Jnana geetham
The song of Wisdom
metre-by- meter Sanskrit translation of the Malayalam classic
Jnanappana
of Poonthanam
by
C. Raghavan Nair
Sahityashiromani, Vidwan, VisharadSri. C.
Raghavan Nair, (Sahityasiromani,
Vidwan, Visharad) has been active on the literary front over the past fifty years. He has translated several great classics ofSanskrit into Malayalam verse, metre-by-metreincluding Ramanayanam, BhagavadGeetha, Narayaneeyam and soundaryalahari to name a few. He has also written original prose and poetry and translated many Malayalam poems into Sanskrit. His poems have appeared in Malayalam magazines. Manyof his works are available for publication.Visit http:// srivilwam.tripod.com
Sri. C. Raghavan Nair
Sri.
C. Raghavan Nair was born in 1925 at Irinjapram, near
Guruvayoor
as the son of (late) Smt. Chumane Parukkutty ammaand (late) Sri. Chankath Narayanan Nair in 1925. His Sanskriteducation was uner the expert guidance of Sri. P. C. VasudevanElayad, Sri. M. P. Shankunni Nair and Sri. K. P. NarayanaPisharodi. He was awarded the degrees of Sahitryasiromani(Sanskrit), Vidwan (Malayalam) and Visharad (Hindi). He retiredfrom Govt. High School, Thiruvilwamala in 1981 after a long
anddistinguished teaching career. He
has been involved in in variousliterary
acvtivities over the past 50 years.Published
( All in Malayalam)
1.
Anayatha Deepam
A
simple poetic biography of Gandhiji
2.
Sreemnnarayaneeyam
(metre-by-metre
translation)
3.
Sreemad Bhagavadgeetha
(metre-by-metre
translation)
4.
Vilwapushpanjali
(Sree
Vilwarinatha Sthosthram)
5.
Vilwanadhakadhamritham
(Story
of SreeViwadrinatha Temple)
6.
Pazhayanoor Devisthavam
(Pazhayannoor Bhagavtheesthostram)
Jnanappana and Poonthanam
Poonthanam Namboodiri
is a legendary figure of Kerala
famous for his
devotion to the Lord of Guruvayoor and also
for his literary
works such as Bhasha Karnamritam,
Kumaraharanam
or Santanagopalam Pana and
Jnanappana.
Jnanappana
or the Song of Divine Wisdom, a rare treasury
of transcendental
knowledge and its relevance in day-to-day
life, is written
in a simple, unassuming style. It is full of
comments of contemporary
lifestyle in the perspective of
the short lived
nature of life as well as its pleasures.
There are several
legends of ‘Guruvayoor miracles’ in which
Poonthanam figures.
Once while reciting
“Vishnusahasranamam”,
he pronounced “Padmanabho
Maraprabhu" and
`Maraprabhu’ means `Lord of trees’ in
Malayalam. The
famous Sanskrit scholars Melpathur
Bhattathiri made
fun of this and corrected Poonthanam
saying that Padmanabha
is not Maraprabhu (Lord of trees)
but Amaraprabhu
(Lord of immortals). Then there came a
celestial voice
( asareeri )) from the
inner shrine, “ I am
Amaraprabhu
as well as Maraprabhu" . [This has motivated
the design of
the statue in the Sreevalsam Guest house
compound fully
made of clay, is the biggest idol made of
clay in Asia
