Tutor and the Taught -Part 3

Tutor and the Taught - Part 3

Sri Jatadhara Rangaswamy Iyer (JR) was very fond of Sanskrit language. Every afternoon some 6 or 7 gentlemen used to come to him to learn or to get clarification in their doubts in sanskrit verses/shlokas etc.

(During summer vacation, he taught us Sanskrit script and grammar )

His love for the language was phenomenal. Sri Sundara Srouthigal was living in Sivaganga who was an expert in Vedas, Vedangas and Upanishads - he was given the title "Dharma Prakasha" by Sri Sri Sri MahaPeriyavaa Himself when He visited Sivaganga. Srouthigal was JR's Guru and he used to visit him almost every evening to learn or to understand something or just to spend some time with Him.

JR's wife - Smt Meenakshi is a devout lady from a very good family of Sanskrit experts and Vidwans. Her elder brother Sri Malladi Dakshinamurthy was an expert in Sanskrit Shlokas and literature who could compose Shlokas in Sanskrit. He has composed an Ashtakam ( 8 verses of two liners each is called an Ashtakam) on MahaPeriyavaa which has been sung repeatedly by Smt M S Subbalakshmi. Malladi Dakshinamurthy Sasthrial used to visit MahaPeriyavaa very often and I understand from my mother and uncle that he used to get VIP welcome from MahaPeriyavaa as MahaPeriyavaa respected Vedic Vidwans and those who could easily converse in Sanskrit with Him.

Malladi Dakshinamurthy Sastrigal's son is Sri Balasubramanian who was Head of Sanskrit department in TTD for so many years and he again was a great expert in Sanskrit, and again a great devotee of MahaPeriyavaa.

Naturally, Balasubramanian is much younger to JR as he is his nephew through his wife.

When Balasubramanian went to Srilanka to attend a conference in Sanskrit and returned to Sivaganga, JR wanted to go and meet him and discuss all that happened in the conference. Smt Meenakshi - his wife told him " why should you go and meet him? He is much younger to you and hence he should come and meet you - as that is the right way for a Vidwan to honour an elderly person.. it does not matter that he is an expert and world is honouring him - he should know his manners.. so please dont go"..

JR promptly replied " He is a scholar... there is no age difference or who should respect whom amongst scholars... he knows much more than me and hence there is so much to learn for me from him. Hence, there is no problem for me in going myself and meeting him in his place.. so let me go" and he got ready to meet his nephew about whom he was very happy and may be proud also considering his scholarly achievements.

Just when he was about to leave the house (he used to look grand in his black coat on a cotton shirt, dhoti clad in pancha kachcham style and with his red-stone kadukkan-ear ornament) Balasubramanian entered the house looking for his dear uncle.

Both of them were very happy and I am sure they discussed nothing other than Sanskrit, literature, Vedas and such things for hours not minding who is older, younger etc. In Tamil there is a saying that only a learned man knows the value of another learned man.. கற்றாரைக் கற்றாரே காமுறுவர். - age disappears; family, social, financial status etc. disappear when two people who respect each other meet.

This again shows that though JR was in his 70s and his nephew in his 30s, JR had no ego. He had love for learning and good company to enrich his love for Sanskrit...

More coming on JR as and whatever I remember of my dear grandfather.. I cannot thank God enough for making me his grand daughter...

Tutor and the Taught - Part 2

It was the tradition in the family to put some coins every Saturday in the Hundi kept in front of God. Those days travel was a big adventure and hence many old people, single ladies, widows, orphans depend on family people for their travel to pilgrimage centres. JR (Sri Jatadhara Rengaswamy Iyer) was head of a big family, taking care of his own family of wife and children and the family of his elder brother - freedom fighter, lawyer who died early - and also some members of his wife's family, a widowed sister of his wife, and also some members of his own sister's family. Hence, all these relatives depend on him for their pilgrimage. Thirupathi Tirumala was the pilgrimage that he would conduct as many times as possible.. may be once in two years or three years with the money collected in the Hundi. So naturally, everyone used to wait for this trip with anxiety.

In one such trip nearly 20 members of the family and extended family being led by JR to Tirumala reached the holy hills by trekking all the way from Tirupathi to Tirumala having travelled by train upto Renigunta. So much crowd was there and those days there was no system of "paid darshan / special darshan / VIP darshan" etc. They all had their ritualistic dip in the Swami Pushkarani, changed and went and joined the long queue of devotees for Venkatachalapathy Darshan. They must have waited for some hours and the situation did not look like they will be able to have darshan any sooner. It was getting late for the return train, which they have to take from Renigunta Junction by travelling by local bus from Tirumala.

Those days these buses also used to be very scarce and TTD had not yet started free bus service.

JR was concerned about the return trip of them and told the group to get out of the queue. Obediently they all got out of the queue thinking that he might have found a way for a quick darshan. Alas, he told them all to do "sashtanga namaskaram" to all the devotees in the queue and move towards free prasadam counter and then to bus-stand saying "Every stone, every tree, every step, every devotee and the very air we breathe in Tirumala is Venkatachalapathy Himself... so we all have had His darshan and hence, we can start our return journey".... somehow all members in the group got convinced and they walked up to the bus-stand after a quick round of free prasadam.

They waited for long but not a single bus in sight. It was getting dark and in the bus-stand JR and his group of 20 members were only waiting. Street lights were not there and they were all standing in the dark night chanting "Venkataramana Govinda".

After some time, one bus came with just the driver and he said "ekkandi ekkandi thwaraga" ( get in get in fast) and JR and his group got inside the bus quickly chanting "Govinda Govinda"... driver drove them to Rengigunta Railway Junction. As they got out of the bus, JR was wondering why the driver came alone without conductor and why he did not ask them for tickets.. he wanted to pay the bus-fare and by the time everyone alighted from the bus, it went off in a jiffy without a trace. Then he realised that there were no other passengers in the bus other than himself and his group.

JR was in tears as the whole group took the train which had just reached Renigunta. He knew in his heart of hearts that it must be Venkatachalapathy Himself who came as a driver just to drop the group to Renigunta so that His dear devotees do not suffer for their return journey.

Thus, this trip to Tirumala - though without "actual" darshan of Venkatachalapathy, became a memorable pilgrimage to all in the group and this incident had been recalled by many members afterwards with fond memories and great devotion. As children, we had listened to this story told by our grandmother who used to get tears as she recited this to us.

Very fortunate for being JR's grand daughter and hope and pray that I get at least 1% such deep devotion to Guru and God.

More on JR will be coming in the coming days...

Tutor and the Taught - Part 1

Tt is not easy being a Tutor to a "Prince"... really, a Prince. Sivaganga Raja Doraisingam's son Prince Shanmugha Rajah had Sri Jatadhara Rangaswamy Iyer (JR) as his personal tutor.

One day, while lessons were going on, Prince got curious about life of the tutor. He asked his tutor " Unga Raaniamma enga irukkanga" (where is your Raani). Prince could think of everyone as Raja and Rani only.

JR replied "enga aranmanaiyila" (in my Palace), though the "palace" was a small house with simple furniture. Prince now wanted to visit the "Raani" and of course "the palace".

How JR prepared the Prince for the visit to his own palace is the interesting part..

He told him " enga maaligaiyila, nakshatram ellam theriyum" (in our palace you can see stars) and gave further description in these lines to describe a simple house into a seemingly beautiful palace with wonders that the Prince cannot see in his regular dwelling palace.

Now the Prince was so curious he had to see the palace and a day was fixed for the visit.

JR took him to his humble abode in the late evening around 8 pm when the stars were visible through the tiled roof of the house. Prince was so mesmerised seeing stars lighting up the house and was amazed seeing the Raani in simple elegant saree. Simple food was served with so much affection and the Prince went back to his palace admiring his tutor's home and the queen.

This is how teachers taught their students - no question of the student was difficult for them to handle; at the same time, social inequalities were not shown in a bad light. How to enjoy everything in life and how to appreciate everything and everyone was taught through such examples.. Salutation to such a teacher!

With pride I should add that JR is my own maternal grandfather who is a role model for all of us - me and my siblings and my cousins..

Chandr