THE INNER MEANING OF HUMAN HISTORY Collected works of Dr. Justice S. Maharajan Compiled and Published by: M.Chidambaram First Edition, 2012 © M.Chidambaram All Rights Reserved Price: Rs. 450 The cost of publishing this book is borne by the grand children of Justice. S.Maharajan. The proceeds from the sale of this book will go to charitable organizations. Cover Design: Ramkumar M Typeset by : Fairy Lass M Printed at : Books available at: Kalaignan Pathippagam 10, Kannadasan Salai, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017 044-24345641 Published by : M.Chidambaram 31- Vijayaragava Road, T. Nagar, Chennai 600 017 E-mail: [email protected] CONTENT Foreword . 5 1. The Inner Meaning of Human History as Disclosing the One Increasing Purpose that runs through the Ages . 15 2. The Culture of Tamils . 51 3. Tiruvalluvar . 73 4. Kamban . 201 5. Tirumoolar and the Eighteen Siddhas . 327 6. Saint Arunagiri Nathar, The Mystic . 347 7. T.K.C. The Man of letters . 355 8. Rajaji’s Contribution to Tamil Prose . 361 9. Prof. A. Srinivasa Raghavan - as a Critic . 371 10. Thondaman – A Great Literary Force . 377 11. Some Problems of Shakespeare Translation into Tamil. 383 3 12. Some Problems of Law Translation into the Indian languages . 403 13. Administration of Franco- Indian Laws - Some Glimpses. 415 14. The English and the French Systems of Jurisprudence . 447 15. Address At The Conference Of District Judges and District Magistrates . 457 16. Reflections of a Retired Judge . 471 17. The High-Brow . 481 18. My experience in inter-faith dialogue . 489 19. The Gandhian Epic in Contemporary Society . 493 20. The Jargon of the art critic . 499 21. In Retrospect . 505 4 FOREWORD HOMAGE TO AN ILLUSTRIOUS SAHRIDAYA Celebrating the birth centenary of Justice S. Maharajan is doubly blessed. He was not only eminent in his chosen field of service but was also a distinguished scholar, one who could write and speak with equal ease. He traversed the two worlds of Law and Literature independently. His legal career was precise and to the point for he did not allow his scholarship to weigh upon his arguments or judgements. As he points out in his address at the Conference of District Judges and District Magistrates in 1973, exhibition of one’s scholarship when delivering judgements has no place in the Court. He takes up a Sessions Judge who had to deal with a case in which a son was accused of murdering his mother. Steeped in the best elements of Indian culture, Justice Maharajan does not reveal the name of the judge but points out how the judgement was stuffed with quotes from classics to point out how sons like Parasurama have killed their mothers. When the judge has to tackle a case of infanticide, he reels in matter like the Nallathangal story. None of them touch upon any vital point in the cases. 5 “These quotations, apart from failing to clarify any obscure truth of psychology or reinforcing any relevant argument, give the impression of an utter lack of judicial sobriety and dignity. Not that I am against literary pursuits by Judges. I would certainly like them to have the experience of enlargement of consciousness by sousing them in literature. But if that kind of extra-judicial learning is going to affect, impair or subvert the judicial faculty, it would be better for a judge to abandon such pursuits. Literature ought to give you a correct imaginative and human problems that you have to tackle. It ought not to intrude into the judgements as a piece of exhibitionism.” There lies the secret of Justice Maharajan’s success on two fronts. In both the arenas, he was never an exhibitionist. Very hard work was at the back of the legal celebrity. When he was appointed the Chef du Service Judiciare of Pondicherry, he says, he did not know “the A,B, and C of the French language or of French jurisprudence.” He was not exactly welcome to the French lawyers or judges either. What, just a District Judge and he is to lord over us all now? But before five months were out Justice Maharajan had learnt a comfortable amount of the French language, French legal jargon and the fundamentals of the French substantive and procedural law. I leave the rest of this highly serious but occasionally rib-tickling article, ‘Administration of Franco-Indian Laws – Some Glimpses’ in this volume to the reader. For, with Justice Maharajan, every move in his articles and speeches has to be followed carefully so as not to miss the inlaid artistry of a very alert intellect. Since, the legal career was also a spiritual discipline for him, his writings on the subject are important for the general reader too. As he mentions in a confessional tone: 6 “I have had occasions to err; but I have the satisfaction that those errors were not the result of any conscious prejudice on my part. As I regarded my judicial work as part of my spiritual discipline, I always endeavoured to put myself under the microscope to see that my sub-conscious prejudices, which I have inherited from the amoeba downwards, did not affect my decisions. But I suspect that the unconscious prejudices of my Ego might possibly have left their stamp upon my judgments.” A stern Judge in search of truth in the Court; but a sahridaya par excellence when he was with books and authors. Justice Maharajan writing about others of his feather like Rajaji, T.K.Chidamabaranada Mudaliyar, T.M. Bhaskara Thondaiman and A. Srinivasa Raghavan spreads streams of joy which are not blocked by narrow walls of egotism. I had the privilege of sitting nearby while he and Prof. Srinivasa Raghavan held court in the evenings of the International Conference-Seminar of Tamil Studies at Kuala Lumpur in 1966. If the seminarial sittings were mostly on subjects like linguistics and philology that did not hold much interest for me, it was a great joy to just listen to the discussions on literary works by some of the delegates from Tamil Nadu which included K.V. Jagannathan. Being much younger and unfamiliar with the delegates (I came from Andhra Pradesh), I was wise enough to keep my lips shut but ears alert. I marveled at the generosity of understanding for one another among these scholars of repute. This was an education, by itself. The elders were kind to me too, when they learnt about my father whom they knew. They spoke well of my translations from Subramania Bharati which was most welcome for an aspiring author. 7 Justice Maharajan was particularly generous and I felt at home in his presence as he knew my father well. His paper presented in the Conference-Seminar was of deep interest to me as a translator, as if he were holding a class for my benefit. He was listing some of the problems that one faced when translating Shakespeare into Tamil. I am glad this important essay is in this collection. Why translate Shakespeare? There comes a breathless sentence in answer: “Fortunately for the translators, Shakespeare offers through his plays not only untranslatable imponderables, but also other things, which are worthwhile translating and which are susceptible to translation, such as his presentation of the great panorama of Life, the motive springs of human action, the grand play of impulses and emotions, the march of destiny, his reflections on the incongruities between life and death, between human weal and human woe, between Finitude and Infinity. As an incomparable storyteller, as a Psychiatrist, as a Philosopher, as an Artist and as a Mystic, he conveys many things, which can be caught by the translator.” He translated Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear. It is interesting to speculate why he chose only these tragedies for translation and not any of Shakespeare’s comedies. As one who had a translucent sense of humour, he would indeed have done a great job. Perhaps it is Shakespearian tragic moments that criss- crossed his mind when he focused himself on cases in the court and so he may have unconsciously veered towards presenting these three great works of crime, punishment and atonement in the Tamil language. 8 The Tamil language and culture he loved on this side idolatry. He was passionate about taking the Tamil poets to a wider audience through English translations. The opening essay, ‘The Culture of Tamils’ reflects the state of his mind in pellucid terms. At a time when Tamil chauvinism was trying to imprison the Tamilian in narrow, domestic walls, Justice Maharajan proudly presented the cosmopolitan outlook of the ancient Tamils. Referring in detail to the trade and cultural contacts of Tamil Nadu with different countries like China and Greece, he said: “It is not therefore surprising that the Tamils, who had contacts with different nations and races, were singularly free from insularity, and a Sangam poet of the pre-Christian era proclaimed, with incredible catholicity, ‘Every country is my native land and every one my kinsman.” He finds science too in Tamil culture (Siddha medicine), ship-building, engineering (the Grand Anicut, for instance), psychological studies (the Aham poetics), pearl-diving, reverence for life (Pari and the jasmine creeper) and a uniformly aesthetic approach in everyday activities. And of course, the unequalled temple culture unique to the Tamil nation. While we have this splendid variety in the essays included in this volume, we also get to have the complete texts of the two monographs on Tiruvalluvar and Kamban that Justice Maharajan wrote for Sahitya Akademi’s Makers of Indian Literature series. Tiruvalluvar opens with a Maharajanesque statement: “Though Tiruvalluvar lived about 2000 years ago, it does not seem he is dead.” So the living bard of ethical perfection comes through as the Eternal Teacher, and his innumerable facets glow and spread 9 creative light.