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Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 14:24:19 -0000
To: agathiyar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: VinOdha Rasa Manjari - Re: [agathiyar] Re: A rare book with a curious story behind it
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--- In agathiyar@y..., "kishorekca"
> VinOdha Rasa Manjari has been reprinted. It is available
> in 2 volumes. Publisher is paari nilayam. I picked it up
> at the Chennai book fair a couple years ago. Unfortunately,
> the charm of the original is missing. They got an 'editor'
> to rewrite it in what they call pure tamil -
> removing anything the editor believes is sanskrit
> influenced. The old 50s/60s edition is still the best.
>
> Incidentally, a publisher in thondithOppu (sp?) near
> Broadway/Parry's - B. Rathnavinayagar & Sons seems to be
> publishing vintage volumes from the 19th century. I picked
> up a copy of 'peria vikramathithan kathai' from a bookstore
> at the thiruvalloor temple. The language feels like it must
> have been written about the same time as VRM. It's the
> illustrated story of the 32 stories told by the padumaigaL.
>
> Kishore
>
Thanks for the info.
It's sad that no good and authentic publisher of
tamil stalapurANams, tamil literary works exists today.
There must be 1000s of books waiting to be reprinted.
What's important is to reprint what was originally
published by the author. That is, not to "bowdlerize".
Unfortunately, due to current TN political necessities, many old
books get "bowdlerized". Saiva Siddhanta Kazhakam editions
need to be checked against the original editions, if one
wants to do any research. That's why all the pre-1950
Tamil books are rare, and need to be preserved (eventually
in digital form and on the web). The 19th century and
first half 20th century printed tamil works contain
invaluable ethnic data, and surely will be lost for
future generations of Tamil scholars, if we keep
"bowdlerizing" old books. aSTAvatAn2am vIrAcAmic ceTTiyAr's
vinodharasamanjari, as the original author did it,
need to be reprinted. Other versions can co-exist,
but the original is important.
It's KoNDitthOppu where B. Irattina Naayakar & Sons
office is. Historical publisher (at inexpensive prices)
of old books, mainly for the Ritual Theater of Tamils
(the ancient teru-k-kUttu). B. Irattina Naayakar & Sons'
press books contain old important wood-block prints.
Western money is used to preserve and study Tibetan
wood-blocks. But haven't heard about the preservation
of all B. Irattina Naayakar Co.'s woodblock prints.
Many reprinted editions do not give the info
on what version they have reprinted at all.
In Indian language articles (including Tamil),
it's hard to find any relevant bibliographic
citations at all.
When looking at the massive well-funded efforts
to reprint authentic Sanskrit and Hindi books,
(Venkatsvara steam press (Bombay), Chowkamba seroes (Kaashi),
Motilal Banarsidass (MLBD, Delhi), Tamil reprints
(authentic, and photo reproductions of authors'
originals) industry is really lagging far behind.
Tamil scholarship is stagnant for decades at
Universities in India, as you know.
Regards,
N. Ganesan
