The book under review introduces the Vacanas or sayings of devotees of Śiva, known as Śiva-Śaraṇas, of 11th and 12th century Karnataka to the world. The editor and translator is Professor MV Nadkarni, a distinguished economist, who also writes on religion, philosophy, ethics, and Gandhian thought. Interestingly, he took to composing verses in Sanskrit too, and a book containing five Śatakams in Sanskrit, with translation in English, was published earlier by the same publisher titled: Sāmājika-Nīti-Kāvya-Gucchah: A Bouquet of Verses on Social Ethics (2022). While this is on modern social ethics including environmental ethics and ethical needs of democracy, the present book under review goes back to medieval thought of substantial relevance to the present. There is continuity in his work because the emphasis of Vacanas is also on ethical teaching.
Introducing Vacanas to the World
Sangamesh Savadattimath
VACANĀMṚTAM: NECTAR OF SAYINGS—SELECTED VACANAS OF DEVOTEES OF ŚIVA by Edited and translated from the original Kannada into Sanskrit and English by Mangesh Venkatesh Nadkarni Manipal Universal Press, Manipal, , 354 pp., INR ₹ 600.00
March 2025, volume 49, No 3