EPILOGUE

Once a wit said that the Ramayana can be abridged into three words, construction, destruction and restoration i.e., construction of bridge across the sea by Rama for conveying the vanarasena to Lanka; destruction of Ravana for abduction; and restoration of Sita to Ayodhya. All the essentials are brought out. A good job indeed! Merits a bow too !

Similarly, the story of Buddha can be condensed into three phrases renunciation for alleviation, illumination for propagation' and foundation for emancipation. The whole is represented and this was presented by my pen in twin quadruplets long back. It's origin is odd. Spare me a minute, please.

It was 1966. While teaching the twin poems of Milton - LA ALLEGRO & IL PENSEROSO, to B.A. students, at G.T.N. Arts College Dindigul, Tamil nadu, one student unable to cope up with foreign terms, blurted out, "Why such dumping, is it due to the poverty of English?" Whereupon I corrected, "No, it's not so, but it's due to Milton's infatuation for Latin and Greek, over which he had complete mastery. Continuing he said, "Tamilian writers in English would never do it, and such servitude would be resented". I maintained that it was nothing wrong, and for instance Andhras have a special preference for Sanskrit-the Mother of languages, which they make a liberal use of it in writings. To illustrate the point I composed the below and read it, but it was not received with appreciation due. Anyway, it was published in the college Magazine, as its merit was given recognition by the Editor (printed below with slight alterations).

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