tAtparya ratnAvaLi - Part 6 - Slokam 4.
Slokam 4:
bhAshA gItiH praSastA bhgavati vacanAt rAjavac-copacArAt
sA cAgastya-prasUtvAtviti parijagRhe bhUmikAbheda yogyA |
yat-tat-kRtyam SrutInAm munigaNa-vihitaiH setihAsaiH purANaiH
tatrAsau tattva-sImnaH SaTha paThana muneH samhitA sArva-
bhaumI || (4)
It was pointed in the Introduction that in svAmi deSikan's time,
samskRt was the accepted language for philosophical discussions,
devotional writings etc., and was accepted through the north and the
south as the language of the King's courts etc. Languages other than
samskRt were considered acceptable for use only by women, SUdra-s,
etc. for use in singing His Glory. After all, the brAhmaNa-s had the
Sruti, smRti-s, itihAsa-s etc. available to them (in samskRt), and
some people argued that there was no justification to resort to works
such as tiruvAimozhi. This feeling was prevalent to the point that
any work in Tamil was not considered appropriate for devotional
writings, chanting etc. Even though svAmi deSikan chose the samskRt
language for the current work just to reach out to people who did not
understand or speak Tamil, and to bring out the nectar contained in
tiruvAimozhi to the non-samskRt knowing devotional scholars, he also
speaks out against those who held the Tamil language in an inferior
position. This is the subject of this Slokam.
praSastA ? praSasta means lauded, commended, eulogized.
Bhagavat ? glorious, illustrious.
bhUmikA ? tirumeni, SarIram.
SvAmi deSikan notes that any language is appropriate for singing the
praise of the Lord. There is an injunction against using languages
other than the deva bhAshA (samskRt) by BrAhmaNa-s only in vedic
ceremonies; it is sanctioned that any language can be used in
singing hari kIrti. This is declared in matsya purANam:
hari kIrtim vinaiva anyat brAhmaNena narottama |
bhAshA gAnam na gAtavyam tasmAt pApam tvayA kRtam ||
These are the words of yama to a king who had driven out a brAhmaNa
from his kingdom because the latter had sung the Glory of the Lord in
a language other than samskRt. yama says that the king had sinned,
because it is perfectly acceptable to sing the praise of the Lord in
any language, and the restriction on the brAhamaNa-s is using other
languages only comes in when it is for purposes other than for
singing the praise of the Lord. SrI bhAshyakArar also has
said: "yAj~ne karmaNi niyamaH, anyatra a-niyamaH" ? the restriction
that samskRt alone should be used is applicable only for the vedic
sacrificial rituals, not otherwise.
There is also a rule that bhagavAn should be offered all upacAram-s
(honors, worship, entertainment) befitting the great kings, He being
the King of all kings. Kings are offered honors in any language in
which the servants and the citizens can communicate their praise of
the kings. By this rule also, it is perfectly allowed to entertain
or sing the praise of the Lord in any language.
Having thus established that the praise of the Lord can be done in
any language, svAmi deSikan next sets out to establish the special
superiority of the tamizh language. The tamizh language originated
from the great sage agastya, who was a BrAhmaNa himself, in addition
to being a highly reputed sage. He would not have initiated this
language if it were not sanctioned by the vedic pramANa-s to use this
language in the praise of the Lord.
The tamizh language also has its greatness at the same level as the
itihAsa-s, purANa-s, and the upanishads, since the compositions of
the AzhvArs in this language serves the same purpose that the itihAsa-
s, purANa-s and the veda-s perform, namely, clarifying the message of
the upanishads. In this respect, it is not in any way inferior or
subordinate to these other sources that support the messages of the
veda-s; the work of nammAzhvAr in tamizh does not claim to stand
independently of the veda-s, but instead, of all the works in tamizh,
nammAzhvAr's tiruvAimozhi is superior to even the itihAasa-s and the
purANa-s since it very clearly explains the message of the veda-s in
a way that can be easily understood and enjoyed.
Thus, svAmi deSikan puts forth a great case for tamizh being a very
worthy language for praising the Lord, and refutes the incorrect view
held in his time by some that the Brahmin community whose duty it was
to devote their time to the study and practice of the veda-s, should
not be devoting time to the study of tiruvAimozhi.
- bhagavati vacanAt, bhAshA gItiH praSastA ? Any language, not
just samskRt, is appropriate for praising the Lord. Any form of
music is appropriate as well. This is supported by declarations in
the Sruti and smRti-s. Just like sAma veda, music in praise of
bhagavAn is declared to be a path for moksham.
- rAjavat ca upacArAt ? It is well-known that the servants of a
king will, and can, only praise their king in the language that they
know. emperumAn is the king of all kings (rAjAdirAjan), and thus
deserves to be praised in whichever form His servants (which includes
everyone) are able to praise Him.
- agasya prasUtAt ? Of all these `other' languages, the
dramiDa bhAshA ? the tamizh language, is unique in that it was
originated by the great agastya muni, who was well-versed in veda-s
and SAstra-s. Obviously, he won't originate a language unless it
fulfilled the requirement of being fit for singing the praise of the
Lord.
- bhUmikA bheda yogyA parijagRhe - Based on this, the AcArya-s
have determined and accepted that the tamizh language is fit for use
by those belonging to all the different varNa-s, including the
brAhmaNa-s.
- muni gaNa vihitaiH SrutInAm sa itihAsaiH purANaiH yat-tat
kRtyam ? Whatever service has been rendered to the Sruti-s by all the
itihAsa-s and purANa-s composed by the different sages (in other
words, these works are considered upa-brahmaNa-s or those that
explain the message of the veda-s)
- SaTha pathana muneH sattva sImnaH samhitA tatra asau sArva
bhaumI ? nammAzhvAr's work ? tiruvAimozhi, reflects the ultimate
limit of that service; it is the limit of the sAttva guNa, and is
thus seated on the throne compared to all the itihAsa-s and purANa-s
(the best of all in explaining the message of the veda-s).
-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan
(To be continued)
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