The author analyses the meaning of Narayana Guru's Saiva poems composed in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil. The author points to how Narayana Guru's ideas connect to the doctrine of Saiva Siddhanta of Tirumandiram.
This full-scaled monograph, rich in factographic material, concerns Narayana Guru (1855/56--1928), a founder of a powerful socio-religious movement in Kerala. He wrote in three languages (Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil), drawing on three different literary conventions. The world of this complex philosophic-religious literature is brought closer to the reader with rare deft and dexterity by the Author who not only retrieves for us the original circumstances, language and poetic metre of each work but also supplies histories of their reception. Thanks to numerous glosses, comments and elucidations supplied by the Author, we can much better understand how Narayana's mystical universe creatively relates to the Tamil aiva Siddhanta and to Kerala's variety of Vedanta tradition.
Prof. Cezary Galewicz
Philosophical system of Narayana Guru's devotional hymns - the Linga Concept in Narayana Guru's works - Kundalini Yoga in iva atakam - Liberation (Mukti or Moksa) in philosophical works by Narayana Guru - influence of Tamil and Sanskrit literature on iva atakam - philosophy of Tirumandiram
Dr Hanna Urbanska is professor at the University of Wroclaw (Institute of Classics, Mediterranean and Oriental Studies). The present monograph, devoted to the influence of Tamil literature (Tirumandiram in particular) on the philosophical system of Narayana Guru, is a fruit of many years' research conducted by the author in Kerala.
