanā sannatabhrūḥ sukeśī > > tanvī tuṅgastanabharanatā taptajāmbūnadābhā | > > bālā yuṣmatpratimagamanā vedimadhyā varāṅgī > > śrṅgārākhyaṃ nidhim adhigatā śreyasī devateva || *H *2.10 || > > The idea here is that, since Sita is so beautiful, she seems a more > suitable divinity of love than Kama himself.}}} > > …….. discourages such an interpretation. If instead we took it to mean > something like “she is all that I see,” the sentence would tell us > something about how Rama speaks the words that follow. It would suggest > that Rama’s description of Sita isn’t just a list of words that he has kept > stored in memory but issues from a visualization of Sita in the present > moment; a visualization so intense, moreover, that Rama is moved to > describe it as seeing. Vedantadesika’s insistence on visualization in both > of these rewritings seems less to undermine Kalidasa’s depictions of > daydreaming (at least we need not take it that way) than to render explicit > the mental processes already at work in those depictions, offering > something like a gloss on them. > > Perhaps the most complex explorations of the imagination in these poems > appear in those verses where Rama and the yaksha imagine their beloveds > imagining them. In *H *2.61, for instance, Rama imagines that Sita has > been using his ring as a substitute for himself: > > “Again and again, by turns > > she puts my ring on her lotus-hand > > and her body thrills, > > hair standing on end; > > she keeps it on her head > > bereft of its jewel > > and enjoys it there; > > when her breasts > > grow burdened with pain > > from the grief inside, caringly > > she rests it upon them. 221” > > This verse recalls at least two moments in Kalidasa’s poetry. The first of > these appears in *Raghuvamsa *12.65 (examined above in section 3), where > Rama similarly uses Sita’s crest-jewel (choodamani) as a substitute for > her. If we fancifully took Vedantadesika’s Rama as an extension of > Kalidasa’s {{221 bhūyo bhūyaḥ karasarasije nyasya romāñcitāṅgīṃ > > maulau cūḍāmaṇivirahite nirviśantīṃ nidhāya > > antastāpād adhigatarujor ādarād arpayantīṃ > > paryāyeṇa stanakalaśayor aṅgulīyam madīyam || *H *2.16 || (to be taken > with *manye *from *H *2.13)}} > > character, we could say that Rama here is imagining Sita as his > emotional mirror. The second moment appears in *Meghadūta *2.27, where > the yaksha imagines his beloved daydreaming about him in much the same way > that he has been daydreaming about her: > > ‘Or she marks on the ground > > the remaining months of the term > > which was set on the day of our separation, > > counting them with flowers > > laid in the doorway; > > *or she delights in our lovemaking* > > *keeping in her heart how it begins*; > > such are women’s diversions > > when their lovers are away. “222 > > In such verses, Vedantadesika and Kalidasa depict daydreaming on two > levels, showing us the beloved’s imaginative exercises while at the same > time portraying imagining-one’s-belovedimagining- oneself as itself a kind > of imaginative exercise. Throughout this chapter I have been using a > variety of words to write about the imaginative life of humans, some of > which may at first seem to clash (such as *daydream *and *exercise*). > This variety is a consequence not of imprecision but of the range of > genuine experiences of the imagination recorded in the works I’ve been > examining. For instance, while the imagination overwhelms consciousness in > characters like Maricha, Shakuntala, and Urvashi, the situation is reversed > in Vedantadesika’s *Saṅkalpasūryodaya*, where Imagination answers to > Will-Power (*vyavasāya*), obediently painting images on the mind’s wall. > Accordingly, while expressions like *daydream*, *reverie*, *hallucination*, > and *being carried away *correspond to experiences where the imagination > assails us against our will, words like *technique*, *exercise*, > *contemplation*, and *meditation *correspond to experiences where > imaginative intensity is desired but must be effortfully sought out. > Dushyanta’s experience fluctuates between these two extremes: his painting > of Shakuntala owes its lifelikeness to his imaginative mastery, but that > painting comes to assert a mastery of its own over Dushyanta, so thoroughly > absorbing him that he can’t distinguish his mental creation from reality. > > The experience of characters in the messenger poems is similarly variable. > The most obvious examples here are the yaksha and Rama: for each lover, > lovesickness has so intensely activated his imagination that he starts > speaking to a nonhuman; however, in the course of his monologue, he comes > to describe a number of imaginative techniques he uses to shut out the > harshness of his solitude. Less obvious but more illuminating (more > illuminating on what is distinct in *Haṃsasandeśa*) is the example of > Vedantadesika’s Sita. At times Sita seems completely passive to her > imagination, as when she starts speaking to her ornaments (*H *2.12); at > other times, she seems to be semiconsciously using her imagination to dull > the pain of her grief, as when she rests Rama’s ring on different parts of > her body (*H *2.16). While such instances find precedents in the *Meghadūta > *(specifically in verses where Kalidasa depicts the yakshini’s pining), > in *Haṃsasandeśa *2.22 Vedantadesika records an experience of the > imagination that is entirely absent in Kalidasa’s poem: > > “When the restraining of all mental states > > has quelled her stream of > > thoughts on the world outside, > > her mind shall be fixed on me alone, > > as per the writings on love: > > by a high intensity of her imagination > > which heeds none else, > > she shall be practicing unwavering meditation > > with a mind pliant from dissolving within.223” > > Again we find Sita substituting an inner reality for the external > world that grieves her. But here that substitution results neither from a > cognitive error owing to delirium nor from a temporary coping tactic used > to drown out the harsh conditions of her kidnapping. Rather, it is achieved > in tranquility by an advanced yogic technique: Sita clears her mind of all > its representations of “the world outside” (*bahiḥ*), allowing it to turn > “within” (*antaḥ*) and, more pliant than before, to concentrate fully and > lovingly on Rama. The second half of the verse specifies the nature of this > concentration: it amounts to an “unwavering meditation” on Rama, and is > brought about not only through the negative labor of restraining habitual > patterns of thought but also through a positive ffort—as Vedantadesika > writes, repeating almost verbatim an expression we encountered in > Ramanuja’s *Śrībhāṣya*, “by a high intensity of the imagination (*bhāvanāyāḥ > prakarṣāt*).” That Vedantadesika reproduces Ramanuja’s theological term > in his description of Sita’s pining is crucial. It suggests that what > Vedantadesika gives us in *Haṃsasandeśa *2.22 is an illustration not just > of the lovesick imagination running on overdrive but indeed of devotional > meditation; or, put differently, that Vedantadesika sees devotional > meditation as continuous with the domain of imaginative experience that > messenger poetry is in its very nature committed to exploring. > Vedantadesika may even be suggesting that devotional meditation just is the > lovesick imagination running on overdrive. Pursuing that line, we could > venture the following shorthand notations: *To be a devotee is to be a > lover-in-separation; to be a lover-in-separation is to be a daydreamer; > and to be a daydreamer is to be a poet (that is, to be able to conjure a > compelling inner reality by the power of one’s imagination). And these > formulations wouldn’t be misleading either, so long as they were > accompanied by two important qualifications. The first concerns the status > of will: whereas lovers are assailed by daydreams against their will, > devotees are to practice devotional meditation by a deliberate technique. > Indeed, it is precisely because daydreams are so wayward that they often > prove disastrous for Kalidasa’s characters: both Urvashi and Shakuntala are > cursed for succumbing to them, and while Kalidasa doesn’t specify the > negligence for which the yaksha has been doomed to solitary confinement, it > is reasonable to surmise based on what we learn about the yaksha’s > temperament, and as many traditional readers have surmised, that his* > > *negligence too was the result of attentional failure.225 By contrast, the > kind of imaginative meditation that interests Vedantadesika is an ideal to > be achieved.* > > *The second qualification concerns the epistemological value of the > imagination: while the imagination distorts reality for sufferers of > daydreams, in devotional meditation it delivers the devotee to a higher > reality, as Vedantadesika notes in his remark on Maricha’s hallucinations. > To me, this notion of a higher reality is key to understanding > Vedantadesika’s counterintuitive claim in Haṃsasandeśa 1.4 that “finding a > messenger is greater fortune than embracing the beloved.” While embracing > the beloved is perhaps the highest form of intimacy possible in the world > of everyday experience, for Vedantadesika the everyday world is to be > distinguished from the ultimate reality of god. That reality is accessed > not through our common ways of sensing and understanding but through a > transcendental exercise of the imagination.* > > KR IRS 14 1 23 > -- *Mar* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCLjBUWe5Pjb1VJQfVE1GWLodb_y0Bp0usRzMbbWORUFhA%40mail.gmail.com.
