R.K. K. Rajarajan
School of Tamil, Indian Languages and Rural Arts, Gandhigram Rural University, Gandhigram – 624 302. Email: rkkrajarajan@yahoo.com
Volume 3, Number 1, 2019 I Full Text PDF
Abstract
“In Nature’s book of infinite secrecy/ A little I can read”. These words of the soothsayer in Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ (Act I, Scene ii) is symbolic. It is uttered in the company of Charmian and Iras, maidens attending on Cleopatra (Hutchinson n.d.: pl. facing p. 39); perhaps designed to foretell the end of Mark Antony[i] in the near future after the battle of Actium. Everything existing on this earth must pass through nature to eternity that is denoted by the common word “death”. But, death at a young age is cruel whether natural, volunteered, accidental or due to any injunction. The brilliant Tamil woman-mystic ?????[ii] and the versatile English poet, John Keats[iii] died at a young age that was a great loss to the world of literature. The Buddha as a novice-monk was in pursuit of death but gave up the unnatural process of suicidal mortification (Le-Bon 1974: fig. p. 55, Yiengpruksawan 2007: 44-63, Ahuja 2013: fig. 6, pp. 21-24) and resorted to yoga to realize cosmic realities under the Bodhi tree at S?ran?th (Parimoo et al. 1991: I, pls. 50-45, 106-107)[iv]. Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Gallico 1999: figures on pages 111, 20 & 42, Ahuja 2013: fig. 39) and Mu?ammad of Mecca (cf. Stewart 1980: figures on pages 36-37) died at a relatively young age; otherwise the history of world’s greatest religions would have been different. If they had lived long […]; this “if” factor in history is difficult to answer. Neither Jesus nor Mu?ammad “invited” nor “pursued” death (Settar 1986, 1990); one was crucified by Jewish treachery of those times and other of some other malady. Preachers of terrorism do not die under a peaceful environment. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9.6).
Keywords: Death, Tamil, bhakti, Vai??ava, Periy??v?r, ?????, tirumo?i
[i] Cleopatra and Octavius Caesar mourn the suicidal death of Antony that has gone deeply recorded in dramatic verses of Shakespeare in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’:
Cleopatra speaks: “… a Roman by a Roman / Valiantly vanquished… Noblest of men… O, wither’d is the garland of war, / The soldier’s pole is fallen…/ we have no friend” (IV, xv)
Octavius Caesar speaks: “A greater crack. The round world/ Should have shook lions into civil streets/ And citizens to their dens/ The death of Antony/ Is not a single doom; in the name lay/ A moiety of the world” (V, i)
[ii] It is not known under what circumstances ????? died. Her marriage with Ra?gan?tha (Tamil Ara?ka?) takes place in the ?r?ra?gam temple (cf. Rajarajan, Parthiban and Kalidos 2017: 15-17). After this event she disappears from the pages of history, and is supposed to have merged with “eternity” (???yirappa?i-Guruparampar?prabh?vam, 49-50). How? The Guruparampara hagiographers do not seem to reply this question. Merging with the Lord is a fantastic hallucination (Ce?ka?m?lt?? ko??up???? “the red-eyed Black-Vi??u carried her away” Tirumo?i of Periy??v?r 3.8.4); ????? must have died due to some malady or other means hook or crook, volunteered or forced (cf. Tirun??aipp?v?r in Tirutto??ar Pur??am). For further reading on premature death, cf. Blackburn 1985: 260-271.
[iii] Keats must have been of the age of ????? just twenty-six while breathing the last. He had a premonition of death (see note 24); cf. “… life is but a day; / A fragile dew-drop on its perilous way” (‘Sleep and Poetry’, Selected Poems, p. 43).
[iv] Images illustrating the parinirv??a of the Buddha (Gadebush n.d.: 33; Ahuja 2013: fig. 6) are laid up in pret?sana (symbolic of breathing the last); a hand touching the earth, bh?mispar?amudra (to symbolize the impermanence of worldly life). Is it particularly related to Bodh Gaya? (Ahuja 2013: 194).
