New Delhi June 29 (IANS) Popular mythological writer Devdutt Pattanaik is out with another book and the widely read Hindu text Hanuman Chalisa is the latest subject of his exploration.
Pattanaik who had earlier penned the much acclaimed My Gita has this time chosen Hanuman Chalisa as the theme of his latest My Hanuman Chalisa (Rupa / Rs 295 / 170 Pages) in an attempt to understand what the text actually is and what is in it that makes it so popular.
I have always wondered what the Hanuman Chalisa is about and what is in it that makes it so popular. Its language -- Awadhi -- is an old dialect of Hindi one of the many languages of India he said.
Do people reading it understand what they are reading? Or does the gentle poetic rhythm calm the nervous heart as it prepares to face the day? Or is it simply a ritual exercise where the point is to do not think or feel Pattanaik asks in the book.
The author mentions that it was primarily these questions which led him to explore this popular religious work through which a Hindu God is made accessible to the masses.
Pattanaik says that its ordinariness makes its sublime and that its popularity is completely organic.
Every time I experience negativity in the world and in myself every time I encounter jealousy rage and frustration manifesting as violation and violence I hear or read the Hanuman Chalisa.
As verse follows verse my frightened crumpled mind begins to expand with knowledge and insight and my faith in humanity both within and without is restored adds the author.
Apart from providing simple translation of every verse from Hanuman Chalisa Pattanaik s book also presents insights into the his understanding of these verses and the situations under which they were originally penned.
--IANS
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Devdutt Pattanaik s new book explores Hanuman Chalisa
