I was reading a collection of stories from 'Kanaiyazhi'. This book takes some fine stories from the first 10 years of Kanaiyazhi (1964- 74) and the selection is by Asokamitran. There is a very funny, satirical take on Kalki, Sandilyan's style of writing called 'Mazha naatu magudam' by Nagupoleon. Apparently this is his only story. The story is two episodes (Episode 300 and 301) of a long running historical ovel in a weekly and a piece of the writers letter apologizing for the late turnover of the episodes. But it is hilarious and it got me into thinking about the literary criticisms levelled at PS. Although when I read PS in eighth standard I was enamoured by the romanticness of it, I actually moved away from it during my college days(I studied in GCE, Tirunelvely). For what reasons? because it is a romantic novel and reading it doesnt alter one thing in your soul. Ofcourse, there are those of us who got interested in their history but I think the percentage is much lower . But being a romantic novel, there is no point in looking for things to improve upon the soul also. I dont read, say, 'Three musketeers' to get any insight. If I want to do that I will be reading a Balzac or Hugo. Similarly, you read PS for the sheer joy or it and if I want to read to improve upon the soul, I will be reading a 'Moga mull' or a 'Nizhal mutram'. One book I read page by page for about a month with lots of thinking is 'JJ sila kurippugal' I still remember the mocking words by JJ to the protoganist in the first part of the novel 'Sivagami ammal than sabathathai niraivetri vittala?' This scathing remark criticizes romanicism at its extreme and questioning the escapism in life.
The point here is not to throw mud on PS. You can simply call this between any romantic novel vs a much realistic one. I chose to call it PS because this a PS group. My question is this
The criticism that Kali's writings and historical romances are escapist fares are nothing new. They are age-old. But my point is who are guys like asokamitran to decide on the literary status of a novel. It's upto the readers to decide on this. And talking of Moha Mull, I have tried to read it any no of times but was unable to go beyond page two. What do you have to say about this. All I, and many readers for that matter, look forward to is an interesting story, well-told. Criticisms can go to hell, for all I care!
I think first you ought to define what a piece of literature is. if only the works of salman rushdie and vikram seth are considered literature what about "twinkle twinkle little star." in fact it is read by more people, remembered longer and has a much more impact on us.{how bad we felt when humpty dumpty couldnt be put together again, or when jack( of jill fame) broke his crown.} in a movie we are shown scenarios visually and thats why either most people like it or most people dont like it. very little left for the movie goer to visualise in his mind. but definitely - a piece of literature will not be judged alike by 2 people. i think it stirs some emotions deep down in the heart for some and it doesnt for others. that would evoke differing reactions and different visualisations. most successful writers like archer have traced that success formula. if you read archers twist in the tale or quiver full of arrows we would definitely see something in common with us. the same formula was used by r.k narayan. a mischievous boy, a nagging wife, etc.
satires are rib tickling. dont we see satires on the most succesful movies ever coming on television. of course we have enjoyed the movies and now enjoy the satires too. its the creativity behind both that appeals to us.
I had the same thing when I read Oru Puliyamarathinn Kadhai. I have heard thats the best book ever written. I read three fouth of that book, but couldn't appreciate why it is known as the best book ever written. Probably I am not in the same plane of connoisseurs
One of the easiest way out to read romantic fare is to dub everyone else as connoisseurs/elitist. Probably thats because of a inferior feeling assciated with it or guilty pleasure associated with the reading itself.
"Who is Asokamithran?" - Probably you didnt read my mail clearly. He just chose the stories to be published. May be you should be asking "Who is Nagupoleon?" because no one actually know where this guy is. And FYI, Asokamithran has written some real good novels depicting life as it was lived and is considered one of the great novelists of our time. Not knowing him is one thing, abusing him actually shows ignorance.
Again, I dont want this to degenerate into a personal duel. If you cannot read past two pages of 'Oru puliyamarathin Kathai' or 'Moga mull', that is understandable but that does not anyway depletes the place of that novel in contemperory literature.
By that scale, my wife never read past a few episodes in PS but has read 'Paradise lost' completely (which I find it difficult to read even the title page). Thus, 'easier to read' criteria does not make anything great or add any literary value.
Also the argument that it is likes by more people does not hold good. We elect guys whom most people vote for and look at our assembly and parliament to see what we get.
Coming back to Venkatesh's point that we need to define what literature is, I would think any good literature to record life as it is lived and should let you think beyond the reading. Ofcourse, this is one person's view. What say you?
The question still holds, What, if any, is the literary value of PS/SS?
Do answer the question without going into rage against Asokamithran, Moga Mull, Oru puliyamarathin Kathai etc.
to anyone who has read kalki's works - the first thing you realise, is that you are transported into the respective era. you live the novel - the characters appear in life and blood to you. that is the foremost achievement of his works - not too many writers can do that, that too in todays age of multiple tv channels and dime a dozen movies released everyday - the fact that ss and ps still hold their own.
the second most important thing - is the amount of work and background research that has gone into the historic fiction ( i dont think you can straight away classify ps as a romance ...ss to some extent) - to think of a novel written from the remanents of three culverts - and to spin a web that had ( and is still is) capturing the awe of audiences is proof to the genius behind and in these works.
lastly, the depth of characterisation - be it the historic characters or the fictional ones - Kalki's portrayal of each and every character - developing a mental sketch of each of them is the crowning glory. no too people are alike, men /women are not glorified into being super humans - they are shown in life and blood, with emotions, temper /tantrums - some women are shown to be calm, while some others are shown as wild spirits.
if you poll in this site - how many people picked up ps or ss and finished it without a break when compared to other works is but enough proof.
the main reason kalki quit the employment under thiru vika was because as his biographer sunda said " couldnt cope with his karadu muradaana language'
imagine a sub editor whose whole time job is to edit language he feels is too high sounding and complicated like thiru vika's
this does not undermine the literary genius of thiru vka. but it was not kalki's cup of tea. kalki wanted to write like a common man for the common man. I think the literary value of ps and ss was that it proved that tamil was a language for the common man too.( perhaps his experience in Thiru vika's employ made kalki make the flow as simple as possible)
I wonder how translators feel when they translate ps and ss . Could Pavithra share with us how she felt about the language part of it when she took ss head on.
I know whom is Asokamitran and have read his novel "pathittavadu atchakkodu" too. I am not questioning his literary standing in Tamil, but only his view that Kalki's writings are escapist. Like Venkatesh said someone's poison is another's manna from heaven.
The important question that is being raised again is whether literature should serve any purpose. The school is divided here. There are those who think literature should serve to lift your soul and others who think it should do nothing of that sort. I agree that Kalki's characterizations and narrative style are exemplary. But what is being served is escapist fare which helps to refocus your thoughts to a fictional world which has no relevance to the life you live. I am not saying this is bad. This is true from the Count of Monte Cristo to LOTR to the Harry potter novels of today. They succeed in lifting you to a world which is magical and but has little relevance to you or your life. The question is not about Kalki's skills as a writer. He has proved it to a large extent and his social commitment is well-known. When I read 'Crime and Punishment' I was able to connect directly with the trails of the protoganist and was able to look life as it will be lived in a vice-ridden world. It affects the inner workings of your heart to such an extent that you change a little bit inside having read it. While the joy of reading PS is not questionable, there is no way it can change the inner workings of the soul. This is because PS is written primarily as a escapist fare. The entire story premise is simple and can be written as a short story. Moreover, the writing is formulaic (I believe Sujatha wrote 'kanthalur vasanthakumaran kathai' more as a satire on the workings of Sandilyan/Kalki than as a story). You have a social- climber hero, a half-mad prince/king, a bit complicated heroine (who swoons on seeing the hero), a villainess who also falls for the hero, some medieval comic element(preferably a saivite/vaishnavite) and some inscription as base. Mix these in different proportions you get 99% of all the stories in the history novel portfolio. The formula is the reason why these novels are churned out in a larger rate than the 'classics' as they are derisively called. The 'classics' are difficult because they are unique life experiences and cannot be repeated. Take Asokamithran. Read 'Pathinettavathu Atchakodu', 'Kanavu Thozhirchalai', 'Manasarovar', 'Agaya Thamarai', 'Thaneer' etc. Each is a unique experience and cannot be repeated. While there is no comparison between Asokamithran and Kalki, the literary worthiness of the former is much higher than the later. I consider 'Thyaga boomi' and 'Alai Osai' on a higher plane than PS for exactly the same reason.
Hi literature like costume and cuisine will not have the same effect on different people.
when we encounter literature not to our taste some choose to ignore it and some calling it decandent literature take the law into their hands along with a flaming torch.
the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Burning of books and burying of scholars under China's Qin Dynasty, the destruction of Mayan codices by Spanish invaders, and in more recent times the book burnings by the Nazis.
The Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 is about a fictional future society that has institutionalized book burning. In Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, the euphemistically-called "memory hole" is used to burn any book or written text which is inconvenient to the regime, and there is mention of "the total destruction of all books published before 1960".
to me, before i read PS, the greatest king in india was Asoka, the greatest act an indian king did was kalinga war, his greatest contribution to the kingdom was planting trees... jainism was from distant northindia followed by a few white clad monks wearning face masks, or yearly rituals to a huge naked statue of sravanabelagola, srilanka was a battle torn wilderness ( ok ten years ago i would look forward to the lux soaps n body spray bought by visitors from there)
PS opened my eyes to the greatness that has been forgotten ( or bulldozed) by north indian versions of indian history compulsorily infused into our school history..to dwell deeper and realise the real greatness - lets call it true fame..meikirti. before that south indian kings were shivaji, gemini ganesh, mgr wearing grandeose costumes, buxom queens ...- singing songs around flower beds in the nandavanams/andahpurams, some sword fighting holding the heroine in one hand ( enjoyed it though) - some poor kavalali shouting raja thi raja, raja marthanda...
to look at tanjore big temple, mahabalipuram in new light - not just taking an occasional visitor on a sightseeing trip - gawking at all the white skins there ` appreciating the stone work"...now a days its more a spiritual feeling, its no longer just stone or a statue. each one has a story to tell.
when you read of the conquests of these kings 1000 years ago and finding proofs of their conquests in far away lands....to be able to administer their vast country, to be just, to be loved by their subjects, to be ferocious in battle, to wage war across the seas...i can roll back my eyes and hear the battle cries of chozam chozam and payum vengai kodi bearing troops capturing forts in distant lanka, malaysia and indonesia - victoriously proclaiming to the world the greatness of the tamilnadu.
i would give an arm and a leg to have chola/pandya history to be more correctly portrayed in our primary and secondary educational material than just a passing mention. i would love my son ( he is just learning to read and write) to read PS and understand the greatness of the land he hails from.
Yeah, You are absoulately correct. Atleast from now on, children od TN must read about our great Kings. TN government must take some actions to acheive the feet.
Although I have been lurking here for a while, I havent participated directly in the discussions here. Its probably because I have a lot to say as well. The below post by Vijay Kumar has propelled me to take the first step and hopefully time permitting, I look forward to regular contributions.
First of all, I cant read or write Tamil well and I was introduced to PS through the excellent english translation by C.V Karthik Narayanan. I have been reading a lot of English fiction from say my 8th standard till now (Im 40!). I am generally attracted to Historical fiction but my ultimate writing and sense of life will be the works of Ayn Rand.
I studied in a CBSE school and there would not have been more than a page or 2 about the South Indian Kings. It is such a terrible state of affairs that the only Indian kings who ruled kingdoms across the seas is hardly known in present day India. What has caused this? I think we have to take the blame ourselves for it.
Even the great Ashoka who ruled most of India did not rule the Tamil kingdoms.After the British, we just let us be dominated by others mostly due to the absence of good leaders. This continues to this date so much so that a society is completely corrupted.
Is there a hope for revival? Countries and nation states are fluid. Every century throws up new challenges and structures. We have to start by knowing and believing in our ancestry and building credible societies that have pride and dignity.
I think literature should exist in all forms. It will be difficult to compare say Ayn Rand's Fountain Head or Atlas Shrugged with for instance the works of Kalki but then again I feel both present the same sense of life.
Kalki has in very simple words created a beautiful sense of life, portrayed the period in a simple yet eloquent way and as a result has given these unique characters in our history a new life and 'due' that they truly deserve.
I feel his work is absolutely essential for our society as it is easy and interesting for many to like, as well as, get the greater picture. I think we really need the greater picture in today's world.
I feel that it is absolutely essential to have the works of all similar authors of Tamil historical fiction to be translated to English. This is crucial to show the world, what we can call, our treasures and our unique history.
PS and Cilapathikaram are excellent translations. These translators should be commended a lot for their efforts and hopefully this should inspire them to translate more works. Parthiban Kanavu has a good translation as well. Can anyone tell me of available translations of all other works of Tamil Historical fiction.
I am truly amazed by Mr Sandeep's posting. Is it true that even in South India the South Indian history is dismissed in just two pages.
I thought it's the situation only in north, west and east of the country. Why didn't anyone, from the south who is an academic/scholar in Indian history, try and correct this inequality or even injustice? As far as I am concerned I have read mostly about Indus valley civilisation, Alexander the Great's forays, Gupta and Maurya periods, Mughal period including Shivaji, the British period and the fight for independence. The most detailed study concerning SI kings was about the Vijayanagar empire in the 15th century AD.
The Pallavas used to be dismissed in two paras and as far as I can remember there was next to nothing about the Cholas, let alone Raja Raja and Rajendra! That's the reason I was quite suprised to learn through this forum that Rajendra and Mohd of Gazni were contemporaries! And their paths could have crossed had Rajendra shifted his attention westwards from the Gangetic plains instead of going straight on the East coast.
And I also never knew from the history lessons in school that he had defeated the Palas of Bengal. For that matter I have hardly learned anything in detail about the kingdoms of Bengal, Orissa, Karnataka or even Gujarat except that Gazni had plundered Somnath with repeated raids. Maharashtra escaped only because it produced a warrior like Shivaji and the long line of the Peshwas. I had not learned of even the kings who had built the magnificent temples in Kajuraho.
And strangely I never learned in school that Malik Kafur had come deep down into South and attacked Madurai. Why, I did not know the name of Kafur till much later in life.
Perhaps had I taken history in college I might have studied these in some more detail, but school is the place where the entire Indian history, and not only of Bihar, UP, Delhi and Punjab, should be taught. No wonder the northerners know so little about SI languages and culture! What a shame!
What about the Dravidian parties who shout from the roof-tops about their love for Tamil and Tamil culture? They have done precious little to correct this serious anamoly.
In fact only through PS did I learn a bit about the later Chola history and through SS some part of Pallava period. We need to salute Kalki for the yeoman service he has done to open the eyes of at least some readers of historical romances (dismissed as escapist fare by some people) about the achievements of some Tamil kings!
hi happy to see the post has touched a few chords and evoked a string of stirring responses. On one side english translations are wanted to give a global reach for these works, but then its not often that you can get the essense of tamil completely into another language. maybe we should also look at the great work put in by the podcasters - i did listen to SS by sashi vaidyanathan
Its quite easy to do this, ( though the reach is only to the tamil population - you do reach the fringes where they understand tamil but do not know how to read....) - podcasting is much easier than translating and you could do it at leisure - one chapter at a time and keep the interest alive...all you need is a computer with some basic mike/speakers and a decent internet connection. the audience can download these and listen via mp3 players, mobile phones instead of drab ear jarring tunes of today..
Maybe, it would be easier for teachers to play these mp3 tapes to their students and make them learn tamil faster....proper tamil not the anglicised versions of today....or madras tamil.
its true - ask anybody to give you a list of great kings of india
asoka chandragupta maurya shivaji ( now maybe he will be in top of the count down thanks to talaivar) akbar !!! prithivraj chauhan Jansi rani laxmi bai
thanks to the convoluted versions of indian history ( i have seen some posts which attribute these to romila tappar!!!), the works of these great chola/pandya/pallava kings despite raising edifices in stone which have stood the test of time - never find mention - except in travellogues /guide books targeted at the firangi crowd who spend millions to come and appreciate these, whereas we go to these places for different reasons ( say mahabs to any chennaite and his eyes light up for all the wrong reasons)
Its but ironical that the very people in power ( since 1967 only regional parties have held power) who epitomise tamil culture cannot do anything ( even to bring back the archives from mysore ) - let alone the volumes which are in private collections of art buffs in europe and america - these kings had the fortitude to leave behind documented proofs of their conquests etched into stone n leaf - and they too have done their duty by carrying their message to this day - but they sit alone in dusty rooms of archives/museums/art collectors attics - silently mocking at us.....we are truely kan irunthum kurudargal.
Can those estempages last for such a long time? Wont they get faded/crumbled?
Why cant we do something about things in our own control ?
Here is a open challenge:
I will sponsor printing of a previously unpublished palm leaf book, if the contents are proven to be from the cankam era and validated by Tamil scholars from our universities.
Anyone having access to such a palm leaf book, give me a call anytime.
South Indian palm-leaves used for writing are of two types, a thin papery leaf ("talipot") that can, in optimal conditions, be preserved for centuries (some Nepalese manuscripts of this type survive from the ninth century), and a thicker, stiffer, usually smaller leaf found in the South and of which we are aware of no surviving examples more than three centuries old.
a 950 year old yet-to-be-published palm-leaf translation - that has been put on project madurai directly!!!! if my memory serves right, my uncle mentioned that mr na ganesan is a philosophy scholar in taiwan. also read his foot note - some 3000 palm leaf manuscripts are there in various private collections in europe - sure they are being kept there just like the ones in mysore - waiting for the next RRC to come along.
Thanks VJ. I'm pre-occupied for the next 3 years with my current job responsibility and have very little time to run around / follow up with people. If somebody already has access to the right content, I can facilitate that to get published.
Once I'm done with the major tasks in my current job, I will be stepping down and take a low profile job. That will enable me to run around!!!
The most important works in this are - collection of the material, preserving them as such and archieving via some medium, translating them and converting them to current text. The task is enormous and a lot of people /univ/institutions have tried/are trying this, they have the infrastructure to do the tasks exceptfor the first. this is where groups like us can contribute.
to collect /spread awareness - as of now the bulk of the palm leaf scripts are stuck in govt archives ( inside india), art collectors and museums ( in europe), private collections ( both in india and abroad)- the problems is that some of the collectors do not know what they are holding. meaning they know that its an old manuscript, but do not have any way of knowing what they hold
WE CAN COME UP WITH A SAMPLE OF THE WRITINGS - PALM LEAF, STONE INSCRIPTIONS - TO SHOW THE VARIOUS SCRIPTS - LIKE WHAT VARALAARU HAS (7th C pallava script etc), / PUT IT INTO A PDF FILE AND HOST IT ON THE NET. WITH A REQUEST TO ANYONE WHO HAS SIMILAR SCRIPT TO CTC or to asssist in atleast co ordinating in obtaining a copy.
We also need to tie up with a institute/organisation who can then take over the rest of the work. Publishing them is the last task and am sure once the other tasks are done, getting these works of great literary value to be published cab ne easily acomplished.
> to collect /spread awareness - as of now the bulk of the palm leaf > scripts are stuck in govt archives ( inside india), art collectors > and museums ( in europe), private collections ( both in india and > abroad)-
Our access to ancient Indian texts, many of which have a history of more than a millennium, is based on manuscripts whose lifespan is efforts have been made to collect, store and preserve the manuscripts in libraries inside and outside India[1]. In the second half of the 18th century, a few British officers such as Sir William Jones (1746-1794), Sir Robert Chambers (1774-1779), Colin Mackenzie (1782 - 1806) took a deep interest in Indian culture. They tried to get acquainted with the Sanskrit language and literature, and started collecting inscriptions, epigraphs, and manuscripts privately. An institution named as "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" was established in 1781 with as one of its aims the collection and preservation of valuable manuscripts, a huge number of which was lying in the houses of scholars, in schools and pâøhaåâlâs, in religious maøhs, monasteries, chaityas, temples, palace and village libraries in Bengal and different parts of India. Later on, in the latter half of the 19th century, the then Government of India took an active part and allocated funds for the collection of manuscripts. Scholars such as G. Bühler, A.C. Burnell, R.G. Bhandarkar, R.L. Mitra, F. Kielhorn, G. Oppert, G.B. Malleson and few others were deputed to tour in different provinces of India in search of manuscripts, to make a list of the available ones and to purchase the more important of them. Since then the mission of the collection, preservation, and cataloguing of manuscripts, and the preparation of critical editions of important texts conserved in them, is going on in and outside India by scholars world wide with an interest to protect and study this rich cultural heritage.
To get a better understanding of the ancient texts these manuscripts contain, it is important to know the history and pedigree of the manuscripts and of the collections to which they belong. In South India, manuscripts were till relatively recently produced and preserved according to ancient procedures and on traditional materials, namely palm leaf. Moreover, in South India a large number of regional scripts have remained in use for writing Sanskrit texts. A detailed knowledge of these scripts and their mutual stylistic influence is of primary importance for the attribution of a date and place of origin to the manuscripts.
The aim of the seminar is to study the production, distribution and collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in ancient South India in order to get a better picture of the history of currently available manuscripts such as those in the enormous collections of the Sarasvati Mahal library in Tanjavur (containing the collections of Maharaj Serfoji, Jambhunâth Bhaøøa, Kagalkar and Patanga Avadhuta families of Tanjore and many others[2]), of the Adyar Library and the Government Oriental Manuscripts library in Chennai (containing the vast collections of Colonel Mackenzie[3], Dr. Leyden and Mr. C. P. Brown), but also those in collections outside India, for instance, the Van Manen collection of palm leaf manuscripts of the Kern Institute, Leiden.