Sanskrit sources of Kerala history
by Suma Parappattoli | 2010 | 88,327 words
This study deals with the history of Kerala based on ancient Sanskrit sources, such as the Keralamahatmyam. The modern state known as Keralam or Kerala is situated on the Malabar Coast of India. The first chapter of this study discusses the historical details from the inscriptions. The second chapter deals with the historical points from the Mahatm...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
11. Sri Narayana Vijayam of Balarama Panickar
Sri Narayana Vijaya[1] is a Mahakavya of Balarama Panickar, in 21 cantos comprising 1500 stanzas. It deals with the life and teachings of Sri-narayana-guru, an ascetic, and social reformer of Kerala who lived in the last part of the 19th C. and first part of 20th C. AD. It may perhaps be called a biographical kavya.
The twenty one sargas respectively contain the following subjects:
(1) Srinarayana’s parents
(2) his birth and education
(3) his marriage and renunciation
(4) instruction from his uncle
(5) pilgrimage
(6) workship of god Subrahmanya,
(7) grace of Subrahmanya
(8) consecration of an idol of Siva at Aruvippuram near Trivandrum
(9) establishment of the Sivagiri Muth and consecration of Saradadevi at the place,
(10) conversation with a religious head of Brahmins
(11) conversation with a Christian missionary
(12) establishment of Advaitasrama and Sanskrit school at Alwaye
(13) instruction about Atman,
(14) Assembly of all religions at Alwaye
(15) Establishment of Sahodarasangha
(16) visiting of Mahakavi Raveendranatha Tagore
(17) Vaikam Satyagraha with Mahatma Gandhi
(18) conversation with Mahatma Gandhi (19) the interpretation of the doctrine of one religion
(20) establishment of the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam and
(21) the Mahasamadhi of the Guru.
The first Canto depicts the city of Trivandrum, the village of Chempazhanthy, the temple called after its location ‘Manakkal’and proceeds to portray the house of the Guru ‘Vayalvaram’. The second Canto is devoted to the description of the birth and education of the Guru. He was born in 1855 on the auspicious day of the Onam festival in Kerala. The women in the service of the mother of the Guru at the time of confinement stood beside her in wonder enjoying the beauty and behaviour of the child.
It did not cry and maintained a calm disposition[2].
sulakṣaṇaṃ sūryamava jvalantaṃ suśāntamānandakaraṃ kumāram |
smerānanaṃ tatra samīkṣya bhaktyā vavantire sūtigṛhasthanāryaḥ ||
In the third Canto the detachment the Guru entertained even when he was a boy is stressed. As he grew up, his father, mother and senior members of the family wanted to see him married. But the Guru thought otherwise. As a mendicant he set out from his house never to return and live the life of a householder.
The fourth Canto relates the incident of the elders of the Guru fetching a girl to give him in marriage in keeping with an old practice current in his times. The girl was brought, but the man to marry could not be seen anywhere there. A search was conducted at the end of which he was found in the wildness of a forest nearby. All entreaties to bring him back failed. He announced his decision to holo fast the life of an ascetic and disappeared from the scene.
The travel supposed have been conducted by the Guru to the various holy places of India forms the subject matter of the fifth Canto. On his returning he had the opportunity to see and make friends with Cattampisvami. He was subsequently introduced to Taikkat Ayyavu, the foremost among the spiritual preceptors of the time.
Cantos six and seven are intended to relate the ascetic practices the Guru had. The installation of Sivalinga at Aruvipuram is described in the next canto.
The Guru got inscribed on its wall a message meant to root out the evils of caste and creed[3].
matajanikṛtabhedaṃ varjayitvā samastā
janatatiriha saubhrātreṇa varteta nityam ||
The establishment of a Mutt at Sivagiri and this installation of an idol of goddess Sarada there form the contents of the nineth Canto. The tenth is set apart to the new definition the Guru gave for identifying caste. He made it clear that man is one, and so manhood is that which binds all men together.
He held the division of man as belonging to castes and subcastes to be unscientific[4].
sarvā'pi jantuḥ svayameva hanta jānāti dṛṣṭvā sahajaṃ svajātim |
naro naraṃ pṛcchati jātimetad vilakṣaṇatvaṃ kṛtakaṃ hi bāḍham ||
The meeting of the Guru with certain Christian priests occurs in the eleventh canto. He made clear his view on the religious of the world.
For him the sum and substance of all religions is one and the same[5].
matānāmiha sarveṣāṃ sāra eko na saṃśayaḥ
matabhedamatistasmāt tyajyatāṃ dūrato budhaiḥ ||
The founding of the Advaitasrama at Alwaye and the meeting of the religious leaders of the world for the first time in the human history at Alwaye are described in Cantos twelve to fourteen. The guideline for the meeting was dictated by him for display at the gate of the assembly hall. It read: ‘this meeting is meant to know and make others know, and certainly not for arguments and success thereon”. The event of Ayyappan the Veteran leader seeking permission of the Guru to start ‘Sahodarasangha’ occurs in the subsequent canto. The meetings of the Guru with Ravindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandi, the Satyagraha at Vaikom and the last days of the Guru are described in the following Cantos[6].
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Tvm 1973 with a commantary by the author
[2]:
Sri-narayanavijayam -II -22
[3]:
Sri-narayana-vijayam -VII -12
[4]:
Srinarayanavijaya -X -46
[5]:
Ibid -XI -50