Knit India Through Literature Volume I - The South - Tamil

By Sivasankari

‘Knit India Through Literature...' is a mega literary project, first of its kind in Indian literature, is the result of the penance-yagna done for 16 years by Sivasankari, noted Tamil writer.

'Knit India Through Literature' has inolved intense sourcing, research and translation of literature from 18 Indian languages. The project she says aims to introduce Indians to other Indians through literature and culture and help knit them together.

The interviews of stalwart writers from all 18 languages approved by the eighth schedule of Indian Constitution, accompanied by a creative work of the respective writer are published with her travelogues of different regions, along with an indepth article by a scholar on the cultural and literary heritage of each of the language, in four volumes - South, East, West and North respectively.

Her travelogues, her interviews and the overview of each literature she has sought, all reveal one important unity... the concern our writers and poets express in their works for the problems that beset our country today. Through her project Sivasankari feels writers can make an invaluable contribution with their writings to change the thinking of the people and help eliminate those problems.

In this volume she deals with Tamil one of the languages spoken in southern region of India.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Jun 15, 2024
• ISBN: 6580501810970

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Knit India Through Literature Volume I - The South - Tamil

Author:

Sivasankari

For more books

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Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

But For Whom This Project Would Not Have Been Possible…

Travelling Through Tamil Nadu

Abdul Rahman

Poems

Indira Parthasarathy

The Journey

Jayakanthan

Agni Pravesham

Rajam Krishnan

Kannagi

Su. Samuthiram

The Arrows In The Quiver

Prapanchan

Brahma-Vriksha

Ponneelan

Honey Bird

M. Thamizhkudimagan

Modern Tamil Literature – I - Neela Padmanabhan

Modern Tamil Literature - II (1975 -1995) - Maalan

Vision of Indian Literature

award from

The Tamil Literary Garden, Canada

Foreword

Acountry larger than the continent of Europe and with more ethnic, religious and linguistic diversities is bound to have problems staying together as one unit. Right from the day we achieved Independence, foreign observers have been forecasting that India would soon break up into many sovereign states. When the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, which had fewer races, religions and languages, splintered into smaller states, doomsayers predicted that India would follow suit. Nothing of the sort has happened. Some fissiparous movements that started in the North Eastern states of Nagaland and Mizoram, and the demand for Khalistan, fizzled out. We have fought four wars with our neighbours. No attempt was made by any Indian group to take advantage of our military engagements with China or Pakistan to break loose from the Indian Union. On the contrary, with every confrontation with a foreign power we reaffirmed our Indianness. We may be Adivasis, Mongoloid, Semitic, Dravidian or Aryan, but we are also Indian. We may not be able to converse with each other because we speak 18 different languages and more than 350 dialects, and our only common means of communications remains English spoken by no more than 2% of the population, but we still remain Indian. Above all, though we often quarrel amongst ourselves, should any outsider pick up an issue with any of us and threaten us with violence, we come to each other’s assistance, we feel that every Indian must stand by his countrymen.

Despite our experiences over the last fifty years, fears of the country breaking up continue to haunt us. Periodically, noble-minded patriots like Baba Amte and others tour the country on foot or on bicycle to knit India together. Periodically, the National Integration Council comprising of the Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and leading intellectuals of the country meets in Delhi to take stock of the situation and chalks out programmes to combat forces which threaten our integrity. When the danger is past, people relax and the National Integration Council goes into deep slumber.

Sivasankari’s venture to knit India through knowledge of each other’s literary heritage is bound to have a more lasting impact.

Through her compilation readers will realize how much we share in common with our scriptures, classics of our many languages and, above all, how concerned writers and poets of today are, faced with the problems that beset our country: poverty, ignorance, caste, class and gender discrimination, challenges of modernity, resurgence of religious fundamentalism, bigotry, superstition, intolerance of other people’s beliefs, disrespect for the law, erosion of Gandhian values and proneness to violence.

Sivasankari’s attempt to knit India is based on her conviction that novelists, short story writers and poets can and do change the way of thinking of an entire people. It is in pursuance of her faith in this mission that she invited me to write this foreword to the volume on South Indian literatures. I do not know any of these languages and only have superficial acquaintance, through English translations, with the works of some of the men and women listed by her. I learnt much from her probing interviews and feel that what had been as alien to me as Greek, is now well within my grasp.

Preface

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As a young girl, I had often heard my mother narrate this little tale:

Once upon a time there was a kind-hearted girl who lived in a small village. The girl was a poor orphan, but she always wanted to help people around her. While saying her prayers one night, she wished for a money-bearing tree that would allow her to help a lot more people. When she woke up the next morning, she found a huge tree near her little hut. Instead of fruits, the tree bore gold coins. Passers-by wondered who had sown the seed from which the tree had sprouted. The girl had no answer to the question, but she continued to pluck the coins and distribute them to people around. As a result, poverty was removed from her land.

Thinking back on this story, I feel that the latter half of it in particular describes my own situation quite accurately.

I do not know who sowed in me the seed that has today grown into the ‘Knit India through Literature’ project. But, blessed with the right type of soil, water and fertiliser, the seed has grown into a huge tree that abounds with fragrant flowers and luscious fruit. Yet, I do not want to enjoy them all by myself; but I would rather share this bounty with my countrymen.

Even as I sit down with pen in hand to write this preface, I beget memories of bygone times. About ten years ago I was in Mysore, to participate in a literary meet that attempted to analyse a novel written by a Black American woman writer. Around twenty writers from different parts of the country had gathered there to analyse the work in minute detail. Dwelling on the discussions on my journey back, I was suddenly struck by the incongruity or irony of the whole situation. While we had sufficient knowledge of world literature - Black, Latin-American or European - to be able to thoroughly analyse it, we were woefully unaware of our very own literary treasures.

Let alone the people, even our learned writers do not have much of a knowledge of the literary works in Indian languages other than their own! What could be the reason for this? The fact that there had not been much effort to translate literary works into other languages could be a possible reason. Was it this thought that sowed the seed for the ‘Knit India through Literature’ project in me? Thinking back, I believe that may well be the case.

On yet another occasion, ‘when I was in Sikkim for a writers’ meet, I found that the writers who had congregated there had heard about Tamil Nadu’s idli/sambar (a traditional breakfast food) and her silks but knew next to nothing about her literature. This had quite an impact on me. There is also another aspect to this issue. While it is true that others do not know much about us, isn’t it also a fact that we know hardly anything about them? Calcutta is synonymous with rasagollas, Rajasthan with marble and Kerala with coir. How much do we Indians know about the literature created in States other than our own, and what sort of an effort have we made to get to know their traditions, their customs, their joys and sorrows?

I am not saying that there haven’t been any cultural exchanges amongst us at all. A dweller of Kasi (Varanasi) may name his son ‘Ramnath’ after the presiding deity in the southern temple town of Rameswaram. Or a Tamil girl could be named ‘Vaishnavi’ after the goddess who dwells in the foothills of the Himalayan ranges. Meera bhajans are sung in the South and Kathakali is performed in Delhi. Religious, cultural or even political links have been established over time. But are they sufficient to strengthen the unity and integrity of our nation?

What is the role of literature in this effort to ‘knit’ people together? Very many years ago our former President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan said that while it may be written in different languages, Indian literature is one. Does his belief hold good today? How many Indians know of the Assamese writer Birendra Bhattacharya, Karnataka’s Sivarama Karanth or West Bengal’s Mahasveta Devi who are till today engaged in efforts to enrich their people’s thought processes? Should not language function as a bridge to introduce people to their treasured heritage?

It is probably these questions and thoughts that have nurtured the seed of the ‘Knit India’ project within me. Plagued by all these questions, I continuously wondered if I could do something about it.

India is an ancient land

We are its citizens

United we will all live

Divided we will all fall

Inspired by these words of the turban-clad Tamil Poet Bharati, I began work on the ‘Knit India through Literature’ project four years ago. This literary tree, that this volume is the first part of, is what grew from the seed I began nurturing from that time.

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 18 official languages. This project’s goal has been to learn more about the culture, history and literature of the people of each state and introduce them to their fellow Indians through the works of a few writers selected from each of these languages. The ultimate aim is to publish the analysis in four volumes.

When I attempted to implement my plans I was beset with several doubts. Would it be possible for a single woman to go alone to Manipur and Kashmir to meet writers? How could I arrange the finance required for the project? Would it be possible for a lone individual to function on three planes simultaneously - could I, while engaged in the preparations for one language, travel for another language and also translate yet another language?

Before long I became thoroughly demoralised when both the Central Government and other organisations that claimed to support the cause of national integration turned down my request for financial assistance. While they praised my project, saying that it was unique and innovative, they also said that their rules did not permit them to support my efforts financially. I also had to contend with the indifference of some writers, who did not respond to repeated letters, and literary organisations which did not provide me with information I needed. But somehow the ‘plant’ within me continued to grow.

If today this first volume of Knit India through Literature is in your hands, it is entirely due to the grace of God and the good wishes of many kind souls. And even as I write these lines, the second volume, on the eastern languages, is just about ready to go to print and I have started meeting the writers of the western languages for the third volume.

Since I felt that it would distract my attention from the ‘Knit India’ project, I have put my fiction writing on hold. I am not sad about this. For the awareness and knowledge I have gained from my experiences over the last four years, meeting with the writers in ten languages and journeying through their states, to get to know the people and their traditions, has been truly amazing. I sometimes wonder at my good fortune and I am increasingly eager to share with my fellow Indians the knowledge I have gained.

I think I should elaborate here on the ways and means by which I went about choosing suitable writers in each language. First, I wrote to literary associations and leading magazines asking them to identify prominent writers in each language. From the replies, I picked out the common names, corresponded with them and followed this up with personal interviews. I can assure you that this literary bridge, built with the help of worthy litterateurs, is truly strong. As far as possible, I have tried to include the views of the younger generation as well.

Some of the writers I have met for this project are quite old. And yet their memory, commitment and clarity of thought and speech amazed me. If I had the required facilities, I would have video-taped all the interviews. As of now, I have confined myself to photographs and audio-tapes. The interview I had with the renowned Malayalam writer Vaikom Mohammed Basheer needs special mention. He was stricken by illness but still maintained a cheerful countenance and readily obliged with a fairly long interview. Just months later, he passed away. When I think of this I really regret not having been able to video-tape my interviews with these ‘walking encyclopaedias.’

I have attempted to use the writers’ very own words when recording their responses to my questions. If there are no answers to some questions, it is because the writers in those instances did not allot time for me despite my repeated requests.

I have included a short travelogue of each State before going on to the interviews with the writers of the language of the State. Since the objective of this work is to introduce Indians to their fellow Indians living in other States, I have included these essays as bait to draw them into the literary experience. If even just a few of my readers become desirous of knowing more about the people, the language and the literature of any of these States after reading my interviews, I will be extremely happy at having achieved my objective.

There is a Tamil saying about an entire village coming together to draw the temple chariot. I think this project is a perfect example of that. Although I functioned as an individual, if I had not had the support of my fellow writers and many others, my dream of knitting Indians through literature would not be a reality today.

Many of you might wonder if national integration can be fostered merely by publishing these four volumes. No, I certainly don’t have any such Utopian ideas. I am aware that we have miles to go before we reach our goal and only wish that this effort helps us cover at least the first few miles of our long journey. I quote an incident from the Ramayana here.

All of you, I am sure, know about the contribution made by the squirrels when Rama was building the Sethu bridge to get to Lanka. Each squirrel dipped its body in the ocean, came back to roll on the sands, went back to the site where the bridge was being built and shook the sand off its body. Thus was accumulated enough sand for the bridge to be built. Although their efforts cannot compare with those of mighty Hanuman, they did contribute. I wish to be like the squirrel and chip in with my own effort ‘Knit India through Literature’ - to help preserve the unity and integrity of our great country.

This is the land of my forefathers

Where they lived and loved happily.

This is the ancient land where

Our forefathers have lived for thousands of years.

This is the land in which they flourished

With their diverse and rich thoughts.

Keeping this in mind

How can I not praise my land,

How can I not bow down saying

"Vande Mataram.- BHARATI

Chennai

November 1997

- Sivasankari

But For Whom This Project Would Not Have Been Possible…

God:

For being with me in every thought and deed from the very inception of the project.

Mr. G.K. Moopanar: For proudly proclaiming my success as his own at the inaugural function and for being a constant source of support and confidence ever since.

Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan: For providing me with financial support at the time of inception of the project. As the Chairman of the Indian Bank, he believed that his bank should have a role in the process of knitting India through literature.

Mr. R. Subramaniam: For sponsoring the second stage of the ‘Knit India Through Literature’ project as the Chairman & Managing Director of Sterling Holiday Resorts, and for expressing utmost confidence in the success of my efforts at national integration.

Mr. Khushwant Singh: For being kind enough not just to grace the inaugural function of the project, but also for being patient enough to go through more than 700 pages and then write an excellent foreword for this book.

Writers: For kindly consenting to give me an interview whenever I asked for one and for answering all my questions without any reservations and with the utmost friendliness.

Translators: For helping me by translating the short stories and poems.

Prof. Satchidanandan (Former Secretary, Central Sahitya Akademi): For permitting me to include in this book the research articles published by the Akademi.

Mr. M.T. Vasudevan Nair: For wishing that I should embark on the project with the blessings of Ezhuthachan, considered the father of the Malayalam language, for taking me to his memorial, and also for accompanying me to interview veteran Malayalam writers like Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and Vaikom Mohammed Basheer.

Mr. P.C. Ramakrishna: For coming forward voluntarily to help in this literary effort and for assisting me by transcribing the interviews from the tapes.

Mr. G. Narayanan (Former Chairman - Andhra Bank) & Mrs. Priya Narayan: For helping me tour the state of Andhra and write my travelogue.

Mysore Tamil Sangam: For helping me meet the Kannada writers in Mysore.

Mr. V. Krishnamoorthy (Former Assistant Editor, Sahitya Akademi, Madras): For providing me with all the information that I required on literature in the last few years.

Mr. Maalan: For being a constant source of inspiration right from the inception of the project and for helping me reach the people by getting the interviews of Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu writers published in Dinamani Sudar of which he was then the Editor.

Mrs. Lalitha Venkatesh: For opting to be my right hand throughout the project, whether it was looking for books in the library and making notes, translating them if necessary, organizing my travel itinerary, or proofreading.

Mrs. Sabita Radhakrishna: For translating the interviews of the Malayalam writers into English.

Mrs. Janaki Viswanathan: For translating the interviews of the Kannada, Telugu and Tamil writers into English.

Mr. Thotaa Tharani: For conceiving such a wonderful cover design for this book, using the alphabets in the various Indian languages.

MCS Communications (P) Ltd: For designing the page layouts attractively using the maps of the various states and also appropriate photographs.

My Family: For supporting me through and through with pride and joy glittering in their eyes.

My readers: For wanting me to succeed in my effort and agreeing to wait for me to get back, since I had stopped writing fiction work for the last few years.

Apart from these people, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to all those involved in bringing out this publication.

- Sivasankari.

Travelling Through Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is the land of the people who speak the ancient language of Tamil, one of the oldest languages in the world in active use today. The state is hailed as the ‘Temple State’, ‘the Gateway of South India’ and the ‘Fount of Indian Culture’.

Tamil Nadu is bordered on the east by a 900 km stretch of the Bay of Bengal and on the other three sides by the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Some scholars believe that several thousand years ago the region that is now known as Tamil Nadu, along with Australia, Africa and South America, formed what was then known as the Lemuria continent. Later, it came to be known as ‘Kumari Kandam’.

The Dravidians, a highly civilised and cultured race, inhabited different parts of the country before the arrival of the Aryans. They were a part of the world-renowned Mohenjodaro and Harappan civilisations. The increasing domination of the Aryans forced them to move south. Hence, the theory that the Dravidians are basically South Indians is incorrect. This is the view shared by several Tamil scholars.

The literature of the ‘Sangam’ era makes it clear that the life of Tamilians then was highly civilised. The Tamils divided their land on the basis of soil type: Kurinji - hilly region; Palai - desert region; Neithal - coastal area; Marutham - agricultural land; and Mullai - forest area.

Of the various dynasties that ruled the land of the Tamils up to the 14th Century, the most important were the Pandyas, Cheras, Chozhas, Pallavas and lastly the Nayakkars. Madurai, renowned for its education, culture, architecture, human values and civilisation, was the capital of the Pandya Empire about 2500 years ago. The Pandya era is described as the ‘Golden Era’ in the history of Tamil Nadu. The Pandya kings were responsible for instituting the Early, Middle and Last ‘Sangams’, to honour poets and to encourage the creation of several wonderful literary works in Tamil. A folk myth has it that if a poet drops his work into the Golden Lotus Tank in the precincts of the Madurai Meenakshi temple, the lotus flowers would help it to stay afloat if it was a quality work, while if it was an inferior work it would sink.

The period of the Cheras, Chozhas, and Pandyas, the three great kingdoms, saw architecture, temple architecture in particular, flourish. There was much maritime trade between the Tamils and the people of Rome, Egypt and Persia. The Tamils proved adept in sea warfare too. The King Rajendra Chozha annexed Java and Sumatra and was given the title ‘Kadaram Konda Chozhan’. A publication of the Government of India points out that success in marine warfare is unique to the Tamil kings; no other Indian king has achieved similar feats.

Most books indicate that