TRANSLATIONS OF SANGAM CLASSICS IN SANSKRIT

“The Hindu” dated : 21st April 1995 under the title :Multi – linguist par excellence wrote : "Tamil and Sanskrit are but two mediums that reflect the same image of pan-Indian  culture’’. says scholar S.N.Srirama Desikan

The Sangam classics and Subramania Bharathi’s works, Kamba Ramayanam and Thirukkural, Naaladiyar and Thiruppavai, Silappadikaram and the poems of Avvaiyar, are among the literary treasures that have been meticulously translated into Sanskrit by Srirama Desikan in a labour of love, a monumental work of half a century. Many of the volumes have an English exposition as well, lucid and apt, displaying yet another linguistic dimension of this grand old man of translation. Srirama Desikan’s tour de force, a pioneering work is the translation of the ancient Ayurveda texts from Sanskrit into Tamil.

As Honorary Special Officer, Ayurveda Translation Wing, Department of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy, Government of Tamil Nadu, Srirama Desikan has in the past 12 years worked to bring out the Tamil translation of the Ahstanga Sangraham, the Charaka Samhita (three volumes) and the Susrutha Samhita, comprising in all an awesome 25,000 slokas and totalling 5,397 pages. The magnificent compilation includes description of procedures, chemical compositions of the herbs, sketches of surgical tools and photographs of medicinal plants.

As for literature, the scholar has contributed to the sphere in a myriad ways. While he was research officer in the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidya Peeta, Tirupati, he wrote a 1000 page thesis a comparative study between Sanskrit and Tamil from the Vedic times to the present and from the Sangam age to the modern, drawing parallels and pointed out similarities between the two languages and literatures.

The scholar’s passion for elaborating on the common link between Sanskrit and Tamil has resulted in a number of carefully researched articles in leading newspapers and journals where he has expounded this theme.

 “I even translated the Kamba Ramayanam into Sanskrit. In fact, Rajaji, who released the book, wondered at the felicitation function why one should translate a work which itself had been inspired by Valmiki’s Sanskrit epic. I gave him a fitting reply about Vedanta Desikan who rendered the Alwar Pasurams into Sanskrit – the Dramido Upanished Saram. Rajaji laughed and while wrapping the shawl around me quipped in his inimitable styles that like a mother-in-law serving food to the daughter-in-law even while chiding her, he was honouring me.” Sriramadesikan also undertook a massive comparative study between Kamban, Valmiki and Tulsi.

In 1983, the Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran impressed with Srirama Desikan’s translation of the ‘Thirullural’ gave him the assignment of making Ayurvedic texts easily understood in Tamil Nadu.

Ashtanga Sangraham. Charaka Samhita and Susruta Samhita, all Sanskrit books on Ayurveda; Tirukural; Naladiar, Subramania Bharati’s works from Tamil to Sanskrit, Pathypattu (Sangam Literature work) into Sanskrit, Ettuthogai (Sangam Literature), Silapathigaram, Andra Kavi Vemans’s works into Tamil and Sanskrit…. The list is endless and the subjects varied. Sriramadesikan passed away recently but his family can be approached.

I would appeal to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil to bring out the Sanskrit Translation of Thirukkural, so that those who know Sanskrit will understand the greatness of Saint Thiruvalluvar , a universal poet par excellence. The Sanskrit Translation of Naladiyar too should be published and the moral codes of Tamils be known to Sanskrit scholars.