Date:13/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/13/stories/2008011353680400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Moily’s Mahanveshanam is relevant to modern society’

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN: The former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily having a word with lexicographer G. Venkatasubbiah and Surana College principal K.E. Radhakrishna (left) at a seminar on ‘Sri Ramayana Mahaanveshanam’ on the occasion of 68th birthday of Mr. Moily in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: The human and social perspectives projected in the “Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam,” authored by the former Chief Minister and writer M. Veerappa Moily is relevant to modern society, nonagenarian scholar G. Venkatasubbaiah has said.

He was speaking at a seminar on the work organised on the occasion of Mr. Moily’s 68th birthday here on Saturday.

Prof. Venkatasubbaiah said that Mr. Moily had viewed Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam from several angles. This had bestowed different dimensions to the text and enabled the reader to discern the designs of human development in the passage of time from modern outlook.

He said that Mr. Moily was the only person after the former Chief Minister the late Kengal Hanumanthaiya to respond to the needs of Kannada and culture while in power and acted with commitment and conviction.

Noted literary critic C.N. Ramachandran said that it was amazing to learn that the “unbelievable” Rama Katha had spread across the globe cutting across cultural and linguistic barriers. Although the original text of the Ramayana was in Sanskrit, it had been reproduced in various regional languages and even in tribal languages in the Asian region, he said.

Mr. Moily’s ability to adopt a pluralistic approach and judicious treatment to the theme had elevated the text beyond religious considerations.

For Mr. Moily, Ayodhya, Sri Lanka and Kishkinda were not merely three culturally different countries but representative of arts, science and technology and agriculture respectively of the region. Contrary to traditional texts, the book had given importance Lakshmana on a par with Sri Rama. Assimilation of several cultures, lifestyles, details on warfare and technology and human tendencies had helped Mahanveshanam to rise above parochial perspectives, Prof. Ramachandran said.

Surana College principal K.E. Radhakrishna was the chief guest. Mr. Moily was present.