https://twitter.com/AndhraPortal/status/1163246923836350464 Thanks to ICP for publishing this study of Swadeshi scholarship comparing Western epic poetry and Mahakavya.

- In remembrance of Ravi Joshi ji who was so supportive.

https://twitter.com/AndhraPortal/status/1163246923836350464 We can find within the Swadeshi scholarship tradition the reasons why #DevduttPattanaik type shallow versions of the #Ramayana fall flat. Conversely, why an increasingly cynical, materialistic reader base will only produce more Devdutt Pattanaiks.

https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5855.acknowledgments Besides a) Pattanaik types, this study is also important because we also find b) sepoys (e.g. Wendy's student) digesting itihasa into western myth and c) confused H in Videshi awe, distorting dharmic concepts to show equivalence in western epic themes

A pioneer who 'reversed the gaze' on western literature and epic poetry was Sri #VVSAiyar (1881-1925). Fluent in #Sanskrit, #Tamil, #Telugu, .. and #Greek, #Latin, .. he studied the primary sources and came up with amazing findings in his commentary on Kamba #Ramayanam.

#VVSAiyar lawyer, fierce freedom fighter, brilliant scholar. He and wife organized armed resistance of the British Raj. His father fought SC/ST conversions by Evangelists. His protege #Vanchinathan shot the tyrant Tirunelveli collector, Ashe who shut down VOC's Swadeshi Shipping.

This commentary of #VVSAiyar was compiled in just 9 months as a prisoner of the British Raj in Bellary Central jail, nearly 100 yrs ago. Yet it retains its importance for many reasons, one of which is its value to the contemporary global 'battle of narratives'.

this post explores three of #VVSAiyar's findings https://twitter.com/AndhraPortal/status/1163246923836350464
Key #1. West *translated* their epics ( #Homer's #Iliad, #Odyssey..) into other European languages whereas our Kavis decentralized and rewrote/retold new poems from Itihasa-Mahakavyas in all our languages

#2 Absence of poetry of 'such transcendental merit' produced a fragmented collection of Western #epics that faded away. India still reveres its few central sacred stories today as it did thousands of years ago.

[now observe the interesting central/decentral switch b/w #1 & #2]

#3 Western epics invariably start #InMediasRes ("in the middle of things") like Homer did (and recommended by Aristotle and Horace) whereas Mahakavyas generally follow the natural order. why? what are the consequences? #VVSAiyar provides wonderful insights.

#VVSAiyar: western poets literally translating #poetry into other languages "acts as a drag upon all his higher faculties.. the mind loses its natural flow and has to substitute for it a #simulacrum by all sorts of subterfuges. And the result is a travesty of the original.."