He was a Philosopher, Writer, Translator, Teacher, Guide and Gandhian — all at once. A veritable authority on Vishistadvaiata and Sri Ramanujacharya, his encyclopaedic knowledge of both Western and Indian Philosophical systems saw him guide HH Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar in his book on Lord Dattatreya (1957).
His student S.L. Bhyrappa, whom he guided and nurtured through many years, has on more than one occasion acknowledged with the greatest reverence, the impact he had on him in his younger years. This is a small tribute to M. Yamunacharya, who comes from the exalted lineage of philosophical scholars of Mysore like M. Hiriyanna, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Govindacharya Swamy.
By Dr. Bhagirath S. Naganath
Mettupatti Yamunacharya was born on 30th September 1899 to parents Narayana Iyengar and Manikyamma. Manikyamma’s father, Alkondavalli Govindacharya Swamy, was an Executive Engineer under Diwan Seshadri Iyer. Govindacharya’s father, Sreenivasa Iyengar, had taught English grammar lessons to HH Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar and was popularly known as ‘Angrezi Sreenivasa Iyengar.’
Yamunacharya had his schooling at Marimallappa High School under ‘Mysore Thathiah.’ In 1923, he enrolled into Maharaja College for his M.A. in Philosophy under A.R. Wadia, M. Hiriyanna, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and K.T. Shah.
Full Professorship!
His first stint at teaching was at Collegiate High School, Tumkur. Later, he worked as Principal at the Intermediate College, Hassan, before moving to Bangalore. He returned to Mysore in 1951 and taught Philosophy at Maharaja College. Six months before his retirement, the University made a perfunctory offer of promotion to full Professorship! Yamunacharya turned it down in favour of his junior.
A year later, UGC made him an Emeritus Professor in Philosophy. Yamunacharya retired in 1956. Following his retirement, he was appointed as Honorary Professor at Government Ayurveda College to teach the ‘Darshanas.’
Yamunacharya married Rajamma in 1913. Rajamma was the niece of Natakashiromani A.V. Varadachar, the famous dramatist. Their wedding was a four-day affair and featured concerts by Veena Seshanna on day one and by Bidaram Krishnappa on day two. They had eight children — three boys and five girls from this happy union. His wife would keep the kitchen going throughout the day to feed all those Yamunacharya would bring home. His house, ‘Veda Gruham’, came to be known as ‘Yamunacharya Choultry’!
Vid. R. Visveswaran was the first student in B.A. Honours course in the newly instituted ‘Indology Course’ at Maharaja College, Mysore, in 1951. Many distinguished scholars like Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri, Prof. Shivaram Sastri, Prof. S. Ramachandra Rao, Prof. M. Yamunacharya and Prof. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri were involved in this Indology course.
R. Visveswaran later founded the ‘Varalakshmi Academy of Music,’ dedicated to fine arts. Yamunacharya was invited to be its chairperson and later the president of a committee consisting of board members like T. S. Shama Rao, K. B. Ramakrishna Rao, H. S. K. and Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri.
Yamunacharya’s daughter, Usha Devi, joined the ‘Varalakshmi Academy of Music’ to learn music. She eventually married R. Visveswaran in 1961.
The newly constructed Mysore University library building was inaugurated by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on December 7, 1965. On this auspicious occasion, R. Visveswaran, with his band of budding musicians from ‘Varalakshmi Academy of Music,’ sang some verses from the second chapter of the Sankhya Yoga. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was believed to have been quite impressed with Vid. R. Visveswaran’s singing at the time.
Yamunacharya was a fine orator and often attributed his oratorical skills to T.S. Venkannayya. At a mosque in Gulbarga, Yamunacharya was requested to speak on the Holy Quran by the chief Maulvi. At the end of an hour-long lecture, the assembled Islamic scholars were left dumbfounded at Yamunacharya’s vast knowledge about the Quran.
Talk at Jail
Almost every year, the Mysore Jail Superintendent would invite Prof. Yamunacharya to deliver lectures on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. When he could not make it on one such year, the prisoners raised a hue and cry and made an impassionate plea for his return! Such was his ability to connect with the masses.
HH Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar sought Yamunacharya’s help and guidance in authoring his book on Lord Dattatreya titled ‘Dattatreya – The Way And The Goal’ (1957).
In his later years, M. Yamunacharya was appointed as Honorary Professor of Indology at the University of Mysore. He was also made Trustee to ‘Sri Nanjeeyar’s Sannidhi’ at Melukote, which was built by his aunt. He was an active member of organisations like ‘Mythic Society,’ ‘Kannada Sahitya Parishat,’ ‘Fellowship of Friends of Truth,’ ‘Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs,’ ‘Malleshwaram Gandhi Sahitya Sangraha’ and ‘Indian Institute of World Culture.’ He was also an active member of the Indian Philosophical Congress.
Once, D. Javaregowda was searching for someone to translate a particular paragraph authentically from one of Kuvempu’s novels. He approached some stalwarts in the English Department and got it translated. To his dismay, poet Kuvempu was none too impressed with the translation. Then someone suggested M. Yamunacharya’s name. Yamunacharya took a day’s time and came back with a translation of the desired passage. Javaregowda took it back to Kuvempu and this time he was overjoyed and remarked that only Yamunacharya had been able to grasp the full import of what he had expressed in that particular paragraph!
Teacher-student bond
Yamunacharya used to engage a Junior Intermediate class to teach a paper on Logic. There were about 120 students in the class and one of them used to come to him with several questions after each session. Yamunacharya would always give him a patient hearing and would present him with books like ‘Katopanishad’ to assuage his intellectual thirst. This bond between the teacher and the student would last for several decades.
He had left such an indelible impression on this boy that he decided to take up B.A. and later M.A. in Philosophy, both under Yamunacharya’s tutelage. He was none other than S.L. Bhyrappa.
Yamunacharya introduced Bhyrappa to the complete volumes of “Jowett’s Translations of Plato,” Greek Plays, Shakespeare, Bradley’s criticism on Shakespearean Plays, Thoreau, Emerson, Dante and Tolstoy.
M. Yamunacharya embarked for the United States in 1963. He was fond of Thoreau and had translated ‘Walden’ into Kannada. Yamunacharya made it a point to visit ‘Walden Pond” (Thoreau’s birthplace) to see his cottage. Yamunacharya visited Bucknell University, Manchester College, Chatham College, Wittenberg University and Oberlin Colleges as well. His lectures were received with a rousing welcome and they invited him a second time around to America!
M. Yamunacharya was appointed as Chief Editor of the committee entrusted with bringing out all of Gandhiji’s works in several volumes in Kannada, titled “Kannadadalli Gandhi Granthamale” at Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, Mysore, in 1956. Gandhi’s writings spanned over 50,000 pages. The Herculean task of translating and condensing them to roughly 8,000 pages, across twenty editions in Kannada, fell upon the shoulders of Yamunacharya!
Yamunacharya was the first Director of Gandhi Bhavan (Centre for Gandhi Studies) from 1965 to 1966. He left for New Delhi in 1967 and was associated with the Gandhi Peace Foundation there for a year. He met then President Dr. Zakir Hussain in 1968 and presented a summary of achievements at the Gandhi Centre. The gruelling work schedule resulted in him suffering a heart attack. He was rushed to AIIMS, Delhi for treatment. All through his stay at the hospital, Yamunacharya was visited almost daily by Bhyrappa, who had by then taken the position of a Reader at NCERT, New Delhi. He returned to Mysore in 1968-69. Sadly, his health declined again and had to be admitted to K.R. Hospital, Mysore where he was under the care of Dr. Das.
M. Yamunacharya authored several seminal works in Philosophy, contributed to various journals and was a prolific translator. Among his better known works are “Acharya Ramanujaru”, “Alwarugalu”, “Paschatya Rajakeeya Tatwagalu” and “Ramanuja’s Teachings in his own words.” Yamunacharya received the ‘Karnataka Rajyotsava Award’ for his “Vishistadvaita Darshana” from Chief Minister Veerendra Patil.
A true Vedantin
M. Yamunacharya passed away on 4th January 1970. He was a Scholar, Philosopher, Teacher, Gandhian, Writer, Editor and an authority on Ramanujacharya and Vishistadvaita. Above all, he was a true Vedantin who lived, breathed and practised the very essence of what he taught, all his life. He lived his Philosophy and did so with impeccable grace. Kudos to him!
REFERENCES: 1. “Studies in Philosophy, Religion & Literature” by Prof. M. Yamunacharya (Prof M. Yamunacharya Memorial Trust, Bengaluru); 2. “Pranamapushpam” – Book released on 23 January 2013 on the occasion of “One Day National Seminar on Contributions of Prof. M. Yamunacharya to Philosophy” organised at the Dept. of Philosophy, Maharaja College, University of Mysore, Mysore; 3. Kind inputs from Sri Govinda Prasad (Yamunacharya’s son) and Sri S.G. Sitaram (Mysore), including the five radio interview recordings from AIR archives (now available on YouTube); 4. Photographs taken of M. Yamunacharya’s residence in Mysore — courtesy of Sri S.G. Sitaram and Prof. S. Naganath; 5. Inputs from www.sallapa.com; 6. From late S. L. Bhyrappa’s autobiographical reminiscences in “Bithi.”
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