SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GEETHAI : Ahobiladasan Ka. Sridharan; Narmadha Pathippagam, 10, Nana Street, T. Nagar, Chennai-600017. Rs. 450 .
This compendium of the Bhagavad Gita in Tamil contains detailed expositions of the three great preceptors, Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. There are any number of publications on the Gita by scholars in Tamil — as for instance Bharathiar, Kannadasan, and Giridhari Prasad. What marks this out is that it contains the meaning of the slokas as well as a gist of the commentary by each Acharya in lucid Tamil. The idea in presenting the varied interpretations, says the author, is to help one appreciate the genius of the Acharyas.
A monumental work by Sridharan, this 675-page volume has preambles that provide an insight into the philosophy of the three preceptors, and the expositions and the discussion that follow make it exceptional. While Sankara and Ramanuja have commented on every sloka, Madhva left out some, for his own reasons. Perhaps, he thought that those slokas are self-speaking and so need no interpretation. Thoughtfully, the author has provided cross-references to the Upanishads, wherever necessary.
It is to the credit of production managers that the publication is free from typographical errors.
