From: aravind@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (rangarajan.aravind)
Subject:  Prof. Jackson, "Tyagaraja: Life and Lyrics"
Organization: AT&T
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 03:03:22 GMT
Keywords:  biography, translation



In response to Todd McComb's recent query:

>Could you give a more explicit reference for this?  Knowing the publisher
>or perhaps the ISBN number would be quite helpful.  I would like to find
>scores of the compositions of each member of the Trinity -- I have seen
>some bibliographical information posted here before, but unfortunately I
>did not save it and I am also unclear as to how easy it would be for an
>english speaker to understand the text and/or notation.  It would be
>extremely helpful if someone could (re-)post references for Trinity kritis
>in books available in the US and with English translations, or at least
>with a few notes about the intended audience for the book.  I would really
>like to see scores (though I don't know what sort of notation is alluded
>to above, but chances are I can figure it out with a few guidelines), with
>perhaps some biographical information.  Hopefully such texts are available
>or will be soon.  Thanks.

>T. M. McComb

Here is an excerpt from a post by Srini Pichumani of several months ago:

>Folks! There is a new book on the famous composer-saint 
>Tyagaraja(1767-1847) by an American scholar of religious studies.
>Here are the details:

>Title:		Tyagaraja: Life and Lyrics
>Author:		William J Jackson
>Published:	Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1991
>Description:	394 pages, <4>p of plates, 23 cm
>ISBN:		0195628128
>LC # :		ML410.T98 J14 1991

>saint's life and the socio-cultural context in which the 
>great composer's work was born. 
>It also includes a translation of about 180 compositions.

>--Srini.

>ps: I have read an early draft of some of the translations. They
>are very good; and one of the nice features of Prof.Jackson's 
>translation is that he includes all the stanzas of a composition,
>and repeats the translation of the refrain after every stanza.
>It enhances the flow of the composition in reading the translation.

==================

Let me add my few words in praise of this book.  I ordered it from
the U.S. sales office of the Oxford University Press, who can be
reached at  1 800 451 7556.   They were able to ship it within
a week.

I have found this book to be an outstanding scholarly work of Tyagaraja's
life.   The milieu into which he was born is described in detail, enabling
me to much better understand and appreciate the lyrics of the compositions.
(For instance, probably not many lovers of his works today are aware 
of the famines that occurred in the Kaveri delta during his youth, 
caused in part by the invasions of Hyder Ali).   In his final chapter on 
the Saint's life ("the Musician as Mystic"), Prof. Jackson extracts the
essence of the compositions in a superlative manner.   Every point
he makes is abundantly referenced in the notes at the end of each chapter.

The best part of the book are the English translations - renditions if you 
will - of the original lyrics.   Here is what Prof. Jackson says in
his Preface:

"To render into English a fixed Telugu configuration, seizing graceful
parallels largely true to the original using very few words in English is
challenging. .... The translated lyrics must have *some music*.  I have
tried to strike a balanced note, both faithful and alive, in these
translations.  I tend to like the freedom  of drawing from the entire
range of the English language in all its polyglottal richness.."

"Translating a text is like building a new home for a family of ideas
to inhabit..... One must know well their previous dwelling and build
a suitable new one with materials from the new environment so that they
may live comfortably ... Working with Tyagaraja's lyrics has taught
me this."

Let me conclude this post with this excerpt from the 
translation of  "Svara Raga Sudharasayuta" (in Sankarabaranam, set
to Adi):

  Devotion steeped in the nectar
    of melodious tones and modes
  Is supreme celestial bliss,
    O my heart and soul

  What good does it do for a frog
   or a crane to slumber
  On the lotus called 'supreme Ananda'
   - they don't know -
  Devotion steeped in the nectar
    of melodious tones and modes
  Is supreme celestial bliss,
    O my heart and soul

  To know musical sound as being
   born from the muladhara
   (the original root foundation)
  - that's ecstatic liberation!
  To discern the mystical homes
   (the chakras in the body)
   of the seven musical tones
   amidst the confusing hullabaloo
  That, O Mind, is liberation!
  Devotion steeped in the nectar
    of melodious tones and modes
  Is supreme celestial bliss,
    O my heart and soul

(there are three more charanams in this masterpiece of a krithi,
which I will not reproduce here).

HAPPY NEW YEAR 1993 TO ALL,

Aravind