Epics in Imprints-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA
EPIC LITERATURE PRODUCES AN EPIC LIFE
Loka Manya Tilak’s greatest work was the Gita-Rahasya, a philosophic inquiry into the
secret of the teaching of the Gita, the holiest book of the Aryadharma. In this volume he
reinterpreted the Gita in its classical sense, restoring the proper emphasis to the philosophy
of action, the Karma yoga; and his is considered one of the outstanding studeis of the
Gita in modern Indian literature. The Gita-Rahasya assured Tilak’s place among the greatest
of India’s scholars and philosophers. His classical studies enabled him to recapture the
spirit of India’s classical philosophy of life. In his heart of hearts, he always remained a
humble student of India’s greatness. Even after he had become the foremost political
leader of India, he often said that he wished he could devote his life to teaching mathematics
and pursuing his scholarly research into the wisdom of India’s ancient civilization.
From The Legacy of ‘the Lokamanya’ by Theodore L.Shay OUP Bombay 1956
Sugriva looked below
And saw two youths,
One dark and one fair,
The dark one lying asleep
On the lap of the fair one.
For twelve days and nights
Was the dark one sleeping
On the lap of the fair one
Sugriva mused thus –
From their looks they must be brothers
How one brother is sharing
The other brother’s burden
And here I am,
Fighting my own brother
For a throne—he mused.
Tears rolled down from his eyes.
So runs the song.
A KARBI (ASSAMESE DIALECT) FOLKSONG
Quoted in “Ramakatha in T/F tradition of India” ASI/Seagull books, Calcutta 1993.
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