Profile on Tamil scholar rof. Norman Cutler (1949-2002) of Univ of Chicago
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Profile on Tamil scholar rof. Norman Cutler (1949-2002) of Univ of Chicago
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by Theodore Baskaran /The Hindu
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kalyan
A champion of Tamil studies
Norman Cutler, who had a passion for devotional Bakti literature and worked tirelessly to popularise Tamil studies in the West, passed away in Chicago recently.
S. THEODORE BASKARAN on the life and work of a dedicated scholar.
Source: The Hindu Online http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/04/07/stories/2002040700190200.htm
THE passing away of Norman Cutler on February 26 — he was found dead in his car in the parking lot in Chicago, struck by a heart attack — went unnoticed in India. His contribution to Tamil studies, particularly Bakthi poetry and his efforts in popularising research in Tamil works in the West need to be documented.
Norman Cutler was first introduced to Tamil Bakthi poems in 1974 when he participated in a Tamil language programme organised by the American Institute of Indian Studies in Madurai. Since then, the subject of Tamil devotional literature was an enduring passion with him. For his post-graduate studies he chose Sri Vaisnavaite literature and while doing his Ph.D. he went deeper into the subject, with particular focus on "Nalayira Divya Prabandham" and "Tirumurai". He worked in Tamil Nadu in 1977-78, pursuing this subject and the result of his research was published under the title The Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion (University of Indiana Press, 1987), his major work. The book is the result of nearly a decade of study and is replete with insights such as this one: "Bakthi is a religion of emotionally charged contact between the devotee and god as well as among devotees. The `typical' Bakthi poem functions as both a description and a medium of such contact. ... This process whereby the poems become a context for direct religious experience, is clearly expressed in sectarian literature and in temple ritual. It is this particular confluence of text and context, both interpretive and ritual, that constitutes the essence of Tamil Bakthi".
The two major influences in his academic life were K. Paramasivam, formerly of the American college, Madurai who taught him Tamil and A.K. Ramanujan, supervisor for his Ph.D. Later, the teacher and the student worked as colleagues in the same department at Chicago. In many ways, Cutler was carrying on the work of Ramanujam after his death in 1992, generating enthusiasm for Tamil studies and encouraging young scholars. A number of Cutler's students are now in major universities, introducing his broader, and deeper approach to South Indian studies.
In the past few years, working as Chairman of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilisations at the University of Chicago, Cutler was watching the Tamil studies scene in India closely. He knew the work that was going on here and the individuals engaged in research. During a visit to Raja Muthiah Research Library, Chennai, in 1996, he was delighted to see the collection of devotional literature. I met him first at the Fifth International Tamil Conference in Madurai, in 1982. He recorded his account of the conference in a paper titled "Cultural Policy in India: the Fish-eyed Goddess Meets the Movie Star" published in Pacific Affairs. My last meeting with him was last November at the University of Chicago, at the monthly meeting of South Asian Scholars. He had recovered from his illness and was back in his energetic routine. His last work, "Three Moments in the Genealogy of Tamil Literary Culture" on how Tamil scholars themselves understood their culture, will appear as part of an anthology.
Cutler's contribution has to be seen in the background of the present state of Tamil studies here in India. Though Sangam literature has been the subject of much research, in the last few decades, Tamil devotional literature has remained comparatively neglected, though we have new tools for research and better methodology to go into this area. The research that goes on in this subject is mostly by scholars from outside India; earlier it was A.K. Ramanujan, David Schulman, Stuart Blackburn and Paula Richman. After Ramanujan, it was Culter who engaged with religious poems of ancient Tamil Nadu.
Cutler's translations are considered by scholars as models of accuracy. As his colleagues recorded, "Translation and language teaching, the most concrete ways of making a foreign culture available to people, were central to Cutler's work". Among his works, his English rendition of "Tirupavai" and "Tiruvempavai" have come out in a separate title Consider Our Vow (1979). Of course, there have been earlier translations of these works, the most famous being G.U. Pope's, But Norman's translations are more contemporary and simple. Consider his rendering of the well-known poem from "Tirupavai" (26), "Maale Manivanna... "
Mal, Jewel-coloured Lord, Should you ask what we need To bathe during markali And to perform these rites In the manner of our forbearers, This is our answer — Conches White as milk Just like your pancajanya Which shakes the whole earth with its blast, A huge drum, singers of hymns, An ornate lamp, canopy and banner. Lord who rests on a banyan leaf Grant our wish. Accept, consider our vow.
Profile on Tamil scholar rof. Norman Cutler (1949-2002) of Univ of Chicago
