Pandit M.R. Jambunathan
Reproducing article from: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3273061.ece
M. R. Jambunathan (1896-1974) was born in a learned family of Vedic scholars of Manakkal, Tiruchirapalli District, Tamil Nadu. Jambunathan was proficient in Tamil, Sanskrit, and English. He also studied the Vedas in depth. In his high school days, he went around the villages and towns of Tamil Nadu to collect ancient scriptures. He was also interested in numismatics and collected ancient Indian coins.
Early in life, Jambunathan made it his mission to translate the four Veda Samhitas — Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas — into Tamil, so that all literate Tamils could have access to the Vedas and learn for themselves the eternal values and the spiritual thoughts enshrined in them. At various fora, he enthused scholars to translate the Vedas into the language of the region from which they hailed, so that all Indians could have access to the ancient scriptures.
Translations of the Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas were published in Jambunathan's lifetime. After almost three decades of painstaking labour, he completed the translation of the Rig Veda, the larger compendium of the Veda Samhitas. The Rig Veda translation Vol.1 was posthumously released by Raja Ramanna, who was then the director of BARC, in 1978, and Vol.II by I. G. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in 1980.
Jambunathan wrote many books on subjects such as the Upanishads and the Brahmanas, Yoga Asanas, Yoga Body, Cheena Vedam (Teachings of Confucius), Life of Mazzini and Duties of Man (Mazzini an Italian Patriot), in Tamil and Swami Shraddanand in English.
He served the Indian Chapter of International PEN (Poets, Essayists and Novelists) Centre, Mumbai, for over 30 years, as its Executive Committee Member/Honorary Secretary. He participated in the All-India Conferences of PEN members and the International Conference held in Japan. He was a member of several All-India institutes and Tamil literary bodies (notably, World Academy of Sanskrit and the World Tamil Writers' Association). He was a researcher in Indology and wrote many research papers in simple language. He was hailed as a “Renaissance Man” of the 20 Century.
Jambunathan served the socially and the economically deprived sections of society in his capacity as Honorary Organiser, Depressed Classes League, Chennai, when he was pursuing his studies in Civil Engineering (1918-21). When he came to Mumbai and took up the position of Civil Engineer in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, he established with local support the first primary school in Tamil medium in 1924, for the poorest of the poor, residing in the slums of Dharavi. With the Corporation's interest in providing primary education to the poor in their mother tongue in areas where they lived, the school was eventually handed over to the Corporation. In the Diamond Jubilee year (1924-1974) of the first school, there were 45 schools in Tamil medium, a few among them leading to middle and high school levels under Municipal auspices.
His collection of ancient Indian coins related to the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and Vijayanagar periods (7-10 Century AD); the French East India Company and the British period (20 Century AD). There were a few coins of Aurangazeb, Mysore Wodeyars, Mysore Sultans and the Hyderabad Nizams. Jambunathan's collection of 138 antique coins was donated to the RBI Monetary Museum by Indira Anantharam Iyer (Jambunathan's daughter) and T. N. Anantharam Iyer (his son-in-law), former Executive Director, RBI. The coins have been displayed in the Reserve Bank of India Monetary Museum, Mumbai.
Please also visit: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/article3263318.ece
His work on Rig Veda is also noted by Unesco: http://ftp.unesco.org/xtrans/a/openisis.a?a=&stxt_1=&stxt_2=&stxt_3=&sl=&l=&c=&pla=&pub=&tr=Jambunathan&e=&udc=&d=&from=&to=&tie=and
The following is the full list of literature authored by Pandit MR Jambunathan:
To know more about Pandit Jambunathan, please download and read the article "About MR Jambunathan.pdf" from given below links.
Courtesy: Mr Anantharam Iyer and Mrs. Indira Iyer (Son in law and Daughter of Pdt Jambunathan).
*TEXT FROM "ARYA LEKHAK KOSH" BY PDT. BHAWANILAL BHARTIYA*
जम्बुनाथन, एम. आर.
तमिल भाषा में सत्यार्थप्रकाश के अनुवादक श्री एम. आर. जम्बुनाथन का जन्म २३ अगस्त १८९६ को तमिलनाडू के तिरुचिरापल्ली जिले के अ्रन्त्गंत मनक्कल गांव में हुआ था। उनका पूरा नाम मनक्कल रामस्वामी जम्बुनाथन था । उनकी शिक्षा संस्कृत, तमिल तथा अंग्रेजी में हुई । तमिल और संस्कृत में उन्होंने विशेष योग्यता प्राप्त की तथा इन भाषाओं के विशिष्ट अध्ययन के लिये उन्हें छात्रवृत्ति भी मिली ।
ऋषि दयानन्द की विचारधारा का प्रभाव उनके जीवन में आरम्भ से ही रहा । फलतः मद्रास में उन्होंने १९१८-२० तक दलित जाति संघ का संचालन कर ग्रस्पृएयता निवारण का कार्य किया । ततूपश्चात् वे बम्बई श्रा गये और सावंजनिक सेवा कार्य में लग गये । वैदिक साहित्य के प्रति उनके हृदय में ग्रगाध निष्ठा थी । फलतः उन्होंने अपनी मातृभाषा तमिल में वेदों तथा उपनिषदों के प्रनुवाद का कार्यं किया । उनके द्वारा किया गया यजु, साम तथा अथव का तमिल अनुवाद तो इस शती के चतुर्थ दशक में ही प्रकाशित हो गया था । तदनन्तर उन्होने ऋग्वेद के तमिल अनुवाद का काम आरम्भ किया, जो तीस वर्षो में पूरा हुआ । उन्होंने उपनिषदों का तमिल अनुवाद भी किया है। स्वामी दयानन्द तथा स्वामी श्रद्धानन्द के जीवनचरित भी तमिल भाषा में लिखे । ७८ वर्ष की आयु प्राप्त कर श्री जम्बुनाथन १८ दिसम्वर १९७४ को बम्बई में दिवंगत हुए ।
ले. का.--वेदों के तमिल भ्रनुवाद-१. यजुवेदम्--शुक्ल एवं कृष्ण यजुवद का श्रनुवाद (१९३८), २. सामवेदम् (१९३४), ३. श्रथर्ववेदम् (१९४०), v. ऋग्वेद (१९७८), ५. वेद चन्द्रिका (१९३४) । अन्य ग्रन्थ-शतपथ ब्राह्मण की. कथायें (१९३३), उपनिषद् कथाय (१९३२), कठोपनि- षद्-तमिल अनुवाद (१९३२), सत्यार्थप्रकाश का प्रथम तमिल भ्रनुवाद श्री जम्बुनाथन ने किया था जो १९२६ में ग्रायंसमाज मद्रास से प्रक्राशित हुआ । स्वामी दयानन्द चरितम् शीर्षक तमिल जीवनचरित (१९१८) तथा वीर संन्यासी श्रद्धानन्द चरितम् (१९३१).
Steps for downloading:
1. The pdf files for Vedas are attached at the bottom of the page ==> Veda . On the right side of each attached file -there is a down arrow. Click to download.
2. To get files for other books, please write to me on virendra.agarwal@vedicgranth.org . I am required to take permission from Mr Iyer, before sharing the same.
Thanks