[Advaita-l] Shenkottai AavuDai AkkaaL - a Tamil Advaitin woman saint

[Divya Meedin]

Namaste,

Thanks very much, Sri. Subrahmanian-ji, for sharing a post on Shenkottai
Aavudai Akkaal. Her life story and compositions are true treasures indeed.

At this juncture, gratitude is also due to those instrumental in compiling
the great Saint's compositions - among them features Smt. Gomathi Rajangam,
a Tamil writer who dedicated her life to writing, translating, and
spreading the message of Vedanta.

A short biographical sketch of Smt. Gomathi Rajangam (Source: *SENKOTTAI
AVUDAI AKKAL PADAL THIRATU", original text in Tamil, a rough translation by
me):

Born in 1908, at Kadayam in Tirunelveli, to Ramaswamy Iyer (Peshkar at the
Palace of Travancore) and Seethalakshmi Ammal, Gomathi had her primary
schooling at Thiruvananthapuram. Incidentally, her aunt Chellammaal was the
wife of the celebrated Tamil poet Mahakavi Subramanya Bharati. She was
later married to Sri. Rajangam, the elder son of advocate S K Subbaiyer of
Sri Vaikuntam. Smt. Gomath was in every sense, the "Pudhumai Penn"/ the
Quntessential Modern Woman" Mahakavi Bharathi often extols in his works.
She was well versed in Tamil, Sanskrit and Hindi, while being deeply rooted
in tradition, celebrating festivals with pomp at her residence at Sri
Vaikuntam.

The couple, though, were bereft of a child. Once, when they went to have
Dharshan of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, He blessed them to consider it as
favorable for a spiritual life. The couple were also blessed with an
audience with Srimad Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal of Sringeri
Sharada Peetam, when He had camped in Sri Vaikuntam.

A few of Smt. Gomathi Rajangam's notable works:


   - translation of articles from the Hindi magazine Kalyan
   - several articles contributed to Sri Sankara Kripa, Sri Ramakrishna
   Vijayam etc.
   - the Translation of Kaasi Kaandam into Tamil (the only such work thus
   far in the language, that she dedicated most of her life to). The work
   spanning two volumes is available with The Mahaperiyaval Trust, Bangalore.
   The publishers have also provided a downloadable pdf of the same on their
   website: link -
   http://srimahaperiavaltrust.com/welcome_files/downloads/pdf/kasikandam.pdf

She spent almost fifteen years researching and compiling the songs of
Shenkottai Avudai Akkal, and wrote of the great saint in Sri Sankara Kripa,
Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam, and the songs she was able to gather were
published first in 1953. It was her desire at the time of her passing, in
1992 at Kaasi, where she had resided at the Sringeri Matha branch after her
husband's passing in 1967, that a second edition be published with newly
discovered compositions, that which came to fruition posthumously.

Entharo Mahaanubhaavulu...

Respectfully,
Divya




On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 12:29 AM V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Shenkottai AavuDai AkkaaL - a Tamil Advaitin woman saint
>
>
> > Shenkottai Avudai Akkal
> > <https://www.amazon.in/Shenkottai-Avudai-Akkal/e/B00E7HD3DI>
> >
>
> For those who can read Tamil, here is a very interesting account of the
> life of Aavudai Akkaal:
>
>
> https://senkottaisriram.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-post.html?fbclid=IwAR3bMDhK1Lm8rdHYokrtSrz07DkNU-mavnNnT6Pps7--LbzdLC2yM-xROxg
>
> The ChuuDaalaa I mentioned below from Yoga VasishTha finds a place in the
> above saint's songs.
>
>
> >
> >
> https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-2411591701/transgressing-the-boundaries-avudai-akkal-an-advaitic
> >
> > //The brightest star in the sky of Advaita Vedanta is the 18th century
> > woman sage Avudai Akkal of Tamil Nadu, henceforth referred to as Akka,
> who
> > used the mode of song to expound Vedantic philosophy to women in general,
> > and Brahmin widows in particular, having personally experienced the
> > oppression and humiliation to which they were subjected. The brilliant
> > metaphorical play in her compositions weaves together the two fundamental
> > requirements for the practice of Vedanta: viveka, discrimination between
> > the Real and the unreal, using systematic self-inquiry as a
> methodological
> > tool; and vairagya, dispassion or withdrawal from all things one is
> > familiar with and attaches to (house, family, progeny, property,
> > possessions, work domain, identity, community etc.).//
> >
> > https://www.thehindu.com/br/2003/12/30/stories/2003123000121600.htm
> >
> > *Compositions of Avudai Akkal*
> >
> > *SENKOTTAI AVUDAI AKKAL PADAL THIRATU: Published by Swami Nityananda
> Giri,
> > Sri Gnananda Niketan,Thapovanam, Villupuram Tamil Nadu-605756. Rs. 60.*
> >
> >
> http://shenkottaisriavudaiakkal.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
>
> warm regards
> subrahmanian.v
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