TAMIL
TEVARA OLINERI (Sambandhar): By Rao Bahadur V. S. Chengalvaroya Pillai (Published by the author, 292, Linghi Chetti Street, G.T., Madras. Rs. 3..)
Of the twelve groups of Saivite Tirumurais, the first three were composed by St. Gnanasambandhar, the marvellously precocious sage, who was born at Shiyali in the 7th century and is revered as one of the greatest of the Saiva Samayacharyas. His hymns are models of pure and elevated diction, instinct with melody and rapture.
The book under review is a Concordance. Concordances are of two kinds— real and Verbal. The former is an index Of the subject-matter of a book, and the latter, of the words. The author, Mr. Pillai, has planned out both and published the former. The original impetus in the making of this concordance was due to the conviction, that the several parts of the Tevaram are conistent with each other, as parts of a divine revelation, and may be combined as harmonious elements in one system of spiritual truth.
Mr. Pillai after many years labour, with none to assist him has successfully executed a monumental piece of work impressive to the number and fullness of its citations from the Saint's singings. For a parallel to the work he has done one must go to the well-known Concordances to the New Testament and Shakespeare. Whatever may be the value of Mr. Pillai's work as a piece of research, one must appreciate his high spirits, assiduousness and patience. This, the second part of his compilation containing the first hundred headings (A-Ci) out of the 466 headings chalked out by him, is now published. The author mentions, in his Preface that a Word-index, containing more than 7,000 words will be published at a later stage. Clear clues and ready references are given wherever necessary, with a view to help the reader. The author adores Sambandhar as an incarnation of Subrahmanya, and this is a humble offering of love. If the Tevaram comes to be published With full and exhaustive comentaries as | the Divyaprabandhas have, this Concordance will be of much use to the readers in general, and to the research scholars in particular.
சென்னை லிபர்ட்டி அச்சுக்கூடத்திற் பதிப்பித்தது.
