During this spouse quantity to Singing the physique of God (Oxford 2002), Steven P. Hopkins has translated into modern American English verse poems written by means of the South Indian Srivaisnava thinker and saint-poet Venkatesa (c. 1268-1369). those poems, in 3 diversified languages - Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maharastri Prakrit -- composed for one specific Hindu god, Vishnu Devanayaka, the "Lord of Gods" at Tiruvahindrapuram, shape a microcosm of the saint-poet's paintings. They surround significant topics of Venkatesa's devotional poetics, from the play of divine absence and presence on the planet of spiritual feelings; the "telescoping" of time prior and destiny within the everlasting "present" of the poem; love, human vulnerability and the impassible perfected physique of god; to the devotional adventure of a "beauty that saves" and to what Hopkins phrases the paradoxical coexistence of asymmetry and intimacy of lover and liked on the center of the divine-human come upon. in addition, those poems shape not just a thematic microcosm, yet a linguistic one embracing all 3 of the poet's operating languages. just like the remembered international of Proust's Combray within the flavor of madeleine dipped in tea, or Blake's global in a Grain of Sand, we style and spot, during this one specific position, and during this one specific type of Vishnu, quite a few protean varieties and powers of the divine, and hint a veritable summa of theological, philosophical, and literary designs.
every one translated poem kinds a bankruptcy in itself, has its personal person brief Afterword, in addition to targeted linguistic and thematic notes and remark. the quantity concludes, for comparative purposes, with a translation of Tirumankaiyalvar's luminous cycle of verses for Devanayaka from the Periyatirumoli.
As a lot an issue as an anthology, this booklet may be of curiosity to scholars and students of South Asian stories, comparative faith, and Indian literatures.
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Additional resources for An Ornament for Jewels: Love Poems For The Lord of Gods, by Vedantadesika
Bankruptcy 7 1. For a close interpreting of Parakala’s hagiographic resources, see Hardy, ‘‘The Srı¯vaisnava Hagiography of Parakala. ’’ __ 2. For an intensive dialogue of the classical Tamil landscapes, see Ramanujan, Poems of affection and struggle, 231–297, esp. the helpful chart on 242. For specific references in Tirumaxkaiyalvar, i've got consulted the variation with observation of Vı¯rarakavacariyan, the Visishtadvaita Pracharini Sabha variation, vol. four (1978), 295–308. For a comparative instance of the devotional use of the caxkam landscapes within the poems of the Tamil Saiva saint-poets, see Peterson, ‘‘Singing of a spot. ’’ three. we have now already spoken of Vexkatesa’s use of Tirumaxkaiyalvar’s epithet _ Atiyavarkku meyyan¯e (The Lord of fact to His Servants). See Hardy, Viraha-bhakti, _ ¯ lvar poems, either over270–280 for a dialogue of the elemental thematic parts of A all and in each one stanza. four. Parakala is usually recognized for his inventive use of people fabrics and his notable (and special) matal poems that describe the defiant girl-in-love parading her soreness _ (born of separation from her cherished) within the streets, ‘‘riding the palmyra horse. ’’ notes to pages 121–125 one hundred fifty five See Hardy, Viraha-bhakti, 388– 402. Archana Venkatesan is at the moment engaged on a long term venture that appears on the matal poems and their devotional motifs. For _ the Tamil texts, with smooth Tamil note glosses and commentaries, see the Ciriya Tirumatal and the Periya Tirumatal within the gathered works of Tirumaxkaiyalvar, _ _ with Tamil statement of Srı¯ Uttamur Vı¯rarakavacariyan, vol. eleven, 77–146. ¯ caryas, the salvific five. Such buildings comprise the theological mediation of the an influence of the communitiy of bhaktas, and an elaborated, ideologically pointed literature at the benefits of specific sacred areas. See Hardy, Viraha-bhakti, 471. ¯ n malar: cerunti: hound’s berry, sedge, golden-flowered pear. additionally 6. cerunti na _ ¯ tako¯rai or curapunnai (Calophylum Longifolium). The commentator identifies va _ __ ˜ ci. ’’ this flowering tree as having the ‘‘qualities of kurin 7. ceyyaval: additionally ‘‘red’’ or ‘‘fair’’ woman. ˙ eight. itam: introducing an extended compact description of position. This use of itam _ _ constructions each one verse (tirumoli), dividing it into elements. nine. tenna ennu vantu in icai mural taru. __ ¯ tavi or the gurukkatti is a sort of jasmine, and so similar, the commen10. ma tator says, to the mullai tinai or ‘‘ jasmine landscape’’ of caxkam Tamil. _ ¯ rkku meyyan ¯akiya tevana ¯ yakan: beginning of the epithet favorite through Vex11. atiya _ katesa in his Tamil poems to this related type of Vishnu. we now have already obvious how _ mey potential either ‘‘body’’ and ‘‘truth. ’’ 12. tikal taru: ‘‘gives elegance. ’’ ˙ ¯ marai. thirteen. ceyya ta 14. mullai am koti ¯ata. _ _ ¯ tavi cenpakam: the jasmine, ma ¯ tavi, and champak flowers additionally 15. moykol ma ˙ _ sign for the commentator the mullai tinai. _ sixteen. in arul. This refers back to the tale of Narasimha, Prahlada, and his even demon _ ˙ father Hiranyakas¯ıpu. _ _ 17. elil tikal: ‘‘sheds appealing luster. ’’ ˙ 18.