Francis X. Clooney SJ's review of "For my Blemishless Lord"

American Academy of Religion  BROWSE BOOKS  FOR REVIEWERS  NEWS AND FEATURES ABOUT US  ADVANCED SEARCH LOGIN DONATE   Home / Beyond Boundaries / Religion / History / Literary Criticism / For My Blemishless Lord For My Blemishless Lord A Study of Three Śrīvaiṣṇava Medieval Commentaries on Tiruppāṇ Āḻvār’s Amalaṉ Āti Pirāṉ By: Suganya Anandakichenin Series: Beyond Boundaries 388 Pages HARDCOVER ISBN: 9783110773170 Published By: Walter de Gruyter GmbH Published: December 2023 REVIEW $124.00 FROM PUBLISHER AUTHOR(S) Suganya Anandakichenin is a highly respected early-career scholar producing ground-breaking translations of the works of the ālvārs—the 6th-10th century Vaiṣṇava Tamil saints of south India—but also and most importantly of commentaries on those works. Her 2018 My Sapphire-Hued Lord, My Beloved! (Institut Francais De Pondichery) included an annotated translation of the Perumāḷ Tirumoḻi of Kulacēkara Āḻvār, and the medieval maṇipravāḷa (Tamil-Sanskrit) commentary by Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai (c. 1230). For My Blemishless Lord: A Study of Three Śrīvaiṣṇava Medieval Commentaries on Tiruppāṇ Āḻvār’s Amalaṉ Āti Pirāṉ brings the same precision and commitment to detail, and in a more user-friendly manner that facilitates an appreciation of both āḻvār verses and the commentaries. At the book’s core are simply the ten verses of the Amalaṉ Āti Pirāṉ (“The primal, blemishless Lord”), the sole work attributed to Tiruppāṇāḻvār. By tradition he was an outcaste, barred from ordinary darśana (close-up seeing and worshipping of the deity) in temples; thus, his intense desire to see God by his inner eye is all the more poignant and powerful. The verses take up less than two pages, charting a rising visualization of parts of the divine body: feet (1), red garment on lower body (2), navel (3), golden belt (4), chest (5), throat (6), mouth (7), eyes (8), the whole dark blue body (9), and the culminating pleasure of this vision (10), as the saint experiences full bliss at Lord’s presence inside himself, inside his very eyes. Here is the first verse, as translated by Anandakichenin: As the primordial, blemishless Lord made me a servant to [His] devotees, the lustrous lotus feet — of the flawless [Lord], the King of the celestials, Him from Veṅkaṭam whose groves are filled with fragrance, the spotless [Lord], the impeccable [Lord], the righteous celestial Being, the Lord of Raṅgam with tall ramparts, — come and appear to be within my eyes. (1) Much has been written about the challenges facing those who venture to translate Tamil poetry, faithfully reflecting the Tamil even while communicating successfully in English. A still more literal translation might find a way to highlight further this untouchable’s meditation on purity, evident in the first words of the first three lines: amalan (line 1) - vimalan (2) – nirmalan ninmalan (3) — perhaps, “lacking flaw,” “flawless,” “without flaw pure of flaw.” (Readers will also want to consult Steven Hopkins’ beautiful translation of the entire poem in his 2002 Singing the Body of God [Oxford University Press].) But Anandakichenin’s scholarship is most amply distinguished by her determination to locate the verses in the venerable but living context of Śrīvaiṣṇava commentaries. Across three hundred large pages, each of the ten verses is repeated, this time embedded in the early commentaries of the pioneering Kṛṣṇapāda, better known as Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai (c. 1230); Alakiya Maṇavāḷa Perumāḷ Nāyanār (1207-1309); and Veṅkaṭanātan (1268-1369), better known as Vedānta Deśika. The Tamil of the verses and maṇipravāḷa (mixed Tamil and Sanskrit) of the commentaries are given on each left-side page, with the translations on the adjacent right-side pages. Thus, it is easy to read with the ancient commentators in pondering every word of the āḻvār’s verses. Most pages have footnotes, some noting variant readings and technical matters, others drawing on 20th-century commentators such as Uttamur Viraghavachariar and P. B. Annangarachariar, as well as the popular discourses of the famed contemporary expositor, Velukkudi Krishnan. The entire volume is prefaced by an erudite sixty-page introduction. Four valuable appendices and exhaustive bibliography conclude the volume. Hard work will reward the reader, since we learn here how the poetry has been read for a thousand years. Each and every word has been reverently glossed by the commentators, the meaning of every verse illumined in light of the whole of the poem and the wider ālvār canon. Debates occur around striking phrases. For instance, what does it mean to say “the lustrous lotus feet . . .come and appear to be within my eyes” (1)? Why stress Srirangam’s “tall ramparts” (1)? When in verse 10 the ālvār’s eyes “see the nectar” of divine presence, what kind of seeing and tasting is imagined here? The commentators deal with all such questions, and it is Anandakichenen who enables us to visit this great intellectual and spiritual community of expert readers, made accessible in English for the first time. As such, the book is a great boon to the small portion of the academic community interested in the ālvārs and Śrīvaiṣṇava commentaries. By this volume and its 2018 predecessor, Anandakichenin provides considerable raw materials for a substantive contribution to the study of the development of Vaiṣṇava bhakti in Tamil south India as an intentional, constructive theological tradition, shaping and refining itself by bringing the songs of the ālvārs into conversation with the thought of Rāmānuja, the great Sanskrit-writing Vedānta theologian. Together, the songs and commentaries offer an unparalleled treasury of religious reflection and exegesis disclosive of the early history of bhakti in India. It is arguable that there is no other instance of such a density of reflection and exegesis of devotional poetry, over so long a period, in any tradition or any language in south Asia. The general reader, and even scholars of bhakti in other language-regions of India, will find this erudite volume tough going. For some, the detail will seem a barrier as well as a help, and Anandakichenin offers such readers only limited guidance. Her section on the “themes and ideas” of Tiruppāṇāḻvār’s poem is just two paragraphs long; the study of the verses in relation to the saint’s hagiography runs only five pages. The patient reader must plunge in, and learn slowly, verse by verse, insight by insight. Simpler appreciations of the ālvār’s verses will still be desired. But this is not really to criticize Anandakichenin’s splendid, lovingly prepared erudite gift to us. We can only look forward to more such fruits of her scholarship in the years to come. Francis X. Clooney, SJ is the Parkman Professor of Divinity and professor of comparative theology at Harvard University, Date Of Review: August 21, 2024 RELATED BOOKS   READING RELIGION NEWSLETTER Subscribe to our newsletter and receive updates on new books, new reviews, and more. SUBMIT You can unsubscribe at any time. We will never share or sell your e-mail address. PRIVACY POLICY TERMS OF USE LOGIN MY ACCOUNT Visit other AAR publications © 2024 Reading Religion. 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