You are here: SriPedia - Oppiliappan - Archives - Aug 2007

Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00042 Aug 2007

 
Aug 2007 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Desika?s philosophical work in translation 

http://www.hindu.com/br/2007/08/07/stories/2007080750051400.htm

M.NARASIMHACHARY 


TATTVAMUKATAKALAPA of Sri Vedanta Desika ? Part I:
With word to word meaning and explanation in Tamil by
V. Vasudevachariar; Pub. by Ubhayavedanta Grantha
Amritam, 11, Hasthigiri Street, West Mambalam,
Chennai-600033. Rs. 250.
 

Venkatanatha (1268-1369 A.D) was the brightest star in
the firmament of Srivaishnava religion and philosophy
of the post-Ramanuja period. He had several
significant titles like Sarvatantra Svatantra,
Kavitarkika Simha and Vedanta Desika. He strode the
field like a colossus. Author of about 120 works
composed in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil and Manipravala,
he was held in high esteem even by those who belonged
to rival schools of thought. Of the philosophical
works composed by Desika in Sanskrit, the
Tattvamuktakalapa, the book under review occupies a
pre-eminent position. It is in this work that he
explained all the subtle points of Visishtadvaita
philosophy in a lucid and succinct manner. So as to
make sure that the concepts are clearly understood by
the readers, Desika himself wrote a commentary on it,
which is popularly known as Sarvarthasiddhi. Though a
commentary, it is considered by scholars as an
independent work. This and his other monumental work
Satadushani proved formidable to the rival schools of
thought. 

Features 

Traditional scholars say that one who has mastered the
Tattvamuktakalapa will be in a position to defeat
debaters belonging to rival schools of thought. Since
the entire text is in the form of verses, it will be
easy to commit them to memory. The text is in the form
of logical arguments, without transgressing the Vedic
teaching.

There are 500 verses in the Tattvamuktakalapa, divided
into five books called Saras (strands of pearl
garlands). They are: Jada, Jiva, Nayaka or Isvara,
Buddhi and Adravya. It is said that Desika first wrote
the Tattvamuktakalapa and then the Nyayasiddhanjana.
In both these works, he had explained the nature of
different categories. The main difference between
these woks is that the Tattvamuktakalapa examines and
repudiates other schools of thought whereas the
Nyayasiddhanjana explains the categories in a logical
manner, without entering into a detailed examination
of rival schools. The book contains an excellent,
lucid and reliable Tamil translation of the first
three sections of this monumental work of Desika. It
presents the original Sanskrit verses in Devanagari
script, and gives a word-to-word meaning followed by a
detailed explanation in Tamil. It contains useful
forewords by learned scholars and provides an
admirable summary of the contents of the three
sections in an appendix. 

The translator, Vasudevachariar, who is a versatile
scholar of great eminence, deserves our appreciation
for this publication, which makes the terse and turgid
work of Desika, simple and understandable for the
Tamil knowing people



       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, 
photos & more. 
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC


 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:Oppiliappan-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    mailto:Oppiliappan-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list