Chidbhavanandar etc.,

N. Ganesan GANESANS at CL.UH.EDU
Sat Mar 21 16:19:58 UTC 1998


N. Ganesan wrote:
>By the way, Swami Chidbhavanandar, my grandfather's cousin went to
>one of the four direct disciples of Vivekananda. I think his name was
>Sivananda. He was a medical doctor who took to Sanyasam under V.
>(Correct me if the name, Sivananda is not correct.)

Vidyasankar Sundaresan wrote:
*If this is the same Sivananda of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh,
*he was not Vivekananda's disciple, although people say he modelled his
*religious career after him.

Chidbhavanandar's guru, Sivananda of Belur Mutt was different from
Sivananda of Divine Life Society. Dr. Amos Nevo asked for some info
on Chidbhavanandar. Let me write it in the list, some may be interested.

Chidbhavanandar was born in 1896 AD. Parents: Periyanna Gounder - Nanjammai.
village: Senguttai Palayam in Pollachi taluk. watered by AaziyaaRu
river. Nowadays Parambikulam-Aliyaer dam waters make these lands
fertile. Situated in Palghat gap. His original name was Chinnu.
Brilliant student, aim was to become an ICS. Earlier, his
relative S. G. Sengodayan became the first nonbrahmin ICS.
He started Ramakrishna Mission in Ooty, Gandhiji visited
him. For harijans, the aalaya pravesam was done there, ....
(Someone mentioned in Indology once about Chidbhavanadar's gita
before and said he liked it, or something like that.)

Dr. Brenda Beck has wriiten extensively on Kongu country.
Read her "Peasant society in Konku, 1972, U. of Br. Columbia,
for a good study on the people of Kongu country.
Her study of the tamil oral epic, "aNNanmAr cuvAmi katai"
- a story of past heros of my people. Then came
Dr. Gene Roghair's Palnati virula katha, study of a Telugu
epic ....
Also, pl. see
David Arnold, The Gounders and the Congress: Political
recruitment in South India,
South Asia, vol. 4, August 1974, p. 1-20

Chidbhavanandar printed in his school press,
Kovai Kizaar (C. M. Ramachandran Chettiar, M.A., M.L., d. 1956)
Kongu naaTTu varalaaRu. Kovai Kizaar was the first to
study tamil folklore. ...

Like to hear more from Dr. Amos Nevo on Chidbhavanandar.
By the way, CS, Chidbhavanandar's elder brother's son, is the latest
Bharata Ratnam. (Note Sri S. Krishna :-) :-)
We Tamils have *five* Bharat Ratnas, two nobel laureates,
don't foget Ramanujan, FRS - the mathematician.
I will come to Origins of Bhakti later. There is a Padmapuranam quote
that Bhakti was born in the tamil country and went northward.
In all the stories that S. Krishna writes, Tamil stories are
the *earliest*. Like folk tales being grouped, is there any typology
and comparative bhakti stories. Any referencses?)

Sivananda of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh is *NOT* the teacher
of Chidbhavanandar. They know each other. This Sivananda comes
from a good lineage. Adayapalam (Near Vellore) Appayya Dikshitar,
his relative, Neelakanta Dikshitar, author os Sivalilarnava
(a translation of tamil tiruviLaiyal, stalapuraaNam of Madurai)
served the Madurai Nayak court. Later, their descendents settled
on the banks of TamraparaNi river. Sivananda of DLS has other illustrius
relatives. The famous historian, K. A. Neelakanta Sastri,
epigraphist Venkataramana Sastri, ...

Regards,
N. Ganesan





More information about the INDOLOGY mailing list