or them Sanskrit is everything. They want Sanskrit
to bridge the gap between
past and the present. They are
working towards bringing
many untold and unheard
Sanskrit verses to the benefit of
the new generation.
They feel only Sanskrit
can link a cultural, political and
social history of the past. They
translate Sanskrit verses and
spread the knowledge to the
general public and particularly to the generation next to
keep the understanding of the
rich literary past intact. They
are also striving hard to build
a group of Sanskrit readers to
propagate Sanskrit poetry.
Vene t i a Kot amr aju an
O x fo rd g r a du at e an d Dr
S h a n k a r R a j a r a m a n a
r e n ow n e d p s y ch i at r i s t i n
Bangalore are working to
bring the richness of Sanskrit
alive. They have not only set
up a Sanskrit book publishing
house called Rasala but also
st r iv ing hard to t r ansl ate
India’s most beautiful forgotten S ans k r it ve rs e s in to
English. These scholars in
their endeavor to popularise
Sanskrit poetry, are sending
poetry with English translation every week through their
website www.rasalabooks.com
to the generation next.
Their recent translation
of 15th century Sanskrit scholar Uddanda Sastri’s love poems
c a l l e d “ Ko k i l a ( c u c k o o )
Sandesa” is celebration of love
and expression of social and
cultural past.
The Kokila Sandesa, or
The Message of the Koel, takes
the reader on a literary tour
across southern India and into
Kerala. A lovesick husband,
snatched from his beloved’s
side as they slept, dispatches a
koel, the Indian cuckoo, to
their home in central Kerala
with a message to sustain her
until he can return.
The journey will take the
koel across Tamil Nadu and
Ka r n at a k a and d ow n t h e
northern half of Kerala. Quite
apart from the lush landscape,
thickly carpeted in betel nut or
cardamom trees and crisscrossed by rivers; the local
temples alive with myth; and
the fabulous cities whose
palaces push the stars out of
their orbits, the Kokila Sandesa
is stuffed with historical, social
and cultural details. We are
introduced to the kingdoms of
t h e P u r a l i s , Ko l a s a n d
Zamorins; the Mamankam
festival and a varied cast of
Ud d a n d a’s c o n t e m p o r a r y
scholars, poets and kings.
Composed by 15
th
century
poet-scholar, Uddanda Sahsrti,
the Kokila Sandesa is a celebration of the lush, temples t u d d e d l a n d o f K e r a l a ,
Uddanda’s adopted home, in
162 rich verses.
According to Dr Shankar
Rajaraman a psychiatrist by
profession and an Astavadhani,
which means that he has faced
eight examiners in the traditional avadhana or poetry
competition, composing verses on the spot and correctly
identifying quotations from a
huge selection of possible
poems, Sanskrit poems were
the links with the past which is
beautiful and an understanding of the society in all respects.
For him it also reflects human
mind, its growth and absorption of intellectual capabilities.
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