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An Artist's impression of Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi, S J
Father of Tamil Prose and Tamil Lexicography
The Dante of the Tamil Language
The Story
A staunch ascetic called Valan gets married to a resolute virgin called Mary. To them ‘a child is born’, to them ‘a son is given’, through Divine intervention. How that holy family plays its role in the Divine Drama – or if we may call it Tiruviḷaiyāṭal (Divine Play) as Tamils would call it, or La Divina Commedia as Dante would have it or Divine Providence as the Catholic Church would like to proclaim it ‒ is the burden of the epic.
(Tēmpāvaṇi) (தேம்பாவணி in Tamil) (A Garland of Unfading Honey-Sweet Verses), one of the Tamil classics, a poetical work of Veeramamunivar (Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi), on the life of St. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ. This Tamil [Divina Commedia] is divided into thirty-six cantos, containing 3,615 stanzas. "It is," says Baumgartner, "the noblest epic poem in honour of St. Joseph written in any literature, East or West". It begins with the birth of Joseph (வளன், சூசை) and ends with his "coronation" by the Triune God in heavenly glory.
Thembavani has more than 100 references to events and teachings in the Bible. Thoroughly immersed in Tamil literature and culture, Beschi integrates several literary devices successfully employed by classics such as Kamba Ramayanam (கம்பராமாயணம்) and Manimekalai (மணிமேகலை). This is particularly evident in his description of the landscape, mountain, sea, desert, and fertile land.
Beschi composed the epic keeping Joseph (Valan) as the hero and Mary as the heroine and wove into it several characters and episodes appropriate to the unraveling of the story of Joseph, Mary, and their God-son. The epic consists of 3,615 rhymed quatrains in Tamil with 90 variations. It consists of 3 Parts with 12 sections in each. 356 episodes relate to births, deaths, journeys, wars, celebrations, happenings in the Netherworld, Hell, Heaven, etc. It contains philosophical and theological discussions on the nature of God, idolatry, rebirth, Fate, virtue, asceticism, etc. It has an abundance of historical, biblical, and fictional characters like Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Joseph of Old Testament, Samson, David and Goliath, Nebuchadnezzar, Tobit and Tobias, John the Baptist, Herod, Kunnan, Navakan, Surami, etc. Its actions take place in several places like Bethlehem, Judea, Nazareth, Egypt, Heliopolis, Gaza, Jericho, Sinai, Beersheba, etc. Kings from the Holy Roman Empire (England, Ireland, Spain, Gaul, Prussia, Norway, Lusitania, Genoa, Etruria, Parthia, Cyprus, and Paeonia) come to Vienna at the invitation of Leopold I to install the statue of the hero of the epic (Joseph). Thus ends the epic.
Thembavani has now been translated into English verse and published as an E-Book and Paperback on Amazon Kindle. The book also carries the sandhi-separated (simplified) Tamil text as a free add-on for the use of those who know Tamil. The Tamil text is out of print for the last several decades and is found only in a few libraries worldwide. This is one more reason to include the Tamil text in its entirety.
Beschi occupies a special place in Tamil literature. In fact, the fifth world Tamil Congress held at Madurai in January 1981 acknowledged it by erecting his statue in the city of Madras along with others who have made similar contributions. Beschi composed three Tamil grammars and three dictionaries, Tamil-Latin, Tamil-Portuguese and Tamil-Tamil. His magnum opus, the Thembavani is considered by experts to this day as one of the best Tamil works ever written.
Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi was born in the town of Castiglione Delle Stiviere in the district of Mantua, Italy, on November 8, 1680. He finished his secondary education at the Jesuit School in Montero where the three subjects of rhetoric, humanities and grammar were taught. Desiring to become a priest, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1698 and studied philosophy for three years from 1701-1703 in Bologna, and theology for four years from 1706-1710. He was ordained priest in 1709. His studies included not only philosophy and religion but also the learning of languages like Latin, French, Portuguese, Greek, and Hebrew. On hearing about the work done in India by the Jesuits returning to Italy from India, Beschi was eager to come to India. He was sent by his superiors to India in 1710 and landed in Goa and then came to join the Madurai Province of the Jesuits. Though he was given priestly duties in plenty which involved a lot of travelling, he passionately followed his desire to master the local language, literature and culture. He studied Sanskrit, Tamil as well as Telugu from pundits. He gained mastery in Tamil and because of his boldness in defending the correctness of his convictions, he was fondly called by people as Dhairiyanathar (The Fearless Guru). His magnum opus Thembavani was presented for ratification as a classic in the Academy of Poets and received their approval and the poet was given the title Veeramanunivar (The Courageous Ascetic)
The Dante of the Tamil Language
A tablet was installed in his native place Castiglione Delle Stiviere in 1980 to mark the 300th birth anniversary of Beschi.
The Dante of the Tamil Language
Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons: Castiglione delle Stiviere, lapide a padre Beschi.
The Dante of the Tamil Language
Stone Inscription translation from Italian to English provided by
M. Dominic Raj (Translator of Thembavani in English)
Thembavani in English after 293 years (The Hindu News paper)
Posted on April 14, 2020 at 1:30 AM
Thembavani in English after 293 years
A retired professor translates the epic penned by Veeramamunivar in 1726
B. KOLAPPAN, CHENNAI
Thembavani in English after 293 years
A retired professor translates the epic penned by Veeramamunivar in 1726
B. KOLAPPAN, CHENNAI
Posted on November 8, 2019 at 10:50 AM
When the Jesuit priest, Padre Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi, landed in South India in 1711, he was 31 years old. In a short period the priest, later known as Veeramamunivar, mastered Tamil with the missionary zeal and penned the epic Thembavani in chaste Tamil verse in 1726. Now, 293 years later, retired English professor M. Dominc Raj has translated all the 3,615 stanzas into English in unrhymed quatrains. The completion of the English translation marks the 339th birth anniversary of Veeramamuivar, a native of Italy, that falls on November 8.
“I was stunned by the amount of imagination and the pure beauty of the Tamil language in the work. Moreover, Veeramamunivar has consciously avoided Sanskrit words,” said Mr. Raj, who retired as the Head of the Department of English, VHNSN College, Virudhunagar.
He said his interest in Tamil classical literature was kindled when he worked as Chief Resource Person, Department of Translation, Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai. It took Mr. Raj six years to complete his work and publish it.
Mastery over Tamil
“I have dealt with Beschi, the poet, and not Beschi, the priest. He wrote this epic to prove wrong the argument of the local Tamil pundits that foreigners who had come to preach a new religion could never gain mastery over the local language,” he said.
The hero of the epic is Joseph, the father of the Divine child and the heroine is Mary. “His objective was to propagate the idea of virtue and he treated Joseph as the model of virtue. In the process, he elevated Joseph to a level on a par with Mary in Christian belief,” Mr. Raj said. Veeramamunivar had said, “And narrate the story of Valan the Excellent in order to primarily propagate virtue.” Thus, Valan became the Tamil equivalent for Joseph.
“Though Joseph died long before Jesus started preaching, Beschi adopted an imaginary narrative to foretell Joseph the events in the life of Jesus. The epic tangentially relates the past events in the Bible with the future life of Christ,” he said, acknowledging how the availability of various Tamil dictionaries on the net came in handy to find suitable words.
P. Marudanayagam, former Officer-In-Charge and Fellow, the Department of Translation, CICT, in his introduction recalled the words of F.W. Ellis, a member of the Madras Civil Service, that Beschi had imitated, not merely the expression, but the modes of thought of the previous Tamil writers. Ellis had translated select stanzas of Thembavani into English.
“What Kamban says in praise of rain is echoed in Thembavani in an equally melodious verse,” Mr Marudanayagam said.
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Thembavani translated into English Verse
(The Hindu) 8th November 2019
Posted on November 8, 2019 at 6:30 AM
