This Saturday, April 18, I will participate in a discussion about the book, "Aarohanam of a Bhavya Jeevan: Story of Dr U V Swaminatha Iyer, with the author Dr V R Devika. The venue is the Library at Alliance Francaise, College Road, Nungambakkam, Madras. Dr U V Swaminatha Iyer is a legend of Tamil literature, having retrieved, studied and published, the long forgotten Tamil books of the Sangam era.
Dr Devika has written books on Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy and Rukmini Arundale, the founder of Kalakshetra. Rukmini Arundale, hosted the entire book collection of UVeSa first in the Theosophical Society grounds. The UVeSa library with this collection is now in the campus of Kalakshetra, in Madras.
The author has been a friend via Tamil Heritage Trust for more than fifteen years. She is very well known for a wide range of cultural activities, involving various segments of society.
UVeSa's autobiography "En Sarithram" and his biography of his Tamil guru, Sri Meenakshi Sundarama Pillai are very well known to aficionados of Tamil literature, but not very well known outside Tamilnadu. This is a wonderful introductory book for those who would like to know about the remarkable achievements of UVeSa, and his various adventures and encounters with amazing people.
About ten years ago, Sri KRA Narasiah first took me to this library and gave me a personal tour of several of UVeSa's memorabilia. He also showed me the poem in Bengali, written by Rabindranath Tagore, lauding the amazing work of UVeSa and calling him a modern Agastya Rishi.
One of the best surprises of this English book was a poem written in Tamil by a French scholar Julien Vinson, another contemporary of UVeSa. Yes, Vinson wrote the poem in Tamil not French, so that UVeSa and other Tamils could read and enjoy and appreciate it. The book includes the English translation of Vinsons poem. I will include the Tamil poem and its translation, in this blog, next week.
The French Institute in Pondicherry and Biblotheuqe Nationale in France have amazing collections of Tamil literature, mostly in palm leaves.
All are welcome, Entry is free
Google Map link to Alliance Francaise, Madras
Rabindaranath Tagore's poem on UVeSa
My blog essays on Literature
