Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JANUARY 5, 1872.
interesting volume well deserves a place in the library of every one who can read English.
A. H. B.
GOVER'S FOLK SONGS. THE FOLK SONGS OF SOUTHERN INDIA. By Charles E.
Gover, Member of the Royal Asiatic Society and of the Society of Arts, Fellow of the Anthropological Society. Madras : Higginbotham and Co.
This is one of the most attractive and instructive books, relating to the social life of the people of India we have ever read. We think we can safely pred that it will be a favourite in the drawingroom as well as in the study. The introductory remarks, criticisms, &c. are well written, and the inany songs rendered with great spirit and in every variety of metre. Some of them have already appeared in the Cornhill Magazine, and others were read before the Royal Asiatic Society but have not yet been published.
The Dravidian languages have hitherto been too mach overlooked by Orientalists. The Rev. W. Taylor remarks,"It is desirable that the polish of the Telugu and Tamil poetry should be better known in Europe ; that so competent judges might determine whether the high distinction accorded to Greek and Latin poetry, as if there were nothing like it in the world, is perfectly just." And Dr. Caldwell remarks, that Tamil is "the only vernacular literature in India which has not been content with imitating the Sanskrit, but has honourably attempted to emulate and outshine it. In one department, at least, that of ethical epigrams, it is generally maintained, and I think must be admitted, that the Sanskrit has been outdone by the Tamil."
But we must let Mr. Gover speak for himself :" There is," he says, "& great mass of noble writing ready to hand, in Tamil and Telugu folk-literature, especially in the former. Total neglect has fallen upon it. Overborne by Brahmanic legend, hated by the Brahmans, it has not had a chance of obtaining the notice it so much deserves. The people cling to their songs still, and in every pyall-school the pupils learn
wall choi the pupila learn thestrains of Tiruvalluva, Auveiyar, Kapila, Pattunat- ta and the other early writers. To raise these books in public estimation, to exhibit the true products of the Dravidian mind, would be a task worthy of the ripest scholar, and the most enlightened government. I would especially draw attention to the eighteen books that are said to have ruceived the sanction of the Madura College, and are among the oldest specimens of Dravidian literature. Any student of Dravidian writings would be able to add a score of equally valuable books. If these were carefully edited, they would form a body of Dravidian classics of the highest value."
Nor ought we to pass over the author's history of his book " the result of an attempt," as he
describes it, "to fathom the real feelings of the masses of the people, by gathering and collecting the folk. songs of each family of the great Dravidian nation. It bas been the pleasant labour of years to make this collection--in the plains, where dwell the Tamil and Telugu peoples : on the Maisur plateau, the home of Kanarese : among the hills and valleys of the Nilgiris and the Western Ghats, sheltering the stalwart tribes of Kúrg, and the humble Badagas of Utakamand : along the narrow strip of low-lying coast that parts the sea from the western Ghats and gives a home to the Malayalim tongue." And lovingly and honestly has he done his work, and we feel that the vista he has opened up is a picture of reality of no common interest.
Bofore proceeding to the songs let us quote this picture, so well drawn, of the dasas : -" Their service was first of all poverty ; secondly, singing ; thirdly, forgetfulness of caste. Their reward lay in human honour and the certainty of a living. None dared to dispise the slave of God,' none could refuse him a handful of rice or a couple of oppams or chapatis. At weddings and feasts, at fasts and funerals, at sowing and harvest, at full moon and sankranti (the passing of the equator as the sun changed its tropic), the dasa must be invited, listened to and rewarded. At weddings, he must sing of Krishna ; at burnings of Yama; before maidens of Káma; before men, of Ráma. As he begs he sings of right and duty; when he hears the clink of copper in his shell, of benevolence and charity...
“There can be few more pleasant scenes than when in the cool of the evening, the dasa enters some quiet country village, to find and earn his food and quarters for the night. Marching straight to the Mantapam or many-pillared porch of the pagoda, he squats on the elevated basement, tunes his vina, places before him his huge begging shell. The villagers are just returning from the fields, weary with their labours, anxious for some sober excitement. The word is quickly passed round that the singer has come, and men, women and children turn thvir steps towards the Mantapam. There they sit on the ground before the bard and wait his pleasure. He begins by trolling out some praise to Krishna, Vishnu or Pillaiyarswami. Then he starts with a pada or short song, such as those with which the book commences. There is chorus to every verse. If the song be well known before the bard has finished the long-drawn-out note with which he ends his verse, the villagers have taken up their part and the loud chorus swells on the evening breeze. If the song be new they soon learn chorus, and every fresh verse bears a louder and louder refrain. Then the shell is carried round and pice are showered into it. When darknees closes in, the head-man of the village invites the singer to his house, gives him a full meal and then leaves him with mat, vina and shell to sleep in the pyall. In busy towns the singer