Documentary on an unsung poet Vedanayagam Sastriar

A documentary that tells the story of the remarkable Tamil poet Vedanayagam Sastriar of Thanjavur will be released this weekend. The project is a labour of love undertaken by a descendant of the poet, who was inspired to do it when he heard a grandniece point to an image and ask, “Who is that man with the funny outfit?” It prompted Judah Vincent to read several biographies, develop a story board, identify production teams, hire a history consultant, and work with the State Archaeology Department so that he could bring the history of the poet to life.

Born in Tirunelveli in 1774 and brought up along with the young prince Serfoji in Thanjavur by Fr. Schwarz, somewhere along the way Vedanayagam imbibed extraordinary skills in Tamil. He went on to become a prolific writer with more than 130 works to his credit, some of which are preserved in the finest libraries of the world.

Display of virtuosity

Vedanayagam demonstrated virtuosity in all aspects of Tamil literature — poetry, dance and drama. Besides, he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Bible, and mesmerised pundits with his Google-like references and recall of verses from both the old and new testaments. Under the tutelage of Fr. Schwartz and other missionaries, Vedanayagam became proficient in several subjects such as Geography, Botany, Physiology, Biology, Astronomy, Philosophy, and Sociology as well as Theology.

All this knowledge was distilled into his works — Jebamalai, Bethalem Kuravanji, Drama of the Divine Carpenter, Thiru Sabhai Oonjal, Perinba Kaadal, to cite a few. When he was made a poet in Serfoji’s Maratha court, he refused to sing paeans to anyone but Jesus Christ. Among the several accolades that he received, the title of Sastriar or Doctor of Divinity stands out. It might surprise many people to learn that there is a statue of this arguably greatest Tamil Christian poet in New York.

Thanks to word from missionaries, scholars across the world were quick to recognise the greatness of Vedanayagam Sastriar’s works. Several of them did comparative studies of Vedanayagam alongside Western poets such as Charles Wesley, Milton and Shakespeare. Vedanayagam, however, remained largely marginalised in his native land. And he, in turn, did not take any endowments from the king.

In a milieu awash with Bavarian and Anglican hymns translated into Tamil with unchanged tunes, Vedanayagam was among the first to write Christian lyrics in Carnatic music style for worship in the traditional manner. This was soon recognised by Christian Literature Service and other publishers, with the result that Vedanayagam’s songs fairly dominate the lyric books used in Tamil churches across the globe.

Only recently has a tentative attempt been initiated to digitise his enormous contribution to Tamil literature with a view to bringing to public knowledge the beauty hidden in palm leaves and other manuscripts languishing in sundry archive vaults.

This effort could do with some administrative and material support and is probably more important than erecting statues or building arches to memorialise the unsung poet.

An account of Vedanayagam, who was way ahead of his time in decrying the evils of casteism, superstition, and the suppression of women, is now being presented in a two-part documentary that will be available on YouTube shortly, in both Tamil and English.

To watch the documentary, follow YouTube channel GraceCottageFilms.

For more information about the project, mail gracecottagefilms @gmail.com or [email protected].

he writer is a conflict resolution researcher currently working in Jammu.