{"id":3373,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3373"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:53","slug":"04-the-mother-and-the-editorial-process-vol-08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two\/04-the-mother-and-the-editorial-process-vol-08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two","title":{"rendered":"-04_The Mother and the Editorial Process.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe Mother and the Editorial Process <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAmal Kiran’s reminiscences in Our Light and Delight<\/i> are the
\nmain source of information about the Mother’s connection
\nwith work on the early editions of Savitri.<\/i> Her interaction
\nwith the disciples who prepared the second volume of the first
\nedition is mentioned there in a brief but important passage.
\nThe longer account of her involvement with the 1954 edition
\nis concerned for the most part with a proposed Publisher’s
\nNote, the inclusion of the letters on Savitri,<\/i> and other matters
\nnot directly affecting the text of the poem itself. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe learn from Our Light and Delight<\/i> that the Mother
\napproved of the methods used from 1951 to 1993 for arriving
\nat a text of Savitri<\/i> as free from errors as possible. It is true
\nthat the preparation of earlier editions was less systematic than
\nthe recent work. Each of those editions was completed in a
\nmuch shorter time than the many years spent on the Revised
\nEdition. The manuscripts were consulted only if a mistake
\nwas suspected, and there were typographical errors in each
\nedition up to the Centenary. But the principles adhered to have
\nbeen the same in all editions. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe method of verification and correction proposed to
\nthe Mother and sanctioned by her from the outset has been
\napplied more thoroughly in the latest edition. This method
\nconsists of comparing the manuscripts with the copies of those
\nmanuscripts and, if discrepancies are found, correcting the
\nprinted text to agree with the manuscripts. For this purpose,
\nSri Aurobindo’s dictated revision is regarded as part of the manuscript. Any
\nchanges made accidentally by those who copied, typed and typeset the text are subject to correction. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 8<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Mother’s Approval of Corrections<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAmal notes in Our Light and Delight<\/i> that he was in Bombay
\nwhen the second volume of the first edition of Savitri,<\/i> which
\ncame out in 1951, was being prepared for publication. Nirod
\nand Prithwisingh wanted the proofs to be sent to Amal. They
\nreportedly told the Mother that it would be a mistake not to
\nhave Amal read them, for he had previously made suggestions
\n"which had been found correct when the typed copy had been
\ncompared with the original manuscript"\/’ <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAcknowledging that the text must be made as accurate as
\npossible, the Mother approved of sending the proofs for Amal
\nto read and make suggestions. Evidently, the new suggestions
\nwere to be evaluated in the same way as the previous ones, by
\ncomparing the copies with the manuscripts. The same arrangement was kept when work on the second edition was begun in
\n1954. Amal was then in the Ashram, but his role was still only
\nto make suggestions. Decisions were made by Nolini and Nirod
\nafter looking at the manuscripts. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe see that the Mother recognised the possibility of errors in the printed text of Savitri,<\/i> and accepted the necessity
\nof a procedure for finding and removing them. When she was
\ntold that the corrections would be based on Sri Aurobindo’s
\nmanuscripts, she did not hesitate to accept the procedure that
\nwas proposed. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAn Apparent Contradiction Reconciled<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAccording to Our Light and Delight,<\/i> the Mother once told
\nAmal he was not to "change even a comma in Savitriˮ.<\/i> This
\nwas when the 1954 edition was being prepared. Yet in 1954,
\nmore than eighty commas were added, removed or changed <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n_____________________________________<\/font><\/p>\n

\n" Our Light and Delight<\/i> (1980), p. 23. Even before the publication of the
\nfirst edition of Savitri<\/i> was completed, many cantos had appeared in fascicles and in instalments in journals, including Mother India.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 9<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

 to other punctuation, not to mention more
\nsignificant differences from the first edition. How can this apparent
\ncontradiction be<\/font><\/p>\n

\n reconciled? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s remark about not changing commas in Savitri<\/i> was addressed to Amal, not to Nolini or Nirod, who
\nwere the ones responsible for what would be printed in the edition then being prepared. The conversation which Amal
\ntried to recapture years later in Our Light and Delight<\/i> was 
\npersonal. It was concerned with his attitude at that time, more than with the work on an edition. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen the Mother made the statement remembered by 
\nAmal as "I won’t allow you to change even a comma in Savitri\u201d,<\/i> she
\nwas addressing a specific individual in a particular context .The word "you" referred to Amal
\nas he was at that moment in 1954. Amal published what he recollected of this
\nconversation under the heading "Some Ways of the Mother’s Working", not in the chapter "Apropos of Savitri\u201d,<\/i> because
\nits importance was primarily for his inner life. The Mother was working to bring about the change in his consciousness
\ndescribed on page 26 <\/b> of Our Light and Delight:<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe whole poise <\/b> of physical being experienced a change.
\nA new life began, and I knew then that a fundamental obstacle\u2014intellectual
\nself-esteem\u2014had essentially disappeared<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother was not laying down a general and absolute
\nrule with her oft-quoted and much-misinterpreted words. This is proved by the fact that she actually permitted numerous
\ncorrections to be made in the 1954 edition. If it had been her intention to prohibit any departure from the first edition, she
\nwould have informed Nolini. Her orders would certainly have been followed. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNevertheless, the fact that so many changes were made in
\nthe
\nSecond edition of Savitri,<\/i> when the Mother had supposedly expressed disapproval of even the slightest change, may
\nseem surprising.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 10<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe explanation is simple. Amal has already clarified the
\nMother’s meaning by reporting another conversation where
\nshe approved of correcting the text "according to Sri Aurobindo’s latest version".7<\/font> She had obviously meant only that
\nnothing of Sri Aurobindoʼs<\/i> was to be changed. Correcting mistakes made by others was another matter. The recent clarification is entirely consistent with the account in Our Light
\nand Delight.<\/i> But some further observations may be added. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother sanctioned legitimate corrections for the sake
\nof an accurate and authentic text of Savitri.<\/i> She objected only
\nto a type of change which, at that time, Amal was suspected
\nof being capable of making. To the extent that what was printed
\nwas what Sri Aurobindo had written and intended, the Mother
\ndid not want someone with a critical mind trying to improve
\nupon it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnother paragraph in the report of the same conversation
\nmakes it clear that this was her concern. The Mother mentions that Sri Aurobindo had once told her, apropos of some
\ncriticism of his writing: "But I had a purpose in putting the
\nthing in this way. I wanted it like this."8<\/font> But where there are
\ndiscrepancies between printed versions of Savitri<\/i> and the manuscripts, it is the manuscripts that show what Sri Aurobindo
\nwanted. When a line had been miscopied, Sri Aurobindo would
\nnot have said about the miscopied version, "I wanted it like
\nthis." <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo ensure that Savitri<\/i> would be published as Sri Aurobindo intended, the Mother authorised the correction of errors found in the printed text. It was the responsibility of Nolini
\nand Nirod, Sri Aurobindo’s assistants in the last years of his
\nwork on the epic, to make corrections based as far as possible
\non the manuscripts. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s Delegation of Authority<\/b><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is stated in Our Light and Delight<\/i> that the Mother permitted the proofs of the second volume of the first edition to be<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 11<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsent to Amal, "but left, of course, the final decision in the
\nhands of Nolini and Nirod".9<\/font> In other words, she delegated to Nolini and Nirod authority to make decisions about the printed
\ntext of Savitri<\/i> on the basis of Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts.
\nShe did not reserve this authority as a prerogative that could
\nbe exercised only by herself. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis was in 1951. The same distribution of responsibility
\ncontinued in the next edition. The Mother supervised work
\non the 1954 edition of Savitri,<\/i> but there is no evidence that
\nshe made textual decisions herself. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is necessary to correct an impression that the Mother
\nread the proofs of the entire 1954 edition. This impression is
\nbased on the misunderstanding of a passage in Our Light and
\nDelight,<\/i> where Amal has written: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Press sent to the Mother the proof of the contents of
\nthe Savitri-volume.<\/i> When I came as usual to meet her, she
\nshowed me the pages and said: "Nolini and I have gone
\nthrough everything. It’s all right. There is no need for you
\nto look at the proof."10 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\nHere, "contents" means the table of contents at the beginning
\nof the book. What follows makes this quite clear. When Amal
\nglanced at the proof, he says, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI immediately saw that a certain title differed from the
\nform in which it stood in the body of the book. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAccording to what the Mother said on 13 March 1963, she
\nfirst read Savitri<\/i> in or around 1961: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo I didn’t concern myself with Savitri.<\/i> I read Savitri<\/i> two
\nyears ago, I had never read it before.* <\/font><\/p>\n

\n__________________________________<\/font><\/p>\n

\n* "Alors Savitri,<\/i> je ne m’en occupais pas. J’ai lu Savitri<\/i> il y a deux ans, je ne
\nl’avais jamais lu." On 18 September 1962, the Mother had also spoken of
\nreading Savitri<\/i> "two years ago, I believe". <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 12<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn that case, the Mother could not have read the proofs of the
\npoem in 1954. The 1954 edition was the one in which she was
\nmost actively involved. But her role did not go much beyond
\none of overall supervision. Sri Aurobindo has written about
\nthe Mother’s way of supervising work in the Ashram: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat I meant in my letter was that the Mother does not
\nusually think about these things herself, take the initiative
\nand direct each one in each instance what they shall do or
\nhow, unless there is some special occasion for doing so.
\nThis she does not do, in fact, in any department of work.
\nShe keeps her eye generally on the work, sanctions or corrects or refuses sanction, intervenes when she thinks necessary.\u00b9\u00b9 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNo doubt, some questions about Savitri<\/i> may have been referred to the Mother at times. But in general, no account of
\nwork on editions up to the Centenary indicates that the Mother
\nfelt it necessary to make textual decisions herself. These were
\nmade by Nolini and Nirod and, in the case of the Centenary
\nedition, by Amal Kiran. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother and the Revised Edition<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBeginning <\/b> in the late 1970s, Nirodbaran supervised the first
\nsystematic comparison of the manuscripts of Savitri<\/i> with all
\nthe copies, typescripts and printed versions. Many previously
\nunsuspected discrepancies between the printed texts and Sri
\nAurobindo’s manuscripts were discovered. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNolini was asked by Jayantilal Parekh, the head of the Sri
\nAurobindo Ashram Archives, about correcting these discrepancies in a new edition. Nolini replied that corrections could
\nbe made "if  Nirod approves of them".* <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n_____________________________________<\/font><\/p>\n

\n* <\/font><\/p>\n

Nolini’s statement was often mentioned by Jayantilal in conversation and
\nwas reported by him in writing in his article published in the booklet "On <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 13<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThus the Revised Edition was prepared under the authority delegated by the Mother to Nolini Kanta
\nGupta and Nirodbaran This was according to an arrangement that
\nhad been
\nbeen in force since 1951. Eventually, age compelled Nolini to
\nwithdraw and he assigned full authority to Nirod. Nirod spent four years closely examining the manuscripts with Amal before giving
\nfinal permission for the publication of the edition
\nthat came out in 1993.\u00b9\u00b2 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother is ever-present. The long and meticulous
\nwork
\nto establish an authentic, error-free text of Savitri<\/i> has been dedicated
\nto her as Mahasaraswati. Whatever may be the individual shortcomings of the editors, the spirit in which the
\nwork has been done has been such as to invite the influence
\nand blessings of Mahasaraswati. Sri Aurobindo has written
\nabout this aspect of the Mother: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAlways she holds in her nature and can give to those whom
\nshe has chosen the intimate and precise knowledge, the
\nsubtlety and patience, the accuracy of intuitive mind and conscious hand and discerning eye of the perfect worker..
\nNothing is too small or apparently trivial for her attention…. Carelessness and negligence and indolence she abhors;
\nall scamped and hasty and shuffling work … is offensive and foreign to her temper. When her work is
\nfinisher nothing has been forgotten, no part has been misplaced or omitted or left in a faulty condition; all is
\nsolid, accurate, complete, admirable. Nothing short of a perfect perfection
\nsatisfies her and she is ready to face an
\neternity of toil if that is needed for the fullness of her creation.\u00b9\u00b3 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n___________________________________<\/font><\/p>\n

\nthe New Edition of Savitriˮ<\/i> (Part
\nOne). Readers may refer to that article
\nmore details about the work on the new edition. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 14<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mother and the Editorial Process   Amal Kiran’s reminiscences in Our Light and Delight are the main source of information about the Mother’s connection…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two","wpcat-76-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}