The Twilight Language of Svānubhava Gīti by Nārāyaṇa Guru – Analysis of Selected Stanzas in the Light of Tirumantiram and Other Tamil Literary Sources
The Twilight Language of Svānubhava Gīti by Nārāyaṇa Guru – Analysis of Selected Stanzas in the Light of Tirumantiram and Other Tamil Literary Sources

Summary/Abstract: This paper attempts to interpret selected stanzas from the work of Nārāyaṇa Guru (1854–1928), a South Indian philosopher and social reformer from Kerala. The ancient yogic concept of kuṇḍalinī śakti presented by Guru in his short poem the Kuṇḍalinī Pāṭṭ (The Song of the Kundalini Snake) also appears in Svānubhava Gīti – Lyric of Ecstatic Self-Experience (among others in stanza 41 and 42) – the Malayalam hymn which represents the nirguṇa-poetry describing the mystical experience. An analysis of each motif included in the stanzas mentioned above in the light of Tamil Śaiva tradition (among others Tirumantiram by Tirumūlar) shows that not only the kuṇḍalinī concept could have been adopted from Tamil tradition; Nārāyaṇa Guru seems to apply the very same style of presentation of yogic experiences to his works by means of the twilight language. A comparative analysis of Svānubhava Gīti and Tirumantiram allows us to better understand the concept of the Śiva-Śakti relations presented by Guru.

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