This essay was published in Madras Musings on February 1, 2022
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I
first heard of Dr Nagaswamy in newspaper articles about archaeological or
historical discoveries. In 2009, I read his path breaking 1962 thesis on
Mamallapuram. In this, Nagaswamy proposed that Rajasimha Pallava was the author
of all the monuments of Mamallapuram. Until then, the consensus among
historians was the one proposed by Jouveau Doubreil in 1915, that three Pallava
kings, Narasimha Pallava I, his grandson Parameshvara and the latter’s son
Rajasimha were each author/patrons of different monuments in Mamallapuram, over
a century.
It
was as thrilling as a Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie murder mystery. The
various aspects of architecture, epigraphy, aesthetic sensibility, poetic skill
and other historical evidence he marshaled in his arguments were brilliant.
We
mostly remember Nagaswamy as a grand old man, the Bhishma Pitamaha of
archaeology in Tamilnadu. That’s a disservice to brilliant archaeologists who
preceded him for 150 years, some of whom like TN Ramachandran, Sivaramamurthi etc
Nagaswamy himself worked with, and held in high regard. We also forget that his
accomplishments came when quite young. The Rajasimha thesis was written when he
was only 32! KA Nilakantha Sastry, in his preface to his magnum opus, “History
of South India,” (fourth edition, 1976), thanked the young Nagaswamy for his invaluable advice.
If
anything, Nagaswamy was brilliant young
man. We are fortunate that he lived long and enriched several fields: history,
dance, music, literature, and religion, not just archaeology and epigraphy. He
was a torch-bearer of a brilliant tradition of academic scholarship launched by
such British stalwarts as William Jones and Alexander Cunningham, but also had
the broad, deep learning in both Tamil and Sanskrit literature. Always seen
wearing a three-striped vibhuti across his broad forehead, he was as proud of
his bhakti, as he was respectful of scientific research.
I
encountered his Rajasimha thesis as part of my preparation for a site seminar at Mamallapuram, organized by
Prof Swaminathan, an ex-professor of IIT-Delhi, who founded Tamil Heritage
Trust. Swaminathan recalled a trip to Sittannavasal with Nagaswamy.
Sittannavasal has a ancient Jain painting, a Pandya Tamil inscription in
vattezhuthu script and a Sangam era inscription in Tamil Brahmi script. Nagaswamy
seized by enthusiasm, grabbed a sheet of paper and began demonstrating these scripts
to a teenage goat-herd standing around the monument! Did the nonplussed goat-herd
realize, that a scholar of international repute was teaching him epigraphy?
But
this spirit, of wanting every citizen to learn about and be proud of his or her
heritage, characterized Nagaswamy. He didn’t want archaeology or epigraphy confined
to intellectual islands like academic seminars and museums. In these times,
when historical monuments face exploitation as granite quarries; thousand year
old paintings are whitewashed into oblivion; bronzes are smuggled and sold; and
monuments ravaged in the name of restoration and renovation, what could be more
compelling?
In
1966, Nagaswamy became director of the Tamilnadu archaeological department, the
first of any state in India. He published several pamphlets priced at a few
paise, when books were expensive and libraries rare. He persuaded the
government to build museums at twelve district headquarters – before this, only
Madras and Pudukottai had museums. Archaeologists from other states marveled
that his proteges could read Tamil inscriptions off the walls of temples, when
in most other states it involved a laborious process of taking estampages and
weeks of decipherment.
He
faced his quota of setbacks and controversies, scandals and political and
ideological clashes. He was suspended at one time. While he awaited an enquiry,
he did not sit idle and morose. Like India’s freedom fighters who wrote books
in prison, Nagaswamy put his literary and artistic talents to full use, and
composed several dance dramas on historical and religious figures like RajaRaja
Chola, Rajendra Chola, Manimekalai, Appar etc. With Kapila Vatsyayan, he cofounded
Natyanjali, a dance fesitval in Aadavallaan
Nataraja’s kanaka-sabha, in
Chidambaram. Several of his dance dramas were performed by artistes of national
repute, not just in India but in Germany, Sweden, USA, Canada etc. The enquiry later cleared him of all charges - there was foulplay, trying to implicate him in a corruption scandal.
He
wrote Tamil books for the general public on Sangam literature (யாவரும் கேளிர் yaavarum keLir), and Tamilnadu’s
painting and sculptures (ஓவியப்பாவை
Oviya Paavai). He
wrote scholarly tomes in English (Sahrdya ; Vishnu temples in Kanchipura;
Studies in Ancient Tamil Law and Society). He compiled books on bronzes (Chola
art), Mamallapuram. Gangaikonda Cholapuram in both English and Tamil. The website of Tamil Arts Academy, is a veritable university,
listing his books and articles.
Aware of the average person’s ignorance of Sanskrit literature and words, he described even popular sculptures using beautiful Tamil phrases from Tevaram and Divya Prabhandam. He used the phrase maa-mayidan-serukku-aRutta-kolattaaL (மாமயிடன் செறுக்கறுத்த கோலத்தாள்) for Mahishasura Mardhini, and Tirumangai Alwar’s phrase kadal-mallai-kidantha-karumbu (கடல்மல்லை கிடந்த கரும்பு) for Anantashayana Vishnu in Mamallapuram. A inscription in Valampuram refers to a king’s donation of “vattaNaigaL pada-nadanta naayanar”. Nobody knew what it meant, but Nagaswamy recalled a poem by Appar that refers to Bhikshaatana as “vattaNaikaL pada-nadantu maayam-pesi valampuratte pukkange manninaare” (வட்டணைகள் பட நடந்து மாயம் பேசி வலம்புரத்தே புக்கங்கே மன்னினாரே) and connected this to a Chola bronze of Bhikshatana.
That
was his unique ability. His vast mastery of three languages, his knowledge of
the Vedas, smritis, agamas, Bharata’s Natya shastra, and epics in Sanskrit, his
equally broad knowledge of Tolkappiyam, Silappadikaaram and other Tamil epics,
Sangam literature, Bhakti literature, in Tamil, and his expertise in
inscriptions, history, and three centuries of academic scholarship in English,
made him that rarest of rare scholars. There are barely a handful of people
with this knowledge base, few of whom could speak or write with such felicity.
For this, he often earned the vituperative derision of one-book pundits and
mono-lingual scholars.
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| Kurta with calligraphic Nagari inscriptions |
Some
personal anecdotes. I struggled to understand the Kanchi Kailasanatha temple. He
mentioned that its patron Rajasimha used the words Atimaanam Ati-adbhutam (“a
perfectly measured marvel”) to describe it. That opened my eyes: approach the
temple with Rajasimha’s own words. Swaminathan offered me the singular honor of
discussing Nagaswamy’s international papers at THT’s 2014 Lecture Kacheri
honoring Nagaswamy. We donated to him a kurta, embroidered with the words Atyantakaama (Man of Endless Desires) and
Kalasamudra (Ocean of Arts), titles
of Rajasimha Pallava inscribed in the calligraphic Nagari at the Kailasanatha
temple. He delightedly wore it the very next day. When I stumbled upon a long
forgotten, 1830 transcript of a Pallava inscription, he was delighted and arranged
a meeting at his house, to explain it. What an honour, to share the stage with him!
 |
| Program on Babington's third inscription of Rajasimha pallava Tamil Arts Academy |
At
a recent seminar, for a lecture about Uthiramerur, he brought a pot, put in
chits of paper with names written, and asked youngsters to pick the chits. Thus
he practically demonstrated the kuda-olai
system mentioned in the tenth century Uthiramerur inscription, which explained
procedures to select administrators without fear or favour.
A
few years back tragedy struck him. His grandson, not yet thirty years old,
unexpectedly passed away from a medical emergency. When he returned from the
funeral in the USA, he learnt that a young and brilliant scholar, a masterful
orator, had announced that he would no more
speak in public, because of mental turmoil caused by relentless abuse by
critics on social media. Nagaswamy called him up, and casually mentioned his
personal bereavement. The youngster took the hint – if even such a terrible
personal loss could not dissuade a man in his late eighties from continuing his
scholarly researches, after brickbats from both learned and powerful rivals,
should someone half his age be so easily dissuaded?
Related Essays
Nagaswamy - Beyond borders (Essays)
The third Rajasimha inscription - Babington's surprise
Tholkappiyam and Bharata Natyam - notes from a Nagaswamy lecture
Calligraphic inscriptions in Kanchi Kailasanatha temple
Related Videos
Nagaswamy - A Retrospective (Tamil Heritage Trust)
2000 Years of Mamallapuram (Tamil Heritage Trust)
New light on Mamallapuram (with Dr Nagaswamy at Tamil Arts Academy)
Rajasimha Pallaveshvaram - Kanchi Kailasanatha temple
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