Tunjatt' Ezuttaccan is to the Malayalis in Southern India what Tulsi Dis is to the Hindi-speaking people of the North-the supreme poet and religious teacher. Both were consummate masters in their art, wielding their native speech with the utmost skill and refinement, while at the same time they were able through their human sympathies and godliness to touch the hearts and inspire the imaginations of millions of men inaccessible to the charms of more scholastic and sophisticated art. Both too devoted their finest works to the glorification of the same deity, Vişnu, and in their representations ennobled the traditional pictures of Him by stripping away the overgrowth of unworthy ideas that seemed to obscure and dishonour them. But whereas Tulsi Das for many years past has been known to English readers through the masterly works of Mr. Growse and Sir George Grierson, hardly any of them has ever heard the name of Ezuttaccan. This is not wholly unnatural, for in comparison with the many millions of the Hindi-speaking North the Malayalis are a small people, and none of them has hitherto been able to present an adequate account of Ezuttaccan's work and all that it signifies for the moral and spiritual life of his countrymen. Mr. Achyuta Menon's study however, will now remove any justification that henceforth might be pleaded for such ignorance.
Mr. Menon in the following pages has endeavoured to show the full significance of Ezuttaccan as poet and teacher; and, in my opinion, he has been eminently successful. He has carefully investigated the historical background of his author's career and the various literary and religious currents which reached him and stimulated his art. In pursuing these lines of study Mr. Menon has shown how Ezuttaccan has often boldly recast, and even rejected, traditional ideas in order to attain a higher moral harmony for his poems; and he has not shrunk from combating some popular misconceptions which have long been prevalent in religious and literary circles. His work is thus a product of scholarly and courageous criticism, and will be indispensable to those who seek to know what is highest and best in the soul of India.
The work on 'Ezuttaccan and His age' that is now being presented to the public embodies my original research in literary and popular poetry in Malayalam and was accepted as the thesis for my Ph.D. degree by the London University in 1938.
It has since been revised and brought up to date. Appen-dices 5 to 8 have also been added. The importance of Ezuttaccan in Malayalam Literature lies in the fact that in him the popular and classical traditions of Malabar have combined to produce an outstanding literary achievement which inspired its subsequent development and gave it a definite lead. The saintly poet has almost become a mythical figure in Malabar and the task of deciphering the man out of the morass of legendary lore that surrounds him has not been easy. The historical back-ground and other influences that shaped his genius and work have not been investigated nor a proper analysis of his complex personality been attempted before. My endeavour has been to work up this unexplored field and fill the gap with the materials gathered through my independent study and original investigation.
The influence of social institutions and folklore on literary developments is very often ignored by scholars in Malayalam. I have attempted in my survey to trace their inter-relationship and thereby throw light on many dark corners in the history of Malayalam Literature.
Some space has been given to the discussion of matters which are relevant to my study of Ezuttaccan but are not strictly scientific researches, viz, discussions on the plots of the Ramayana, with attempts to correct what I believe to be erroneous popular views in this connection. I have dealt at some length on these topics because of the nature of my theme, which is to present a complete view of Ezuttaccan's personality, his literary and religious activities and the manifold influences that operated upon him. It has therefore, been needful to analyse the various elements of the Rama-saga which came down to him and were work-ed up by him; and so I have sought to show the discrepancies of ideas between the primitive saga, the more sophisticated version of it presented by Valmiki, and the still more advanced conception given in the Adhyatma-Ramayaņa. In doing this I have come into conflict with many cherished prejudices and devout beliefs of orthodoxy. Moreover, I am aware that my arguments against the historicity of Valmiki's picture of the Raksasas kingdom may appear to Western eyes somewhat elementary; most Western scholar probably would be satisfied to take my main views on this matter for granted, and regard my arguments as superfluous. But 1 have thought it desirable to take account of conservative opinions that are still strong in India, and to address myself to the task of disproving them. I have followed the system of transliteration adopted in the list of quarterly publications issued by the Government of Madras except in the case of is for which I have used the symbol z to avoid confusion. In respect of words like Nayar, Brahman, Nadu and Madham, (Nair, Brahmin, Națu, Matham,) which have two accepted spellings, I have tried to be uniform as far as possible. I have to crave the indulgence of the readers for the large number of abbreviations used, particularly in Chapter III. A list of them is appended. They were originally introduced to save space in typing and when composing they were set in linotype straight-way. When I thought of correcting them it was too late to recompose the whole matter.
It now remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness to various persons who took an interest in the present work and helped me in various ways. First and foremost, I must mention the name of Dr. L. D. Barnett, the eminent Orientalist on the staff of the School of Oriental Studies, under whom I had the privilege of working for two years as a candidate for the Ph.D. Degree of the London University. Ilis wide knowledge of the various aspects of Indian cultural traditions has been of invaluable assistance and a source of inspiration to me and I take this opportunity of expressingin my studies a gratitude for the genuine interest he evinced in my studies and the appreciative foreword which he has been kind enough to write for my work.
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