Ananda Coomaraswamy and the Tamil

ANANDA COOMARASWAMV
AND THE TAMIL CLASSICS

Ananda Coomaraswamy’s father, Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy was an erudite scholar in Tamil. So were his nephews, Sir P. Ramanathan and Sir P. Arunachalam. Added to that, all the three were conversant with Pali, Sanskrit and the classical languages of Europe. Ananda Coomaraswamy was not that much conversant with Tamil, but his service in projecting Tamil and Shaiva Siddhanta into the world arena cannot fail to be taken note of. As is a pilgrimage to Kasi and Rameswaram to the Shaivites, to Srirangam for the Srivaishnavites, a Jaffna Tamil Saivite longs all his life to take a trip to Chidambaram and worship the Lord of Dance, Nataraja. Though Ananda Coomaraswamy has many notable works to his credit, it was ordained perhaps, that his “Dance of Siva” brought him fame and his name was always bracketed with the collection of essays of that title and the particular essay in question. As is natural with human beings, Ananda Coomaraswamy was conscious of his parentage and the tilt was more to his father’s side than to his mother’s although it was Lady Mutu Coomaraswamy, who induced her son to take to the study of the classical languages of Europe, which was perhaps one of the factors that helped him establish rapport with the West. “Myth of the Hindus and Buddhists” was a joint creation of Sister Nivedita and Ananda Coomaraswamy. Of the four hundred pages of the book, a hundred pages are due to Sister Nivedita and the rest to Coomaraswamy. Ananda Coomaraswamy writes in the Preface that he “is responsible for more than two-thirds of the book.” It may be of interest that a hundred pages of the story of Rama as told by Valmiki written by Coomaraswamy may be found in the volume.

In this collection, Ananda Coomaraswamy has included the story of the “Eye-Saint” (Kan-Appar) from the Periyapuranamand Manikkavacagar and the Jackals. Kan-Appar is a revered name in the South and he is venerated as one of the 63 Nayanmars – Saiva Saints. Kan-Appar’s devotion has moved the great Sankara who mentions about him in his Sivanandalahari. Maaikkavacagar laments about his lack of faith as against that of Kan-Appar–kannapan oppator anpinmai.

Tinnan was the son of a forest chieftain, who, in one of his random wanderings for hunting, chanced to see the Lingam at Kalahasti and became its votary. Coomaraswamy translates the word, “Tinnan” as the Sturdy Ono or Sturdy. “It came into Sturdy’s heart to render some service to the God. He chose some tender parts of the roasted flesh of a boar, tasted them to see if they were good and taking these in a cup of leaves and some water from a river in his mouth, he ran to the image, leaving his astonished followers without a word, for they naturally thought he had gone mad. He sprinkled the image with water from his mouth, made offering of the boar’s flesh and laid upon it the wild flowers from his own hair praying the God to receive the gifts.” The next morning the Brahmin devotee who had served the God so many years, saw to his horror that the image had been defiled. He cleansed the image in his own way and worshipped and returned home. The Sturdy came in the night and continued his own mode of offering. “For some days this alternation of service of the image took place, the Brahmin offering pure water and flowers in the morning, the hunter bringing flesh at night.” The Brahmin priest became very much worried, but one night the God appeared to him and said: “He who offers flesh, water from his mouth is an ignorant hunter of the woods who knows no sacred lore. But regard not him, regard his motive alone; his rough frame is filled with love of me, that very ignorance is his knowledge of myself. His offerings, abominable in thy eyes are pure love. But thou shalt behold tomorrow the proof of his devotion.” Next day, the Brahmin concealed himself and saw Tinnan coming and seeing blood from one of the eyes of the image, came to the conclusion that “like cures like” and “at once he took a keen-edged arrow and cut out his own right eye and applied it to the eye of the image of the God and lo! the bleeding ceased at once. But alas! the second eye began to bleed. Sturdy was cast down and helpless; then it flashed upon him that he still had the means of cure, of proved efficacy. He seized the arrow and began to cut away his other eye, putting his foot against the eye of the image, so that he might not fail to find it when he could no longer see. But now Shiva’s purpose was accomplished; he put forth a hand from the Lingam and stayed the hunter’s hand, saying to him: “It is enough; henceforth thy place shall be for ever by my side in Kailas.”

“He who rides on the red-eyed white bull, who bestowed His Grace on Tinnan, the Great Lord at Tiru-k-kalatti (Sri Kalahasti), before whose sacred hand with a serpent as the wristlet, was extended to obstruct him, came out His voice nectar-like: ‘Stop, Kannappa!’ So describes the Periyapuranamof Sekkilar.

“Then the Brahmin priest also saw that love is greater than ceremonial purity; and Sturdy has been ever more adored as Eye-Saint.” Coomaraswamy thus concludes the story of Kannappar taken from the Periyapuranamof Sekkilar, narrated in 186 verses. In the Shiva temples in the South, Kan-Appar’s image can bee seen mostly in stone and sparingly in bronze. For understanding the images, one must know the story too. There is a Kan-Appar bronze in the Shiva temple at Sri Kalahasti, with the left hand raised over the head and the right hand in the posture of removing one of his eyes.

The second story from the Tamil Vatavurar Puranam and Tiruviloiyadal Puranam is that of Manikkavacagar and the jackals. “At the Pandian court, Manikkavacagar, the prime minister, enjoyed the luxury of Indra’s heaven and moved amongst the courtiers, arrayed in royal robes, surrounded by horses and elephants, attended by the umbrella of state. His soul melted in passionate longing for Shiva.” When the king heard of the arrival of a cargo of splendid horses at a neighbouring harbour, he sent his minister to buy the beautiful horses. “Meanwhile, Shiva himself, as he set in his court in Heaven with Uma by his side, announced his intention to descend to earth in the shape of a human guru or Master, that he might initiate a disciple for the conversion of the South and the glory of the Tamil speech. He took his seat accordingly under a great spreading tree, surrounded by many servants in the form of Shaiva saints, his disciples. At his advent, the trees put forth their blossoms, the birds sang on every branch of the grove by the seaport where the Lord had taken his seat. The young envoy threw himself at the Master’s feet in tears, renouncing all worldly honour; he received a solemn initiation, and became a Jivanmukta–one who attains release even while still incarnate in human form. He adopted the white ashes and braided locks of a Shiva-yogi. He made over all the treasures entrusted to him for the purchase of the horses.” The enraged king, when he learnt of the squandering of the money, sent for him and caring not to listen that the horses would come, threw him in prison. But the horses did come. “The Lord gathered together a multitude of jackals, converted into splendid horses and sent them to court. He himself rode at the head of the troops disguised as the merchant.” The king was delighted and released the minister. But before dawn the town was aroused by awful howlings. The horses had turned into jackals. The king perceived that he had been deceived and seized the minister and had him exposed to the noonday sun with a heavy stone on his . The Lord released the waters of the Ganga from his matted locks and flooded the town. The king set about erecting a dam to save the town. Then he restored the sage to a place of honour. But Manikkvacagar chose to take his place at the feet of the guru. “With his task accomplished, the Lord departed to Heaven, leaving it a charge upon Manikkavacagar to establish the faith throughout Tamilakam. Thereafter, the saint spent his life wandering from town to town, singing the impassioned devotional hymns from which is derived his name of “Him whose utterance is Rubies.”

In an article contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on “Indian Dance”, Ananda Coomaraswamy mentions about initiation of a dancer and the worship of talaikkol. He writes: “An account of the education of a dancer is given in the Tamil Silappadhikaram. She is initiated in her fifth year by means of the tandiyampidittuceremony. Instruction is begun in her seventh year and must last at least five years. In her twelfth year the pupil may appear in public and the teacher receives a reward.” While writing about Indian dance generally Ananda Coomaraswamy quotes “three examples of songs sung by the dancer while dancing and forming the theme of the dance–the first from northern India (Mathura), the second from the south (Tanjore) and the third with an antiquity of a millennium and a half” from one of Kalidasa’s words. The words of a Tanjore song are descriptive of Vishnu.

“Is he the great being who rides on Garuda?
Is he the great being who sleeps on a snake?
Is he the great being who lifted Mt. Govardbana upon his little finger?
Is he the great being who assumed the form of Fish Avatar?”

In the same article Coomaraswamy mentions about Indian dance in general. “Natyais dancing used in a drama (nataka) as part of the plot. (The word natayati, “gesturing” or “acting as if”, is a regular stage direction whenever a particular action or mood is to be portrayed.) Nrtyais dancing by means of explicit gestures that expounds a theme; Nrttais dancing to music, but without a definite theme and includes desi(folk) dancing. The first two are of the same character. Beyond this, Tandavais a masculine and vigorous style; Lasyais a feminine and graceful style. The dance in its higher forms (nrtya) as distinguished from merely decorative is a sort of pantomime in which a story is told, or events or persons alluded to, by means of formal gestures (angikabhinaya) presented in a rhythmic sequence and accompanied by singing and instrumental music; it is a kind of visible poetry with a definite meaning.” Ananda Coomaraswamy specifically mentions about the dances of victory attributed in the Silappadhikaramto “Subrahmanya, the God of War and Kudaikuttuor Umbrella Dance and Kudakuttuor Pot Dance” He writes further: “It is by no means unusual to meet with the folk dances with the environment of the higher culture. The Sangita Ratnakara, an authoritative work on music and dramatics, enumerates ten varieties. The Tamil Silappadhikaramenumerates dances (not 14 but 11), of which the majority are for use at the Indra Puja festival and of these several such as Kottavai dance with a rice measure are of a folk character.” The Marakkal Dance has been given by Coomaraswamy as “Rice Measure Dance,” which term coincides with “stilts”–literally, wooden leg. In reality, it is the dance on stilts–Faked Horse Dance of these days–poykkal kutirai attam, the dancer dancing on stilts.

The crowning pieces of Ananda Coomaraswamy’s quotations from Tamil are from the Shaiva scriptures and philosophical works on Shaiva Siddhanta and the Koil Puranam in Tamil. The Koil Puranam is said to be the predecessor to many other puranamsin Tamil, which speaks about the Lord of Dance. “For the Shaivites, every true Master is an incarnation of God. The universe is born of Maya, illusion, to be the scene of countless incarnation and of actions both good and evil. As an earthen pot has for its cause, the potter, for material cause the clay, and instrumental cause the potter’s staff and wheel, so the universe has illusion for its material cause, the Shakti of Shiva for its instrumental cause and Shiva himself for its first cause. Shiva has two bodies, the one with parts and visible, the other without parts, invisible and transcendental. Beyond this again is his own essential form of light and splendour. He is the soul of all, and his dance is the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe, and the giving of bodies to souls and their release. The dance is ceaseless and eternal. Ati-Seshan shall behold it again at Tillai-Chidambaram, the centre of the universe”.

This is how Ananda Coomaraswamy sums up the Legend of the Dance of the Lord, in Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. In his essay, the “Dance of Siva”, Coomaraswamy quotes from the Tiruvacagam, the Tirumantiram, Unmai Vilakkam, Tiru Arut Payan aod Sivajnana Siddhiyar. It was the Dance of Siva, that became a world classic, which helped Ananda Coomaraswamy to reach the pinnacle of glory.