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The Creative Genius in Sree Narayana Guru Sree Narayana Guru is a great soul who opened the gates of freedom for the oppressed and downtrodden sections of the society by establishing revolutionary changes in the social background of Kerala then. In this modern age, we see the grace of a sage and the greatness of a Guru co!e"isting in Sree Narayana Guru. #e transformed the society with the help of his asceticism and lofty thinking. #is messages rose out of his benevolent heart and helped many in attaining spiritual liberation. $aterialist, Social revolutionist, %hilosopher and %oet, Sree Narayana Guru combines within himself such powers that could inspire people of all ages. &ontemporary $alayalam literature abounds in works on Guru such as biographies, interpretations, critical commentaries and annotations. 'hough the growth of literature on Guru(s works has been phenomenal , he is mostly considered as a social reformer. Similarly, there is lot of ambivalence about Guru(s prolific literary output of around si"ty works in 'amil, $alayalam and Sanskrit. #is works include hymns, instructions and philosophical works in both prose and poetry. #is ma)or philosophical works are Atmopadesasatakam and Darsanamala. #is

instructions such as Jathinirnnayam and Jathilakshanam give little importance to philosophy or poetic beauty but to the social perspective. #is notable translations are Thirukural, Isavasyo Upanishad and Ozhivilodukam. *orks such as Atmavilasom proclaim his visionary nature. Guru started writing in Sanskrit but with the progress of his writing, he abandoned Sanskrit and began writing in 'amil and $alayalam. 'his shift in language also marked a shift in his thought, a realisation that one need not be a +rahmin to achieve spiritual beauty. 'he commentaries on Guru(s works are innumerable though they cannot be strictly classified as commentaries. Instead they fall into the category of personal appreciations of

Guru(s writings. 'his article e"plores how the myriad biographers of Guru have differently viewed his writing career and his creative output. 'he views of these biographers were coloured by their own perceptions of Guru. 'he poet Kumaranasan(s biography of Guru focuses more on Guru as a social reformer rather than as a creative writer. ,san only makes a passing reference to Guru(s attempts at writing literature as a respite from his social reforms. #e calls Atmopadesasatakam as the condensed form of Guru(s wisdom but fails to consider his other works as of any literary value. It is surprising that Kumaranasan who was a poet himself would neglect Guru(s literary output in his biography that was written during the lifetime of Guru. Several references are made of Guru(s works in Kottukoyikal -elayudhan.s biography Sree Narayana Guru published in /012. #e calls his biography as a sign of his devotion to Guru and reveals that the usually reticent Guru had started writing poetry at the re3uest of his followers. 'hese poems of Guru were widely read in his circle of disciples and underwent several transformations before they were compiled together by his disciple Sanyasi Sree Kumaraswami and published as Divyastotraratnavali. #e also makes references to Guru(s works such as Atmopadesasatakam, which was published in the first few issues of ivekodayam and

Darsanamala, which is also called by the names Ad!aitadeepika and Ad!aitasiddhi. #e also adds that Svanu"hava#eethi was known as i"hutidarsanam in some of the old publications. -adayil Sadasivan in his Sree Narayana Gurudevan, mentions that Guru had written around 41 books. #e credits inayakashtakam, hymns in praise of 5ord Ganapathi as Guru(s

first work. #e points out that the all!pervading philosophy in Guru(s writings is advaita and that the ascetic philosophy of Guru as the specialty of his writings. #e also pays minute attention to Guru(s use of language, and his composition . Guru could also point out a logical error in

Kumaranasan(s Karuna , where he describes -yalimukham . Koyikal K. 6acob in Sree Narayana Guru classifies Guru(s works into hymns and philosophical works. #e focuses on the hymns in $alayalam as they are more solemn in tone. #e draws attention to the similarity between the 5ord(s %rayer of the &hristians and the following lines from Daivadashakam7 8ou are our 5ord, who saves us and blesses us *ith our daily needs of food and clothing. #e sees this similarity as unconscious and originating from Guru(s mind that absorbed the goodness of all religions and all religious te"ts. #e contradicts -adakumkoor(s observation that Darsanamala refers to all e"isting and prevalent philosophies in India at that time. #e also re)ects -adakumkoor(s view of Guru as a contributor and nourisher of Sanskrit language rather than as a creative writer. #e points out that only through much spiritual labour can a person understand works such as Arivu, Darsanamala and Athmopadeshashatakam. #owever, he makes an observation that for an unimaginative and uninitiated reader, unaware of the breadth and depth of spiritual philosophy, Guru(s works will remain inaccessible and elusive. 9r. '. +haskaran in his biography of Guru named $aharshi Sree Narayana Guru devotes around twenty pages to the analysis of Guru(s poetry. #e is dissatisfied with the literary historians who have ignored Guru(s literary output. +haskaran classifies Guru(s output into hymns, philosophical works and instructions and also states that some of these cannot be given clear cut labels. #is hymns were not )ust aimed at praising God for his blessings but attempted to bring about a social transformation in the lower caste people of society, who were denied the right to worship God. 'rue to its spirit, these hymns were chanted by the avarnas and became widely popular. 'he key influences on Guru(s perspective and literary output were the 'amil

+hakti literature and his friendships with &hattambi Swamikal and 'haikkattu ,yyavu. 'his period marks a change in Guru(s writing with the increasing influence of the Shaivite tradition and the decreasing power of the Sanskrit literary tradition, leading to the composition of hymns in his mother!tongue $alayalam. ,ccording to +haskaran, Guru aimed at social reformation as was evident in his hymns and his temple consecrations. 'he avarnas were allowed to worship only inferior local deities and they were ignorant and inferior. Guru wanted to uplift these ignorant people and increase their self!esteem and for this, he installed Gods such as Siva, Subramanian and Ganapati for the avarnas. #e was of the view that the Gods of ,ryan pantheons were not restricted to the +rahmins and belonged to the non!+rahmins as well. #e proved by his own e"ample that an avarna can also compose hymns in the Sanskrit language. In Navaman%ari , written in praise of 5ord Subramanian, each poem is supposed to be a flower. Guru(s philosophy of one religion forms the essence of Atmopadesasatakam . +haskaran points out that though Atmopadesasatakam might look like an ordinary book that deals with advaita, in reality it is written in the very rarely used metre in $alayalam poetry called $ridendramugham. #e is of the opinion that Guru could spread the unifying principle of advaita to all walks of life. Guru starts the poem by praising knowledge7 :ising even above knowledge, what within the form ;f the one who knows, as e3ually without, radiant shines, 'o that &ore, with the eyes five restrained within, ,gain and again prostrating in adoration, one should chant. Atmopadesasatakam is considered to be the essence of the <panishads but its language is simpler and easier to follow. 9r. '. +haskaran praises Guru(s ability to e"press profound thoughts in the

simplest language possible and recalls that =.$.S. used to view Guru as only a little lower than -agbhatananda in his scholarship and elo3uence. #e is also of the view that Guru(s philosophical works have to studied and taught in depth to prove that Guru did not follow Sankaracharya as it is commonly believed. 9r. '. +haskaran also describes how Guru advised Kumaranasan against writing amorous verses. 'his was because of his distaste of -enmani poets who specialised in writing amorous verses. 'he hallmark of Guru(s poetry was its simplicity as he consciously tried to avoid using Sanskrit words while writing in $alayalam, unlike many of the $alayalam poets who refused to do so. #owever, +haskaran attributes the depth of Guru(s poetry as the factor that has alienated both the common reader as well as the scholars. In the chapter titled 'he 5one %oetic Genius in Narayana Guru S!ami, $.K. Sanu makes several comparisons between Guru(s works in Sanskrit, $alayalam and 'amil. #e is of the view that Guru(s use of 'amil was effortless and easy like that of a native user. #e also comments on the harmony between sounds and meanings in Guru(s Sanskrit works. Guru(s $alayalam works are noted by Sanu for the beauty of spiritual philosophy. ,ccording to Sanu, only those who are well!versed in literature as well as in the language of the spirit can understand the value of Guru(s poetry. In his Guruvarul published in /0>2, Natara)a Guru emphasises that Guru(s greatest message was his silence, which could interpret secrets better than words. 'his silence is that it is ambiguous and drowns all his other verbal messages. Natara)a Guru makes minute observations of Guru(s magnetic personality and his writings, which he considers to be full of allegories and hidden meanings. In 9r. N.-. %. <nithiri(s Sree Narayana Guru, he describes how Guru has included the

burning social issues of his time in Atmopadesasatakam. #e is of the view that it reveals the full magnificence of Guru as an advaita philosopher, social reformer and visionary. <nnithiri , makes a review of previous studies on Guru(s writings in studies. It was the first time in the history of $alayalam literature that a saint attained the status of a poet . ,ccording to -ishnu Narayanan Namboothiri , even when writing in $alayalam, guru adhered to the tradition of 9ravidian literature and could imbibe its essence. ,mong his many biographers, it is 9r. '. +haskaran who has made an in!depth study of Guru(s writings. $.K. Sanu , though he has not e"plored the philosophical or aesthetic aspects of Guru(s writings, at least views them from the perspective of an ideal reader. $ost of the biographers view Guru(s literary output with wonder and reali?e that in order to understand his poetic genius, they need to combine philosophy and poetry in their readings of his works. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr.Asaletha.V Associate Professor in Malayalam SSUS Regional Centre Vanchiyoor Thiruvananthapuram