The Secret Garland: Ant[a.bar]l's.

• Author: Pechilis, Karen
• Position: Book review

The Secret Garland: Ant[a.bar]l's Tirupp[a.bar]vai and N[a.bar]cciy[a.bar]r Tirumoli. Translated with introduction and commentary by ARCHANA VENKATESAN. AAR Religions in Translation Series. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2010. Pp. ix + 262. $27.

This book is an excellent, detailed study of two canonical devotional poems (in 143 verses) from the classical Tamil-language devotional tradition dedicated to Visnu (Tamil Visnu-bhakti). The author of the poems, Ant[a.bar]l (ninth century), is the sole female poet-saint ([a.bar]lv[a.bar]r) among the twelve recognized by this tradition. Venkatesan brings experience to the translation and study of these poems: she wrote her dissertation on Ant[a.bar]l and has published three articles on literary and ritual aspects of the poet's works. In this study Venkatesan provides the reader with an immersion experience in the distinctive poetry of a female author who is considered an exemplar of "the ones who drown" ([a.bar]lv[a.bar]r) in their devotion to Visnu.

Graceful translations and illuminating commentary on the verses constitute the bulk of this book. Enhancing our understanding of commentary, Venkatesan notes that Sr[i.bar]vaisnava theologians view commentary as enjoyment (anubhava), and thus "doing theology is an aesthetic endeavor" (p. 31.). Her commentary is based largely, though not exclusively (pp. 83, 189), on that of the thirteenth-century Periyav[a.bar]cc[a.bar]n Pillai, chosen because of his skill, enthusiasm, and influence on later commentators.

A helpful introduction provides contextual information on themes, structure, and use of the poems, much of it specific to the Indian and particularly South Indian cultural milieus. Right from the first page of the introduction it is clear that Venkatesan has style, as in this marvelous description: "Today, Putuvai [the setting of Ant[a.bar]l's poems] is identified with Sr[i.bar]villiputt[u.bar]r, a dusty town about seventy-five kilometers south of the bustling Tamil cultural capital, Maturai. Surrounded by lovely hills, their crests tipped with dark clouds, the Sr[i.bar]villiputt[u.bar]r landscape is dominated by an imposing temple tower that rises colorful and majestic, audaciously confronting the neighboring hills" (pp. 3-4). We learn that, according to hagiography, Ant[a.bar]l was found under a sacred tulasi ('basil'; see p. 40 on issues in translating this term) plant at a temple to Visnu by a humble Brahman flower-garland maker, and that he...