Malayalam Literature : A Brief Survey
Malayalam Literature and
the Kerala Tradition
Malayalam : malayalaM A palindrome. Celebrating the fecundity
of the Indian experience in his Midnight's Children, the novelist
Salman Rushdie couldn't pass up a chance to joke about the
palidromic name of our language. Often misguessed as the language
of Malayasia, this language of the southwestern state of Kerala is
a member of the Indo-Dravidian family. Population of the
region--and hence the number of speakers of Malayalam--is
approaching 35 million, women slightly exceeding men with a ratio
of 1036/1000, and it is important to keep in mind that Kerala's
population density is a whopping 749/sq km.
Although Kerala itself is a new political entity as it was formed
only in 1956, incorporating the Malayalam speaking kingdoms of
Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar which was ruled directly by the
British, the region has had old, complex, often unbelievable
historical connections with the larger world outside, without
quite being a player, Kerala was at least a scene of innumerable
ancient dramas. Indeed, Sangam literature refers to Kerala (the
Cheras) as kudapulavendar, the Western power! King Solomon is
believed to have imported spices and timber from the area! To top
it off, the Christians believe that Apostle Thomas himself arrived
in Kerala in the year 52 AD.
Without too much difficulty, one can see in Kerala traces of much
ancient traffic, and it is not hard to agree on the key phases of
this region's historical development, which eventually becomes
synonymous with the growth of its lanaguage and culture.
Throughout the three key hegemonic phases--Dravidian, Aryan and
European--Malayalam language assimilated new genres and styles,
and gradually built up a rich regional literary tradition, an
integral part of Indian Literature, not to mention World
Literature. If I were to write about eighteenth century or
nineteenth century Malayalam literature, I would not have been
bold enough to make such a claim--it would have been nice for
Malayalam literature was mostly parochial and derivative, but the
rise of modern consciousness changed all that, and by early
Twentieth Century, the transformation was complete.
Writers like Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, and Arundhati Roy have
created an impression in the West that any good writer in India
who is staring at the blank paper preparing to produce his or her
masterpiece will have to choose English as the creative medium on
account of some inexplicable inadequacy of the so-called
"vernacular", the mother-tongue. In a recent essay introducing an
anthology of contemporary Indian writing from India, Salman
Rushdie wrote: "The prose writing--both fiction and non-fiction
created in this period (1947-57) by Indian writers working in
English is proving to be a stronger and more important body of
work than most of what has been produced in the eighteen `recognised'
languages of India, the so-called `vernacular languages', during
the same time; and, indeed, this new, and still burgeoning, `Indo-Anglian'
literature represents perhaps the most valuable contribution India
has yet made to the world of books. The true Indian literature of
the first post-colonial half-century has been made in the language
the British left behind.'' Without disputing Rushdie's judgement
of the quality of the work done in English, one can easily see the
folly of judging the writings in the "eighteen recognized"
languages.
Until now most regional language writers have had no need to
justify the mother-tongue, for they are all writing in languages
nearly as old and rich as the English language, which itself was a
negligible little language that suddenly blossomed in the post
Norman conquest (1066 AD) years, in the light and darkness of
French hegemony. It is no coincidence, and it is no news, that the
blossoming of the English language and the rise of political and
economic power in early modern England happened simultaneously,
and without taking into account the enormous political issues
surrounding language and power, it is pointless to try to respond
to Rushdie, or even try to correct the great many highly literate
people in the West who think that only English is "language" and
everything else in India is "dialect."
A non-Malayalam reader's dismissal of regional language
literatures like Malayalam need not be taken too seriously.
Rushdie did mention O. V. Vijayan in the same dismissive tone,
perhaps having read the recent Penguin translations, but anyone
who has read Kasakkinte Ithihasam or the stories of Basheer,
Zacharia, N. S. Madhavan, Gracy, Madhavi Kutty, Sara Joseph, or
even the poetry printed in any single issue of Bhasha Poshini will
know that Rushdie's statement is wrong and better forgiven. In a
review of Rushdie's anthology published in Indian Express, the
reviewer S. Prasannarajan this review also circulated on an
email discussion group popular among postcolonial scholars and
students in the US and elsewhere--the writer said that if only
Malayalam and the Indian regional literatures had a Gregory
Rabassa (the great translator of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's One
Hundred Years of Solitude), Rushdie and "international aficionado
of oriental imagination" would not dismiss regional literatures.
In this brief discussion, I wish to put aside quibbles about
professional translation and international marketing and offer an
outline of Malayalam literature in the last one hundred years.
Again, I know this period has its harsh critics, too: V.C. Sreejan,
for instance, has chastized an entire century for imitating the
West and its literary forms! Whether we ought to see the
trajectory behind Twentieth Century Malayalam Literature as mere
imitation or not, it is a fact that only in the twentieth century,
with the advent of social modernity, that Malayalam literature has
completely transformed itself into a truly independent literature
that can encompass all classes and communities.
Now, as Malayalam literature responds to the cultural trends of
other prominent literatures in the East and the West, it is also
able to contribute exemplary works of poetry and fiction in return
to the larger world beyond the geographical boundaries of Kerala.
Origins of the Language
Endless debates about the origins of Malayalam language mark one
aspect of the Kerala public culture. Of the many theories of
origin, the most popular ones claim that Malayalam was born out of
the confluence of Tamil and Sanskrit, that it originated out of
Sanskrit alone, and that both Malayalam and Tamil came out of a
single proto-language. In his Comparative Grammar of Dravidian
Languages (1875), Bishop Robert Caldwell argued that Malayalam
evolved out of Tamil and that the process took place during the
Sangam period (first five centuries of the Common Era) when Kerala
belonged to the larger political unit called Tamilakam, the apogee
of Dravidian civilization.
After the waning of the Sangam Age, the Kerala region went through
a prolonged "Dark Ages" (500-900 C. E.) when Sanksritization
(influx of Aryan culture from the North) of the dialect was
completed, which helped the emergence of Manipravalam (a mixture
of the local dialect and Sanskrit), which in turn helped the
formation of Malayalam as an independent language. Several poetic
works written in this mixed-style have survived; highly erotic and
decadent in nature, they express the world view of the feudal
class that monopolized the Kerala culture until the first decade
of the twentieth century.
The first Malayalam prose work, Bhashakautiliyam, a commentary on
Kautilya's
Arthasastra was written in the twelfth century. The first
Malayalam grammar / literary treatise, Lilathilakam, compiled in
the fourteenth century, is considered the culmination of
Manipravalam style. While the region continued to produce
important works of literature in Sanskrit and Tamil, only by the
fifteenth century Malayalam had would produce its first truly
classic work--this was Cherusseri's Krishna Gatha and the
sixteenth century became the age of Thunchath Ezhuthachan, the
father of modern Malayalam literature, whose renderings of
Adhyatma Ramayana and Mahabharata employed the narrative device of
kilipattu, Bird Song. Until the end of the eighteenth century,
Malayalam Literature was closely allied with Kathakali, a complex
operatic dance form dependent on the literary quality of the text.
The nexus between Kathakali and poetry helped the growth of
literary Malayalam.
Almost exclusively poetic in form, the post-Sangam literature was
in the mythical mode whereas the Sangam literature (35,000 lines
of poetry by 400 authors have survived) tended to be realistic
portrayals of common people and their domestic and personal
experience that we have come to expect from our modern
literatures. Only in the eighteenth century, with the work of
poets like Kunchan Nambiar, we begin to see the return of such
literary expressions of domesticity. A gradual departure from the
mythical to a satirical mode, as Northrop Frye would have put it,
becomes evident at this juncture. By nineteenth century, prose
forms enter the tradition with the translations of the Bible and
many works of European prose literature become widely available.
Literary journals like Vidya Vinodini, and Bhasha Poshini (still
published by Malayala Manorama group, without question one of the
best literary journals in any language in the world) opened up the
language for the larger public while several prolific writers and
scholars belonging to the different royal families patronized
literature. Translations from Sanskrit and English helped the
foundation of a broader base for Malayalam writers. This period is
marked by the trail- blazing work by the Text Book Committee of
Travancore (1866) which functioned like a literary movement.
Valiya Koyil Thampuran and A. R. Rajaraja Varma were champions of
this movement even though these two royals were basically part of
the orthodox literary establishment.
European education and Christian Missions had already created a
suitable environment for journalism, historical writing, and prose
in general. The first travelogue (a native Catholic priest named
Paremmakal Thoma Kathanar's Journey to Rome) was written as early
as 1786. The first history of Kerala was published in 1860, and
its author, Pachu Moothathu, also wrote the first autobiography in
Malayalam in 1871. The first Malayalam novel was published in
1887, and two years later, one of the greatest contributions to
the genre was made by Chandu Menon whose novel Indulekha ushered
in the Modern Period of Malayalam Literature.
Literature and Triumph of Social Modernity in Kerala
After a long history of caste and class oppression, followed by
colonization and the complex tangle of European rivalries that
sailed in from across the
Arabia Sea, all playing itself out on the Kerala stage (again this
region was mostly a scene) in 18th and 19th centuries, the region
underwent substantial cultural transformation in the hundred years
that followed the Travancore Education Bill of 1817, promulgated
by the queen of Travancore, Rani Gauri Parvathi Bhai. Much of the
political ferment of late 19th and early 20th century
Kerala resulted from a growing popular awareness of modernity and
a willingness among the people to resist the establishment that
was sustaining the age-old casteist society; the nexus between
imperial power and its native,
high caste, royal and feudal agents made a radical resistance all
the more difficult, although in some ways the same establishment
also unwittingly contributed toward the new ferment, a fact
visible in the various popular petitions and legislative
enactments of the era resulting from more than a century of
people's struggle for individual respect. (For a detailed study of
this topic see Religion and Ideology in Kerala by Genevieve
Lemercinier. She studied 37 new legislations enacted by the
Maharajas in collaboration with
the British and found a marked shift in favor of social reforms
while the bills passed early on were economic reforms, mostly
undertaken by the Maharajah to raise money to pay tribute to the
East India Company. Click for a peek at the high points of this
incredibly lucid research work)
It would be comforting to think that Malayalam literature played a
huge role in creating modern consciousness in Kerala, but alas, it
appears that it was the modern conscioussness that engendered the
new Malayalam literature, for even into the early years of 20th
century, the mythical mode of literary
expression persisted in poetry, and we can see traces of it even
in the
great Kumaran Asan and Vallathol, not to mention Ulloorm who never
really overcame it.
Here is a brief chronology that could offer insights into the
progress of modernity in Kerala's political, social, and cultural
life:
1800 Malabar becomes a part of the Madras Presidency
1802 abolition of special taxes on Ezhavas and Channars; grants
them right to wear jewelry
1809 Veluthambi Dalawa's Kundara Proclamation, asking the people
to throw out the foreign
invaders out of the country at any cost (January 11); and his
suicide
1810 Gauri Lakshmi Bhai becomes regent in Travancore
1812 The Maharajah confiscates vast lands held by 378 temples
1814 Special privileges of the Jews and Konkanis revoked, and
they are brought under the jurisdiction of the Cochin court
1815 Gauri Parvathi Bhai becomes Regent
the state declares itself the monopoly trader in tobacco and
pepper
abolition of gifts due to the landholders from the tenants on
special occasions
1821 CMS Press founded in Kottayam;
Cochin bans punishment of slaves except by judicial process
1829 the reign of Swati Thirunal begins; Malayalam Bible
published by CMS Press.
1834 English School founded in Trivandrum
1835 The state begins to sell land, more and more repossessed
and uncultivated land come into the hands of Syrian Christians and
Ezhavas from the temples and from Brahmins
1847 Dr. Gundert begins the publication of two Malayalam
journals from Thalassery
1848 Basel mission School started in Kallayi, and a hospital in
Ernakulam
1853 A Proclamation to free slaves in Travancore
1854 Slaves freed in Cochin;
1855 Slavery abolition process complete in both kingdoms.
Authorization to cultivate forest land and to bring migrant
workers from Tamilnadu
1859 Proclamation allowing Channar women to cover their breasts
1860 CMS College founded in Kottayam. State monopoly over pepper
and tobacco ends
1861 Ayilyam Thirunal comes to power; railway connecting
Kuttipuram to Kadalundi in Malabar
1867 Proclamation regulating landlord and tenant transactions
1885 Sri Mulam Thirunal comes to power in Tranvancore "Pattom"
Proclamation, granting possession of the land to tenants with the
right to sell and a ban on all forms of unpaid work
1888 First legislative council in India established by Sri Mulam
Thirunal
1890 Malayalam Manorama commences publication, March 22
1891 Malayali Memorial, demanding jobs and respect, and for
ending the practice of bringing in high level political appointees
from outside Kerala, 10,028 signatures for the petition
1896 Dr. Palpu leads Ezhava Memorial, another massive petition
proving the rising political consciousness of people, especially
of oppressed caste Ezhavas (13,176 signatures)
1898 Legislative Council expanded
1902 Shornur to Ernakulam railway built
1903 Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangam founded
1904 Travancore offers free primary education to every subject
irrespective of caste
1911 Journalist Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pilla exiled from
Travancore; his writings routinely snarled at the king, calling
him and the Diwan corrupt, selfish thieves.
1916 Dr. Annie Besant chairs Malabar State Congress meeting
1918 The first bank of Cochin kingdom founded in Trichur
1920 Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali visit Calicut to support
Khilafat Movement,
which had its origins in the Turkish Muslim resistance to British
imperialism.
1922 Widespread student uprising in Travancore
1924 Vaikom Satyagraha begins; Gandhi participates in the
satyagraha
1929 World economic crisis; civil disobedience widely adopted
all over India;
Trivandrum city electrified, followed by Kottayam (1932)
1932 Chithira Thirunal, the final Travancore King comes to
power; Bombay-Trivandrum air service
1934 Ideological tensions between the right and left factions
casuses a rift in the Congress party engendering the Congress
Socialist party, and later the Communist Party
1936 Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar becomes Travancore diwan; Temple
entry proclamation on November 12, allowing lower castes to enter
Hindu Temples
1937 Agricultural Debt Cancellation Act
1938 In Travancore and Cochin elected governments came into
power sharing power with the kings, Ambattu Sivarama Menon in
Cochin and Pattom Thanu Pillai
in Travancore became first ministers. Mrs. Akkamma Cherian leads a
mass rally to the Palace to revoke a ban on State Congress; the
protesters did receive an order revoking the ban
1939 The Communist Party founded and most of the leaders had go
into hiding.
1944 Universal adult franchise in Travancore
1946 Peasant uprising in Punnapra and Vyalar; hundreds of
agricultural workers massared
1947 Sir C.P. declares independance for Travancore on July 11,
deciding against joining the Indian union, but following an
assasination attempt on him, Sir C.P. left Travancore paving way
for joining the Indian union. India wins freedom, August 15.
1948 General election in Travancore; Minimum Wages Act in
Travancore
1949 Travancore and Cochin merged; Maharaja Chithira Thirunal of
Travancore becomes Raja Pramukhan
1956 November, 1: The State of Kerala was formed on the basis of
linguistic unity 1957 In the first general election in the
united Kerala, the Communist party came to power
1958 The controversial Communist ministry enancted provisions
for land redistribution, debt cancellation, tenant reimbursement,
and educational regulation
1959 The President of India dismissed the Communist government
in Kerala after massive protests organized by various religious
and political interests
To some extent the chronology depicts a horribly depraved society.
Imagine that lower caste women did not have the right to cover
their own breasts! Lower caste Hindus win the right enter their
temples only in the middle of the 20th century. (What a relief it
is that now in the postY2K years, we can say, oh, it was all in
the last century!)
However, it must be noted that in 1853-4, both Travancore and
Cochin kingdoms passed laws emancipating slaves and bonded
laborers. In the year 1888, during the reign of Maharaja Srimulam
Thirunal, first time ever in the history of an Indian kingdom, a
legislative assembly began to participate in the administration.
In the following decades, several schools, colleges, public
libraries, and newspapers were founded all over the region that
the rise of a modern sensibility was inevitable. From the above
chronology, it also appears that unlike in the previous centuries,
prose literature came to play an increasingly important role,
exercising a wide of range of social and cultural power .
In a recent analysis of the role of women's magazines in Malayalam
literary and cultural history, Champadan Vijayan emphasized the
publication date of the first literary journal in Malayalam Vidya
Vilasini (1881), and how the first women's magazine, Kairali
Suguna Bodhini followed soon after, in 1887. During the next one
hundred years, dozens of women's magazines came into the tiny
Kerala market. Magazines like Sarada (1904) Lakshmi Bhai (1906)
Mahila Ratnam (1916) Mahila (1921) Sahodari Manorama Samajam,
Muslim Mahila, Vanitha Kusumum, Vanitharamam and other journals
celebrated women's life and cultivated a political constituency,
regularly providing them with articles and literary works about
women's role in a changing society, not to mention bringing them
news about women in the Western countries as well as news about
those Indian women elsewhere, many who had just dared to break
through the barriers to become the first woman doctor, first
judge, first engineer, and so on. No wonder women played key roles
in the Independence movement, and in the post-independence
Malayalam literature and public culture, women's presence was
particularly noted by outside observers.
While the culture's aspiration for modernity was slowly clarifying
itself for Kerala writers, some of the major poets who will be
known as poets of a modern sensibility were still writing like the
ancients. The novelists and short story writers were already busy
building up their new genres by following the Romantic tradition
of the novel set by Chandu Menon (1847-1899) and C.V. Raman Pillai
(1858-1922). Soon the poets, mainly Kumaran Asan (1871-1924) and
Vallathol Narayana Menon (1878-1958) began producing their
masterpieces, setting a clearly modernist taste, clearly breaking
free of the mythical and psudo-philosophical themes that had
obsessed the poets of the ruling class up to that point--their
early works were not that different either.
One can see that the aesthetic shift was a natural extension of
the social modernity made possible by reform. Enlightened
institutions of education, the law, the press, and several reform
movements imbued the people with a robust optimism about the
future of Indian society. Now that we know that at the heart of
these reforms lay self-interest of the native ruling class and
their own masters from across the seas. In any case, Malayalam
poetry was one of the early beneficiaries of the new social
environment, and retrospectively speaking, one must agree that in
the latter half of the 20th century, Malayalam literature even
became a voice of modernity, and of course, a part of the Malayali
identity itself.
In one of the well-balanced accounts of Kerala political culture,
T. J. Nossiter commented that although Kerala has a diversity of
sub-cultures with itself, often bitterly divisive, there has
emerged a Malayali culture which transcends the component cultures
of caste and community, region and village, class and party and
renders Kerala politics distinct from the politics of other Indian
states and regions. The author makes this remark after mentioning
Claremont Skrine, a British agent in Travancore and Cochin in
1930s, who declared Kerala to be virtually ungovernable (I wonder
whether anyone thinks so in this post-Y2K age!) on account of
rampant communalism, and a total absence of discipline and civic
sense. Nossiter's brilliant book, Communism in Kerala: A Study in
Political Adaptation goes on to document the political
transformation of Kerala : "Paradoxically the Keralite is
individualistic, independent, excitable, even anarchic yet at the
same time capable of intense identification with the group whether
it be the extended family, the village, caste, party, or college
classmates." Nossiter credits a numbers of factors for the
cultural integration of Kerala: education, agitation, governmental
action, and mass media. And I want to argue that Malayalam
literature, particularly poetry, deserves to be mentioned as a key
factor that contributed toward integration, a process that took
place in conjunction with the rise of social modernity, which was
for Kerala a radical shift in culture and aesthics, although
initially it appeared that literature was out of touch as long as
it was a pastime of the high caste and the landed aristocracy.
(Author's Note : This segment is a
work-in-progress)
Twentieth Century Malayalam Poetry : Modern Poetry
One must keep in mind the
larger political forces at work while thinking about the rise of
modern sensibility in Malayalam poetry. It is said that modern
Malayalam poetry began with the Venmani Group, whose members
started experimenting with new forms and subject-matter,
abandoning the classicist mode, using simple diction and Dravidian
meters, and above all, by daring to deal with taboo subjects.
Ironically, this was also an era when the literary orthodoxy was
the most active in public culture. For instance, the elite Brahmin
poets (with last names like Iyer, Sharma, Moothathu, Varma,
Namboothiri) and Nair poets (Menon, Pillai, Marar, Panicker)
frequently indulged in poetic combats such as akshara sloka
and samasya. A poetry-feud of the period led to the
historic "Rhyme Dispute" during which the entire literary
community of Kerala came to be divided on the question whether
rhyme enhanced or hindered poetry! Of course, the lively literary
enivironment also enabled many new poets to start resisting the
orthodoxy to produce unrhymed verse, consequently freeing the
language from the traditional epic poetry limited to endless
veneration of the Hindu pantheon. While the othodox poets had been
evasive about the harsh social and economic realities prevalent in
the land for over a millenium, the new generation became
emboldened to seek out new forms and contents for their poetry.
With the publication of K.C.
Kesava Pillai's Asanna Marana Chinta Satakam (Verses on
Imminent Death), V.C. Balakrishna Panicker's Oru Vilapam (A
Lament, 1909), Malayalam poets began to proclaim their Romantic
aspirations; the revolutionary spirit of the English Romantics
appealed to these poets. Panicker's short life was similar to that
of Shelley and Keats. Having established himself as a major poet
at the age of nineteen, he died at the age of twenty- seven. The
poets of his generation defied the mythological subjects and
emphasized individual experience, altruism, cultural renaissance,
and motifs of sacrificial suffering became a central poetic image.
This late arrival of the romantic spirit quickly transformed
Malayalam literature as a whole, and out of the ferment emerged
the three poets known as the Great Trio.
The Great Trio of Poets
Three of the most prolific
poets of the first half of twentieth century, Kumaran Asan
(1871-1924), Ullur Parameswara Iyer (1877-1949) and Vallathol
Narayana Menon (1878-1958) are collectively known as the Great
Trio (mahakavitrayam). Their work provided Malayalam with a
truly native tradition in literature, nationalist in spirit,
Romantic in style, and modernist in outlook. They freed the
language from having to depend upon the Sanskrit heritage.
Together, their works have acquired thestatus of a "school of
poetry", even though each of them were unique, and seldom stable
in their aesthetic.
While the classicism of
Cherusseri, Poonthanam, Ezhuthachan derived mainly out of their
allegiance to the Brahmin culture of Ramayana and
Mahabharata, the Great Trio produced a massive corpus of
literature drawing on the Buddhist, Christian, Islamic as well as
Hindu traditions, in essence creating a new mythos for the modern
age. Much of the poetry and criticism of the twentieth century
Malayalam literature is actually an extended response to the work
of the Great Trio.
Kumaran Asan: The Poet of
New Humanity
The oldest and the most
important member of the Great Trio, Kumaran Asan belonged to the
Ezhava caste which was discriminated against by the upper castes
that monopolized the literary and cultural life of Kerala
throughout history. Influenced by the teachings of the
philosopher/cultural activist Narayana Guru, Asan sought to create
a new cultural ethos for Malayalam based on English liberal
education. Narayana Guru and Kumaran Asan also preached an
increased adherence to the Sanskrit tradition--this helped them in
effectively
outwitting the proponents of caste supremacy on every level of
culture and politics.
While most of the prominent
poets were busy writing classical epics, in the year 1909 Kumaran
Asan published his long elegiacal poem Vina Poovu (A Fallen
Bloom) and provided a metaphor for the tragedy of human life in
modern times. In many ways, much of the poetry of previous
generations ignored human life, if they did deal with it at all;
those poets seemed to treat everything as an illusion and spoke in
the idioms of the Hindu philosophers. Asan's poetry moved away
from the glib philosophizations and started to capture the
contemporary, the particular. He wrote repeatedly about the
dehumanizing experience of the individual who has been deprived of
fundamental human dignity. His new style of writing, characterized
by unprecedented clarity and romantic rage, cried out for the
freedom of the individual. Asan's individualism was not a
solipsist, bourgeois ideal like the individualism of the West. A
low caste individual's assertion of identity and self-respect was
an act of subversion in the eyes of the higher castes who for
centuries refused to acknowledge such individuality; Asan's poetry
rendered for the first time the essence of the "low-caste"
individual who possessed a higher moral authority than the
oppressors; in effect, Asan's poetry was affirming the essence of
the collectivity which was historically denied.
In conjunction with Asan's
nationalist aspirations, his poetry proclaimed freedom from the
bondage of ignorance, political and personal silence. He developed
a consistent vision which not only included those who were
oppressed but also the oppressors. In his Duravastha (The
Tragic Plight, 1923), Kumaran Asan exhorted: "Remove the bonds of
your effete tradition/ Or it will ruin you within your own
selves." Asan's poetry brought into the culture a plea for a
revolution of the heart. In Duravastha, his most celebrated khanda
kavya (miniature epic), a Brahmin woman named Savithri marries
Chathan, an untouchable, after he had given her refuge when her
family home was destroyed in the Muslim Revolt of Malabar (1921).
This event takes place during a period when many Brahmins still
considered lower caste people untouchables. (Most lower caste
groups were required to holler as they approached a
Brahmin so that the latter could avoid the pollution!) Having
accepted the kindness of an untouchable, Savithri reciprocates his
generosity by marrying him. This was incendiary material in the
eyes of the orthodoxy; even distinguished critics like A. R.
Rajaraja Varma, a part of the orthodoxy, sought to chastize Asan's
great work for faulty Sanskrit style. But Kumaran Asan's poetry
found the right audience among the nationalists and the new
educated class.
That Asan was able to create
human drama without succumbing to didacticism provided unusual
strength to his poetry as well as his romantic vision. Having
transformed Malayalam poetry from the stale, stolid cultural
environment, Kumaran Asan was able to make his readers experience
the horror of bondage, both external and internal; this was also
the philosophical strategy of his mentor, Narayana Guru, whose
followers became a ready audience for Asan's poetry.
In his miniature epics such
as Nalini, Leela, Chandalabhikshshuki, (The Beggar Woman)
Chintavishtayaya Sita, (Brooding Sita), Karuna
(Mercy), Kumaran Asan sang eloquently about such issues as class
oppression, fuedalism, imperialism, materialism, untouchability
and unapproachability. Though there existed no gender-based
cultural critique at this point, most
of his works displayed a great understanding of womanhood. His
heroines continue to inhabit the language as if they are actual
human beings. His work drew much strength from Buddhism which
challenged the iniquities of caste while offering realistic
materials suitable to make his romantic art.
For instance, in Chandala
Bhikshuki, a low caste woman named Matangi accepts a drink of
water from a young Buddhist monk, Ananda, and she undergoes a
conversion experience and becomes a Buddhist nun. In Karuna,
the courtesan Vasavadatha is attracted to the Buddhist monk
Upagupta who keeps telling her that it is not yet time for him to
enter her life. After the courtesan had murdered a merchant, she
was apprehended and her limbs
dismembered in punishment. For Asan, Vasavadatta is a metaphor of
alienation and decay, and the poet seems to suggest that her
longing for the monk's presence is that of the society's desire
for renewal. Upagupta the monk does arrive to comfort her with the
compassion of the Buddha.
It is important to note that
Kumaran Asan chose a Buddha figure (as a religion Buddhism is
almost nonexistent in India because of its resistance to caste)
instead of a Hindu ascetic (even contemplative life is prohibited
for the lower castes) as a harbinger of renewal. The Buddhist
conversion rhetoric here is not meant for proselytization at all;
the poet uses it as a trope of dissent to all levels of cultural
decay characteristic of the Indian society of the times. Of the
many poets of this romantic tradition who invoked the Buddha and
Jesus metaphors, the most significant figure was Vallathol, a
member of the Great Trio.
Vallathol Narayana Menon:
Lyricism of a Nationalist
Among the Great Trio of
modern poets, Asan's style was roughly hewn, Ullur's was
pedantic, but it was Vallathol who wrote as the consummate lyrical
stylist. A poet who transformed himself from a traditional
classicist poet to a popular romantic bard, Vallathol also
outlived the other two members of the Great Trio to become one of
the most recognized poets of modern India. Published in 1910,
Vallathol's first major work, Badhira Vilapam, (A Deaf
Man's Lament) dealt with the poet's loss of hearing, his sense of
deprivation of the world. The poet seeks to transcend the world of
frightening silence in the same manner Milton resigned himself to
the reality of darkness in his sonnet, "On His Blindness."
In 1916, when the first of
his eight-volume masterpiece Sahitya Manjari (A Bouquet of
Literature), appeared, he was immediately recognized as a
significant voice, particularly because of his use of both the
Sanskrit and Dravidian meters in his lyrical poetry. Even though
his earlier poetry, like much of the poetry of Asan and Ullur, was
rooted primarily in the Sanskrit tradition and in religious
themes, Vallathol changed with the times, becoming an integral
part of nationalist consciousness sweeping the land. He sought to
reach beyond the regionalism of the Kerala tradition and the
orthodoxy of the Sanskrit heritage.
It was the Gandhian Movement
that transformed him into a modernist with broader nationalist
aspirations. His poem "Ente Gurunathan", an eloquent testimonial
of a Gandhi disciple's trust in the teacher, pointed at the
direction his future poetry was to take. His celebrated works such
as Bandanasthanaya Anirudhan, Virasrinkala, Divaswapnam,
Achanum Makalum, Magdalana Mariam reiterated the poet's
commitment to larger human issues. His khanda kavya on the
life of Mary Magdalene continues to be popular; it also paved way
for a new tradition of Christian symbolism in Malayalam. A
literary tradition attempting to disengage itself from the
mythical mode found an easier transition in the figures of the
Gospel and in Gandhi and Buddha.
Though Vallathol did not
have the benefit of English education that Asan and Ullur had, he
did try to imbibe Western traditions. Through his efforts to bring
Kathakali out of feudal control, Vallathol also modernized a
theater that had dominated the literary scene for at least four
centuries.
Ullur S. Parameswara Iyer:
Versatile Genius
The prolific Ullur was a
scholar-poet. Though his position as one of the Great Trio is
often questioned, his overall contribution to Malayalam literature
is beyond dispute. He is known for his versatility, his lyricism,
his innovative techniques of prosody, and of course, his
productivity. Ullur's five-volume history of Malayalam Liteature
is still the best work on pre-twentieth century Sanskrit, Tamil
and Malayalam. Though many critics eventually sought to attack
Ullur as a member of the ruling class, the service he rendered to
modern Malayalam literature through such works as Umakeralam,
Karnabhushanam, Bhakthi Deepika, Kiranavali ensured his
position among the Great Trio. His most memorable poem is "Prema
Sangitam" a beautiful, ornate, pre-Raphaelite lyric about the
aesthetics of love.
The author of the epic on
Kerala, Umakeralam, Ullur was the most classical of the
three poets. In mid-career, he abandoned some of his classicism
and joined the new movement which was being popularized by Asan
and Vallathol. As a first step, he adopted Dravidian meter and
enriched it with hisimpeccable technical skill. His main
contribution was to develop a sense of pride about the Indian
identity of Malayalam-speakers. Being a top official in the
government and an orthodox Brahmin himself, he predicated his
works upon a lofty ideal of eternal India of Sanskrit culture and
provided the best fusion of the Aryan and Dravidian cultures.
Ullur's zeal for asserting
cultural identity is most evident in Chithrasala (The Art
Gallery) in which the poet takes the American writer Katharine
Mayo for a demonstrative tour of the eternal India. In her
Mother India, Mayo had attacked Indian culture and made many
cynical, myopic remarks on Indian womanhood. Ullur took it upon
himself to set the record straight by revealing to the American
writer the gallery of portraits of men and women of the Indian
tradition, describing their greatness, showing how the women often
emerged nobler and wiser than their consorts. Late Romantics The
Late-Romantics were not merely a group of decadent aesthetes
creating art for art's sake. Extreme idealists and dreamers, they
seemed to be obsessed with death and the awareness of transience
and the futility of life.
Among the Romantic poets who
followed in the footsteps of the Great Trio, the most important
figure was Nalappat Narayana Menon (1887-1955) whose poetic output
was limited; from his early poetic phase, he shitfted his
attention to criticism, pyschology, and ancient Indian philosophy;
he also published translations from European writers. His best
known poetic work, Kannunirthulli (Teardrop), is an elegy
on the death of his wife. Written in a terse, lucid style, the
poem is still popular as it possesses a rare nostalgic intensity
and a new brand of metaphysical reflection. For a literature that
thrived on glib invocations of fatalism, Nalappat's poetry opened
up a new way of looking at the experience of suffering.
Two younger Late Romantics
of equal importance, (both passed away early on in their careers)
stand out: Changanpuzha (1914-48) and Idappally (1909-36).
Ramanan, the former poet's Lycidas-like pastoral elegy about
the latter's suicide at a young age continues to spawn generations
of younger poets who freely exhibit their lofty idealism and
passion of romantic suffering. Though Changanpuzha himself died at
the age thirty-four, he left behind a large volume of intensely
lyrical, romantic poetry. His Vazhakkula (A Stalk of
Plantains), is a small poetic gem; the poet narrates the story of
an untouchable tenant who nurtures a plantain tree in his
backyard; their father's work enables the children to dream about
the sweet nourishment the tree will render them when the fruit is
ripe. But the landlord arrives. He claims the fruit. The fruit of
the poor man's labors is snatched away because the rich landlord
claimed ownership on the patch of land.
In many ways, Changanpuzha's
Vazhakula exemplifies the core of Malayalam Romanticism
which begins with the Great Trio and ends with the Late-Romantics:
a profound sorrow about the human failure in acknowledging the
dignity of all even though all individuals must face the certainty
of death. This poetic knowledge emboldens the poet to speak for a
revolution of the heart. Romantic poetry weakens with the death of
Changanpuzha whom Vallathol outlived by a whole decade.
Romanticism in Malayalam contributed greatly toward developing a
native poetic voice which is modern, yet non-imitative of Western
models.
Post-Romantic and
Late-Romantic poets in general sought to strike a truly Malayalam
note in their poetry. Among the dozens of poets who did hit the
right note, the most important poet was G. Sankara Kurup. Writing
in the 1950s and 1960s, Sankara Kurup attained a voice independent
of the one set by Europeans. Kurup's collection of symbolist
lyrics, Odakkuzhal (Bamboo Flute), won him the first
Jnanpith Award in 1965, India's top literary honor.
Inspired more by Tagore than
Wordsworth, G. Sankara Kurup played an important role as a poet of
the Indian Independence movement, and he championed a poetry of
humanism. He is probably the only poet of Kerala who is known as a
bard of science, for he refers to the advancements in science in
his meditations of the human potential, but his approach has to be
understood as the beginnings of a postmodern sensibility, and the
best example of this trend is his famous narrative poem, "The
Master Carpenter", in which he uses a Kerala legend about a master
carpenter's envy for his son who excels in the father's art; to
give a postmodern spin to the Western notion of Oedipal story, the
poet offers a vivid character study of a father who kills his
rival in art, his own son.
The legacy of the poets of
the first half of twentieth century (Kunjikuttan Thampuran,
Rajaraja Varma, Kattakkayam, V.C. Balakrishna Panicker, K. V.
Simon, the two Naduvath poets; Oravankara, Kundoor, K.C. Kesava
Pillai) was enhanced by the poets of the post-Romantic period. Of
the large number of the post-Romantics who have made significant
contributions include Kadathanattu Madhavi Amma, Kunjiraman Nair,
Balamani Amma, Idassery, Sister Mary Benigna, Mary John
Koothattukulam, Palai Narayanan Nair, Vennikulam, Kuttipurath
Kesavan Nair, Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, Olappamanna, Vayalar
Rama Varma, Mathan Tharakan, Vailoppilli, Krishna Warrier, M.P.
Appan, Nalankal Krishna Pillai, G. Kumara Pillai, O.N.V. Kurup, P.
Bhaskaran, Kadavanadu Kuttikrishnan and others.
The Postmodernism of the
Poets
As varied as their
backgrounds and contributions, some of the Late-Romantics
continued the Vallathol school of poetry, conservative and lyrical
in style, yet progressive in terms of the poetic vision, they were
region-specific and not easily translatable. Some of their work
seemed like products of a region that was too distant from the
larger world.
It was the postmodern poets
and fiction writers who would connect Malayalam literature to a
world larger than Kerala. With the death of Sankara Kurup,
Idassery, and Kunjiraman Nair, what was known initially as a
strange generation of "ultramoderns" came to take Malayalam poetry
in a new direction.
They were actually the
postmoderns, and their landmark publication was Ayyappa Paniker's
long poem Kuruskhetra (1961). With its resonances of The
Waste Land and The Bhagavat Gita, this long poem
gathers together varied strands of Indian postmodernity: the East
and the West merge in this era of late-capitalism; poverty
lingers; revolution has failed; no certainties are left to offer
us solace, not even the old tribal rhythms because our modernity
has disturbed them. Paniker's poem voices the sense of guilt and
terror an individual has to
bear with living in a boundariless historical moment in which,
according to Paniker, the World Bank becomes the custodian of
truth.
In spite of the wide
difference in terms of their age, the post-modernist poets like M.
Govindan, Cherian K. Cherian (Palazhi Madhanam), N. N.
Kakkad, Madhavan Ayyppath, Chemmanam Chacko (Alilla Kaserakal),
Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri, Sugatha Kumari (Ambalamanikal),
Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan (Kavithakal),
Satchidanandan (Malayalam, Kavi Buddhan), Attoor Ravi Varma,
K. G. Sankara Pillai, Vinayachandran (Veetilekkulla Vazhi),
Yusuf Ali Kecheri, A. Ayyappan, N.K. Desam, Paloor, O. V. Usha,
Balachandran Chullikkad
(Amavasi, Gazhal), Savithri Rajeevan, Vijayalakshmi, T.P.
Rajeevan, Puzhankara Satchidanandan, Jayaprakash Angamali, and
three dozen other poets have created a sustained poetic culture in
Kerala, and they have indeed redressed the problems of glibness
that made Kuruskhetra less authentic. Some of these poets have
also brought poetry into the public culture through street
performances and campus readings, ushering in a new golden age of
poetry.
Prose Literature Comes of Age
(Author's Note : This segment is under revision)
Though the first prose
treatise in Malayalam, Bhasha Kautiliyam was written as
early as twelfth century, the development of prose literature was
slow. Poetic works and Kathakali texts had ready audience
throughout the history of Malayalam literature, but
prose-readership began to grow only with the growth of printing
in the 1850s--the first press was established in 1563, at a
seminary in Cochin. One of the famous early prose pieces, Velu
Thampy's Kundera Proclamation of 1809, a battle cry against
British colonialism, had moments of literary brilliance:
"Taking over the realms
of others by treachery is their [British] hereditary tradition;
when thus a land passes into their hands, their soldiery will take
over palace and fort under their guard... then land and hut, field
and orchard will become their monopoly."
During the last quarter of
nineteenth-century, we also begin to see a gradual decline of
such traditional and unique Malayalam genres as attakatha,
ithihasas, kavyas, and khanda kavyas, which were all
replaced by the mainstream European genres.
The Rise of the Novel
Though the semi-feudal modes
of production continued to play an important role in the
literature and life, a sufficiently independent class of readers
and writers emerged, making possible what Ian Watt called [in the
context of eighteenth-century England] the "rise of the novel".
Appu Nedungadi's Kundalatha (1887) is arguably the first
original novel in Malayalam. Chandu Menon's Indulekha
(1889) is certainly the first significant Malayalam novel; the
English lineage of the novel is acknowledged in the novel's
subtitle: Englishnovel Matiriyilulla Oru Katha (A Story in
the Manner of the English Novel).
Chandu Menon has written
that he initially meant to translate Benjamin Disraeli's
Henrietta Temple (1836) into Malayalam, but having struggled
with the subtleties of an alien culture, he abandoned the project
in favor of writing one on his own, depicting a familiar story.
The fact that Chandu Menon's novel deals with the decline of the
feudal, Brahminical culture in Kerala also explains the rise of
the novel form in Malayalam, as one of the necessary
preconditions required for the flourishing of the novel genre is
the emergence of an educated middle class.
Menon's Indulekha dramatizes
the resistance of a progressive woman named
Indulekha who is being pressured into marrying the lecherous
Brahmin, Suri Namboothiri, who represents the decadence of
feudalism, its caste oppression and polygamy. While feudalism
controlled art and kept it limited to self-serving ritual forms,
caste prohibited literary production because education itself was
prohibited to the lower castes. The Brahmins maintained a belief
that the untouchables would pollute the sacred language, Sanskrit.
The gradual breakdown of such structures of oppression opened up
the culture and made the rise of the novel possible.
Chandu Menon's heroine
persists in her educated believes (she is an ardent student of
English language!) and eventually weds her lover, Madhavan, in the
process defeating the Brahmin who is shown as an effete oppressor.
Many of the social evils depicted in the novel have disappeared
in independent India, partly due to the forceful representation
of these problems in new literary forms. Chandu Menon's
Indulekha set the tone for the future development of the novel
in Malayalam: novelists began debating social issues through
their elaborate probing into the individual experience of
characters who were drawn from contemporary society. This
literary trend had shown its first signs in Malayalam as early as
during the eighteenth century (as it did in Europe) when the poet
Kunchan Nambiar satirized society and its mannerisms and
inequities. Had he written a prose narrative, we would have
called it a novel.
In the absence of the print
culture, prose fiction had to wait until the final years of the
nineteenth century. The second major novelist to emerge in
Malayalam was C.V. Raman Pillai. His Walter Scott-inspired
historical novels about the Travancore dynasty, Marthanda
Varma (1891) and Dharma Raja (1911) made up for the
late-blooming of the genre. He produced grand historical romances
about the different Travancore kings and war-heroes who stood up
to British imperialism. In his Dharmaraja, actually a
sequel to Marthanda Varma, C.V. Raman Pillai follows up on
the historical events that ended with the execution of a clan of
King Marthanda Varma's enemies. In Dharmaraja,
two descendants from the clan returns disguised as wandering monks
seeking revenge at the new King, and to usurp the throne of
Travancore, but the conspiracy is spoiled by the King's
lieutenant, Kesava Pillai, who himself becomes the central
character in the third part of the saga, Rama Raja Bahadur.
The historical context is
that of the incursions of Tippu Sultan into the kingdom and the
persistence of clanish dissent which leads Travancore into
accepting the hegemony of the British. Very much in the manner of
Walter Scott's romances, C. V. Raman Pillai also creates an
elaborate human drama grounded in history, yet peopled with
realistic characters. Following in the tradition of C. V. Raman
Pillai, several historical novels were written. Pallath Raman's
Amrita Pulinam and Appan Thampuran's Bhoota Rayar and
Bhaskara Menon (the first detective novel) deserve mention. Sardar
K. M. Panikkar's Paranki Padayali (The Portuguese
Soldier), Dhumakethuvinte Udayam (The Comet of Ill-Omen)
and Kerala Simham (The Lion of Kerala) are also important
works of subaltern sensibility in presenting Kerala's encounter
with the colonizers and imperialists. The range and popularity of
the early novels helped the construction of a culture of the novel
in Malayalam literature.
When C. V. Raman Pillai
wrote his first satirical novel, Premamrutam, it also
spawned yet another series of imitations. At this time,
translations of novels from world literature began to appear,
further enhancing the credibility of the genre. Besides Nalappat's
classic translation of Les Miserables, several other
translations of John Bunyan, Maxim Gorky, Thomas Hardy,
Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Tagore elevated the position of the novel
in Malayalam. The Malayalam Novel in Transition If Malayalam
poetry was revitalized the moment it parted company with the
tiresome gods who came to dominate the South Indian Literatures
after the waning of the Sangam Period, resurgence of the novel as
the preeminent literary genre followed the social and political
transformations taking place in response to Western humanist
tradition, increasingly drawing its energy from the Marxist
philosophy and aesthetics.
By 1930s, a whole new school
of writers, known as Progressive Writers, had come into existence.
Three young critics, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, M. P. Paul, and
Joseph Muntasseri became the theoreticians of the school. Having
understood the great potential of realistic fiction, these
critics theorized about the new role of Malayalam Literature in
an era of Western literary and cultural paradigms. Through the
many critical introductions he contributed to the works of
emerging writers, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai affirmed the literary
and aesthetic qualities of prose fiction. The mature theoretical
synthesis of M. P. Paul's critical monographs, Novel Sahityam,
Cherukatha Prasthanam, and Gadyagathi defined the
novel, the short story, and the essay respectively, and aligned
Malayalam literature with international aesthetic trends. Joseph
Muntasseri
spoke primarily as a Marxist aesthete grounded in Indian literary
traditions.
The Progressive Writers
The Progressives acquired
the label as they started out as socialist realists. Most of them
gradually transcended all such "isms" even as Kerala was becoming
the first state in the world to bring a communist government to
power through electoral process. A famous critical work of the
period, Guptan Nair's Isamgalkkapuram, advocated artistic
freedom reaching beyond "isms" and agendas. Kuttikrishna Marar's
critical essays, eventually collected in 1965 as a single volume,
Kala Jeevitham Thanne, took issue with both the socialist
realists and with the proponents of "art for art's sake", pointing
at the unique
path an Indian writer could take independent of Western
prescriptions.
Again, the aesthetic
independence of leftist writers might have been a result of the
peculiar mutations of Marxism itself as it won followers from
upper and lower castes alike, forming in essence a regionalist
coalition against the mainstream Congress party and its bourgeois,
sectarian allies. In 1956, when the three Malayalam speaking
regions, Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore were united to form the
State of Kerala, an environment of political and linguistic unity
to the culture of Malayalam speaking people.
Many members of the new
communist cabinet were literary personalities; the critic and
novelist Joseph Muntasseri himself became the Minister of
Education. And the Chief Minister was E. M. S. Namboothiripad, a
prolific writer on history and Marxist aesthetics. Vaikom Muhammad
Basheer, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, Kesava Dev, S.K. Pottekkat,
Lalithambika Antharjanam, Uroob, and Cherukad are prominent
novelists of this generation. The novelist who typifies the
generation of the Progressive is Thakazhi
Sivasankara Pillai; he started out as a leftist and matured into a
true Kerala original.
Thakazhi Sivasankara
Pillai
The most well-known
Malayalam writer, both nationally and internationally, is Thakazhi
Sivasankara Pillai (b. 1914). His fame is partly on account of the
UNESCO translation of his masterpiece Chemmeen (The Prawn)
and its classic film adaptation made in 1966 by Ramu Kariat.
Though Thakazhi is often considered as a hardcore socialist
realist, his major works like Chemmeen and Enippadikal
are intense portrayals of love and tragedy, and they have little
to do with socialism or realism. Very few Indian novelists have
explored the nature of passion the way Thakazhi has in Chemmeen,
in which the social and economic exploitation is mostly a subtext.
Taken as a whole, his voluminous works present a proletarian
position. Like Basheer's work, Thakazhi Sivansankara Pillai also
captured the living language of the underclass and traced the
waxing and waning of their hopes in modern India.
In the novel Thottiyude
Makan (Scavenger's Son, 1947), we witness the story of three
generations of thottis, cleaners of night-soil. The first two
generations struggle to attain individuality; they suffer and die
unfulfilled, oppressed and ostracized, but their struggles enable
Mohanan, the third-generation thotti, to assert his
individual dignity and to lead his fellow-untouchables to rise
against oppression and prejudice. The landscape of Thakazhi's
novels are peopled with thousands of characters who represent a
cross section of Kerala: fisherfolk, toddy tappers, clerks, small
farmers, landlords. He also tries to capture the
peculiar social and mythical codes that continue to sustain their
lives, making his works very much a part of the Indian tradition.
In his voluminous novel
Kayar (1978), through recapitulating the history of two
hundred years of the life of the working class and landowners, he
also raised the scope of socialist realism by including the
nuances of the Kerala's regional culture. Among the two dozen
novels of this prolific writer include Enippadikal (Rungs
of the Ladder), Randidangazhi (Two Measures of Rice) and
nearly a hundred short stories. His works have been translated
into about 25 languages.
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Basheer (1910-1994), is
arguably the most significant novelist of the latter half of the
century. He spent his youth wandering all over India and the
Middle East when he was not incarcerated by the British. Having
begun his writing career during the final phase of Gandhi's
struggles, he became a popular novelist after Independence in
1947. Though one would suspect great revolutionary spirit in his
works, what he offered were simple pictures of the life in the
poor, illiterate Muslim community of Kerala trying to adjust to
the modernity, religious pluralism, and socialism. Though a tragic
sense of life is prevalent in his early work, his characters learn
to accept the tragic; they live in a spirit of profound love for
their neighbors and fellow- beings, including animals and birds
and all the creatures of the natural world.
His thirty odd novels and
short story collections include Prema Lekhanam
(Love-Letter, 1943), Balyakala Sakhi (Childhood Playmate,
1944), Sabdangal (Voices, 1947), Pathummayude Aadu (Fathima's
Goat, 1959), and Mantrikapucha (Magic Cat, 1968). None of
these works were overt commentaries about social and economic
inequities, but Basheer captured the life of a whole underclass
and helped them appropriate the culture which had been
monopolized by one elite group for too long.
Kesava Dev and his
Contemporaries
Another novelist who started
out along with Thakazhi was Kesava Dev whose novels Odayil
Ninnu (From the Gutters) and Ulakka (The Pestle) are
typical examples of socialist realism. Unlike Basheer and Thakazhi,
Dev did not evolve and grow as a novelist; he even became a
strident voice of the socialist orthodoxy. His tireless polemic
against the postmodernist generation indicated the limitations of
the original position of the Progressives, and the literature of
commitment came to be somewhat discredited in Malayalam.
Among other significant
novels produced by the frontline Progressives include Uroob's
Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum (Beautiful People) and Ommachu,
S.K. Pottekkat's Oru Desathinte Katha (The Story of a Land)
and Visha Kanyaka (The Venomous Virgin), the military
novelist Parappurath's Ara Nazhika Neram (Half An Hour
More) and Ninamaninja Kalpadukal (Blood-stained Steps),
Ponjikkara Rafi's Daivadoothan (The Angel) and
Lalithambika Antherjanam's Agnisakshi (Wintess by Fire), a
milestone work, written toward the end of her writing career; she
harmonized both the spiritual and the social realms in this
novel, as did the other thoughtful Progressives who allowed
themselves to be transformed by new ideas and voices.
There is also a transitional
generation of younger novelists who distance themselves from the
Progressives. The best representative of this generation is M. T.
Vasudevan Nair whose novels, Kalam (Time) Nalukettu
(The Mansion) and Manj (Mist) are profound explorations of
the northern Kerala characters startled by the abrupt changes in
the traditional way of life. Equally important are his short
stories and screenplays and his work as the editor of the
foremost literary weekly Mathrubhumi. N. P. Muhammad's
Arabiponnu (Arab Gold), Unnikrishnan Puthur's Anappaka
(The Elephantine Revenge), the psychological novelist, the late-Vilasini's
4000-page, four volume modern-day-Mahabharata called
Avakasikal (The Claimants), Malayatoor's Verukal
(Roots) C. Radhakrishanan's Ellam Mayikunna Kadal,the
various novels of G.
Vivekanandan, E. Vasu, G. N. Panikkar, Perumbadavam Sreedharan,
Joseph Mattom, Vettoor Raman Nair, Pamman, V. T. Nandakumar, P.
Valsala (Nellu and Agneyam), and K. Surendran's
Kattu Kurangu (The Wild Ape) are among the best works in a
vast category of authors
The Postmodernism
and the Prose Writers
A literary historian who
categorizes the writers of twentieth century will have to
re-label the Progressives into Modernists. Their world-view and
their realistic style make them part of a broader phenomenon of
modernity through which, writers and thinkers around the world
have tried to move away from the traditional cultural paradigms
into the certainties of the age of the scientific temper. While,
in modernity, such notions as democracy, socialism, global market,
empiricism, rationalism, nationalism, existentialism and other
beliefs construct its certainties, in post-modernism, at least in
its literary version, the
writers tend to subvert some of these certainties from within.
Post-modernism in the West
is primarily an engagement with form, but in Malayalam, besides
its subversion of form, novelists and poets appear to be
reinstating some of the irrationalities and tribalisms that
modernism worked so hard to get rid of. In many ways, this trend
is an extension of social postmodernity. The persistence of
caste-consciousness, the puzzling coexistence of tribalism and
individualism, the ascent of consumerism and liberalization of
capitalist enterprise, the rise of religious fundamentalism, the
decline of the left, various anxieties about the future of
modernity and nationality (all these are seen from the region,
from Kerala's peripheral position) are factors that are yet to be
played out fully. However, the immediate trajectory for
postmodernist writing has been the habitualization of modern
literary forms (socialist realism). Among the more profound
cultural reasons we can include the general breakdown of
idealism, the excesses of political organizations (Marxist party,
the Naxalites) and the rise of communal and fascist organizations.
Two
Postmodernists: O. V. Vijayan and Zacharia.
The central figure in the
post-modernist generation is O.V. Vijayan. He confronts the
Marxist party on a regular basis as he confronted early on the
preeminent socialist realist Kesav Dev about his generation's
outmoded aesthetics and their suspicion toward the expressions of
the younger generation. It must be remembered that in both cases
it was the younger modernist revolting against the older
modernist on issues of form and content, literary and social.
Vijayan, who is also one of
the leading English language cartoonists in India, exploded into
the literary scene with his dark, brooding, profoundly unsettling
novel, Khasakkinte Ithihasam (The Legends of Khasak, 1965, 1994).
His writing was immediately identified as athyadunikam
(ultramodern) as the term "postmodern" had not come into vogue in
the critical vocabulary in Malayalam. Vijayan continued to write
masterly short stories and social critiques until the National
Emergency in 1975, when his second novel, the scatalogical
masterpiece Dharmapuranam (The Saga of Dharmapuri) was prevented
from publication. Dharmapuranam seems to have been influenced by
the existentialists as well as by Jonathan Swift and Laurence
Sterne, but his vision and style in general spring out of the
archetypal experience of the pre- modern India, vestiges of which
have managed to survive in the remote village and tribal cultures
of Kerala.
It was the nascent
postmodernist sensibility that enabled him to bring out the
essence of the pre-modern in a scorching, flaming narrative
style, much to the confusion of the modern Progressives who
claimed certainty in the matters of life and art. His dissent to
modernism was evident in his early short stories and parodies. For
instance, in the story "The Progressive Classic" a woman sitting
under the full moon asks her beloved: "Darling...have you read
Karl Marx's Das Kapital?" As the man begins to undo the woman's
blouse, she insists they read The Das Kapital right away. The
author asks us to fill in the blanks with the four volumes of
Marx, claiming that it would make his short story the lenghtiest
socialist-realist novel.
O.V. Vijayan has remained a
thoroughly Indian writer by sustaining a certain continuity of
the tradition established by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. This he
achieves through delving deeper into the subcultures and the
subtle dialectal variations of Malayalam and simultaneously
connecting his work to the postmodern condition. Ravi, the young
protagonist in Khasakinte Ithihasam, is an educated young man who
loses himself in an isolated village where he volunteers to teach
in an elementary school. Earlier he had fled from the octopus
clasp of modernity: city, college, intellecutal life, a future
career as an astrophysicist in the United States. When the village
falls apart on account of the intrusion of the outside world, Ravi
departs, seeing himself as an intruder, but as he waits for the
bus to take him back to the city, he allows a snake to bite him.
At the close of the novel we still see him awaiting his final
journey. In his 1986 memoir about the writing of Khasakinte
Ithihasam, Vijayan has explained that his art has nothing to do
with Western forms or existentialist philosophy as has been
suggested, and that he receives his sustenance from post-
Independence Indian realities. This intentional rejection of
Western modernity is actually a mark of Malayalam postmodernism.
Another significant
postmodernist writer is Zacharia whose style and posture are also
comparable to the work of the novelist Basheer. Zacharia's tightly
drawn short stories possess a Borgesian inventiveness and the
precision of Flannery O' Connor. The self-conscious narratorial
voice in his stories parades and parodies several recognizable
styles, often within a single sentence. At the end of each story,
he manages to collapse the whole edifice with an naughty nudge.
His collections, Oridath (1978) and Arkariyam (1986) also provide
a unique Syrian Christian texture to his stories. His characters
are modern individuals like Mr.Chacko who has all the trappings of
a Westernized pseudo-intellectual, but he also possesses a
postmodernist sense of entrapment in the labyrinth of Indian
culture which convinces Mr.Chacko to commit suicide, but he
fails: he couldn't quite open the poison bottle no matter how
hard he tried. So he is condemned to live!
Zacharia's famous novella "Bhaskara
Pattelar and My Life" (made into a film, Vidheyan, by Adoor
Gopalakrishnan) provides us insights into his constant and
evolving themes as the servile narrator lives his life to quench
the master's ruthless thirst for violence and deprivation. In
spite of his introspective awareness about serving the devil, the
narrator (like the fascist's butler in Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains
of the Day) cannot act as a conscientious individual until the
master is murdered, which leaves the servile man rather perplexed
by the newly gained freedom.
The category of modernists
and post-modernists encompasses a large number of poets,
novelists, short story writers, critics and historians. Among the
most significant contemporary fiction writers who are making
lasting contributions include Madhavikutty (Manasi), Anand
(Alkoottam, Marana Certificate, Marubhmikal Undavunnathu), Sethu (Pandava
Puram), Punathil Kunjabdulla, (Smaraka Shilakal, Marunnu),
Kakanadan (Ushna Mekhala, Parankimala, Arudeyo Oru Nagaram), M.
Mukundan, (Mayyazhippuzhayude Thirangalil, Elokam Athil Orun
Manushyan), Padmarajan (Nakshatrangale Kaval), M. P. Narayana
Pillai (Parinamam), V.K.N (Pithamahan and Payyan Kathakal),
C.V.Balakrishnan (Ayusinte Pusthakam), V.P. Sivakumar (Thiruvithamcore
Kathakal), N. Prabhakaran, P. Surendran, Gracy (Padiyirangippoya
Parvathi), Sarah Joseph, (Papathara), U.A Khader, (Khuraissikoottam)
K.L.Mohana Varma (Ohari). A list of important emerging writers to
watch for in the years to come include Nalini Bakal, Unnikrishnan
Thiruvazhyodu, Madambu Kunhikuttan, K. B. Sridevi, M. D. Ratnamma,
Sarah Thomas, T. V. Varkey, Aymanam John, T.V. Kochubava,
Harikumar, N. S. Madhavan, V. G. Maramuttam, U. K. Kumaran,
Jayanarayanan, C. V. Sreeraman, Ipe Paramel, Vaikom Chithrabhanu,
P. T. Rajalakshmi, Victor Lenus, Thomas Joseph (Chitrasalabhangalude
Kappal), George Joseph K., Chandramathi, V.R. Sudheesh, Akbar
Kakkattil, N.P. Hafeez Muhammad, Ashokan Cherivil, Shihabuddin
Poithumkadavu.
Women Writing in
the Age of Modernity and Postmodernity
A great many of the good
modernist and postmodernist fiction and poetry published over the
second half of the century has been by women, mostly upper caste
women and Christians. During the first half of the century,
fiction writers like Lalithambika Antherjanam, K. Saraswati Amma,
Annie Thayyil, and poets like Balamani Amma, Mary John Thottam
(Sister Beninga), Mary John Koothattukulam, Muthukulam Parvathi
Amma had emerged as major figures in a largely upper caste, male
dominated world of Malayalam literature. Even Christian and Muslim
male writers did not find favorable critical attention because
cultural production was monopolized too long by the upper caste
Hindus.
When Kattakkayam Cheriyan
Mappila published his great epic on the life of Christ (Sreeyesu
Vijayam), the critical establishment mocked the work, saying
that in the manner a water snake might be called the king of
snakes in an abandoned pond Kattakkayam may be a Kalidas of the
Christians! Women writers faced exclusionism of the worst kind:
the social structure simply didn't allow them to write, for they
had "no room of their own" to engage in creative act. However,
Kavitharamam (1929), a collection of poems by a Catholic nun
named Sister Mary Beninga became a best-seller (over one hundred
thousand copies) and one of the poems in the collection "Lokame
Yatra" (Farewell, World), a brooding, funereal poem justifying her
decision to abandon the material world in favor of the cloister
remains a classic of among the Romantic poems.
Of the women writers who
persisted in their calling in spite of the oppressive environment,
Lalithambika Antherjanam (1909-1987) and Madhavikutty are the best
examples of a fulfilled literary career. Lalithambika's last name
"Antherjanam" (those who live inside the house) offers us a
clue about the level of social incarceration women faced in her
orthodox Brahmin community, but she was fortunate to be born in a
Gandhiyan family actively involved in fighting the many social and
political battles of the day.
Even after her marriage to a
farmer with whom she raised a large family, she was able to pursue
her career in fiction and to emerge as one of the greatest writers
of the century. She published her first collection of stories in
1937 and followed it up with a wide range of books in different
genres, culminating with her most famous novel Agnisakshi
(Witness by Fire), which appeared as late as 1976. From the
romanticism of her early poetry, she quickly switched to a realist
mode at the time of the Progressive Writers and became known for
her craft of the short story, which retained the stylistic
elegance and control of her poetry and brought in new elements of
anger and commitment.
Her work provided insights
into the many levels of alienation women of her powerful orthodox
community experienced, much of it resulting from pointless rituals
and the burden of tradition and caste which served only the
family patriarch and harmed practically everybody else. In the
wake of social modernity, the Brahmin community lost much of its
power and the Kerala society as a whole became radicalized in
conjunction with the nationalist struggle. Large scale women's
participation in the Gandhiyan movement helped to bring more women
into the public culture, particularly into the political, literary
and academic fields. The transformation was not always easy.
The case of Rajalakshmi
(1930-1965) illustrates the persistence of the suffocating
domestic milieu a woman has to encounter in spite of the fact that
Kerala is now known for its traditional acceptance of women's
equality, its matrilineal heritage, the history of women's
participation in education and politics, and its commendable
male-female ratio. Rajalakshmi wrote about father-daughter
relationships and the choking effects patriarchal figures could
have upon women, particularly those who were accomplished and
imaginative. The serial publication of her novel Uchaveyilum
Ilam Nilavum (Midday Sun and Tender Moonlight) was cancelled
because of protest from readers who found her attack on the
hypocrisy of idealist men too close to home. She found it
impossible to continue her writing career and took her life. K.
Saraswati Amma (1919-1975), the author of Purushanmarillatha
Lokam (A World without Men), did not take her life, but she
lived single and isolated, her work applauded only after her
death. Her last book Cholamarangal was published in 1958 and
virtually disappeared from the scene.
The most important feminist
writer to emerge in the last thirty years is Madhavikutty (Kamala
Das), who is known nationally for her profoundly feminine, lyrical
English poetry and for her short stories in Malayalam. Like
Lalithambika Antherjanam, she comes from a distinguished literary
family of northern Kerala. Her mother Balamani Amma is one of
major poets of her generation
The late-Romantic poet and
translator Nalapatt Nayaraya Menon was her maternal granduncle.
However, it was her marriage and urban experience living in
Calcutta and Bombay that inspired her work in English and
Malayalam. She began publishing fiction in the mid-60s with such
collections as Mathilukal, Oru Pakshiyude Manam, Thanuppu
and immediately she was received as one of the key figures in the
"ultramodern" (postmodern) literary movement, but it was her
controversial memoir Ente Katha, published in both
Malayalam and English (My Story, 1975) that brought her
national attention, and some international notoriety (Time
magazine featured her as an Indian confessional writer).
The memoir was a watershed
event for the women writers in Kerala as the work made it possible
for women to write more candidly about sexuality as a structure of
oppression. Over a decade after Ente Katha, Madhavikutty
followed it up with Balyakala Smaranakal (1987) and
Nirmathalam Poothakalam (1994); the three memoirs are
increasingly perceived as documents about constructing a feminist
self. Though written in a gentle, lyrical style, her memoirs are
charged with much rebellious anger aimed at her aristocratic
background and at many of the illustrious literary and cultural
figures born in her ancestral family. In her short stories and
novellas, she discusses women's inner lives in an age when their
traditional lifestyle has been altered radically in the wake of
social modernity. Many women who grew up in the dual worlds of
tradition and modernity increasingly found themselves vulnerable
and unprepared to face the world which is still controlled by
patriarchal values.
In terms of her double
existence as a bilingual writer who also runs for election and
participates in the active public culture of Kerala, Madhavikutty
is a product of postmodernity and postcoloniality, whereas
Lalithambika Antherjanam wrote as a consummate modernist who
possessed many certainties and convictions about the condition of
women who were under the yoke of a male-dominated tradition and
hypocrisy. In these final years of the century, many new women
writers of fiction and poetry have begun to publish their first
books and their works are characterized by gender consciousness
and the politics of desire; they are also conscious of the
metafictionality of their work. The short- short stories of Gracy
(Padiyirangippoya Parvathy) is a case in point. In her
one-page story about the Parable of the Sower, Gracy brings in a
broad narrative context of contemporary drug culture and the
psuedo-religious cults of westernized gurus. The guru quotes the
biblical parable, but his disciples fall at his feet, asking for
the esoteric meaning of the parable.
The guru tells them: "We
are the sowers. The seeds sown into barren women are eaten away by
their barrenness. Virgins abort the seeds before they begin to
sprout. Seeds sown in whores are choked by the pills they take.
But, alas, it is the seeds sown in thy neighbor's wife that
sprouts and come to fruition."
In a short story called "Maranantharam"
(After the Death), the narrator, a young woman who has committed
suicide, begins to chastise all those hypocrites who wait around
her coffin, mourning for her. She opens her eyes and then asks her
father why he was struggling so to pretend sorrow. The question
makes him withdraw from the scene. To her lazy brother she says,
go on eating and sleeping, for my share of land is now secure in
your hands. After talking likewise to all her relatives, she sees
her lover, who kissed her and pretended much love, but when he got
a job, he wished to go separate ways. She speaks out to him and to
all the other mourners: "You're all nobody for me. Why go on
pretending sorrow? Please, shut my coffin and go." The longer
pieces in the collection also have layers and layers of sarcasm
and irony and gender conscious critique of the lingering power of
traditional ways to force women to internalize their rebellion
instead of bringing it out into the public as we see in the voice
of the suicide.
The future looks very
promising for women writers of poety and fiction, and
already, some of the best writing in Malayalam are done by gender
conscious women writers. Besides, the woman writer of today is an
active public figure as we see in the case of the poet Sugatha
Kumari, who has become the pre-eminent voice against environmental
exploitation in India. In her famous poem Ratrimazha (Night
Rain), she merges the private and the public, and in much of her
work we hear a woman's lamentation as she immerses her whole being
into the metaphor of nature that is being driven to the brink of
death. The novelist Sarah Joseph is involved with the feminist
movement and P. Vatsala's fiction seldom deviates from the social
and political context of women, tribals, and the Kerala working
class. Similarly, the poet, O. V. Usha, like her contemporaries
Sugatha Kumari, Kadammanitta, Chullikad, exemplifies the unique
postmodern sensibility in Malayalam poety by attempting to link
the mystical and modern, political and domestic, philosophical and
religious to capture the puzzle of human experience in the second
half of the century.
Revolutionary Theater and
Theater Revolution
Though Sanskrit literature had a distinguished dramatic
literature, and the ancient school of Sanskrit plays known as
Trivandrum Plays were written by playwrights from different
regions of Kerala, theater in modern Malayalam literature did not
begin to flourish until late into the nineteenth century.Since the
dominant Hindu culture had elaborate traditions of temple theater
such as Koodiyattam, Thullal and Kathakali, realistic drama failed
to receive respectability or audience. The Portuguese contact had
helped the development of a Christian theater and the Christians
who lived primarily in central Kerala staged plays on the history
of Charlemagne, Jacob of the Old Testament, and on the lives of
various saints. Most churches produced passion plays and gospel
enactments which went unnoticed by the mainstream culture.
Only after Valia Koyil Thampuran's translation of Kalidasa's
Sakuntala (1882) did drama begin to get the proper attention of
Malayalam writers. The Kalidasa play set off a stream of
translations and borrowings from Sanskrit and English, and
following Varghese Mappilai's adaptation in 1893 of Taming of the
Shrew, Shakespeare plays began to appear. The novelist C. V. Raman
Pillai also produced adaptations of English neo-classical dramas
of Sheridan and Goldsmith. His Kurupilla Kalari (A Chaotic Place,
1909)) provided a model for the future development of comedy, and
E. V. Krishna Pillai's farces filled the lacuna of a dramatic
tradition in Malayalam.
At this point, Thottakkat Ikkavamma, the first woman dramatist in
Malayalam, introduced her play Subhadrarjunam with a proclamation
that it was not to the glory of the Muse that women were
incompetent in writing plays. With the rise of Communism, drama
became popular as an expression of the revolutionary zeal of the
emerging political culture. The Progressive writers were at the
vanguard of the new theater movement. With Thoppil Bhasi's
socialist realist play Ningalenne Kammunistakki (You Made Me A
Communist, 1952) performed by the Kerala People's Arts Club in
every village and town in the state, Malayalam theater came of
age. And it was C. J. Thomas who ushered in the modernist phase
with his Avan Vintum Varunnu! (Behold! He Comes Again, 1949) and
Crime 27 (1954). Krishna Pillai's adaptation of Ibsen, especially
in his Bhagna Bhavanam (Broken Home) helped the refinement of the
theater and led to further adaptations and translations from
Continental Drama.
With the enormous success of a dozen plays written and produced by
N. N. Pillai (Easwaran Arrestil, God Under Arrest, 1967), the
psychological and existential drama became a dominant part of
Malayalam literature. With Thoppil Bhasi, N. N. Pillai, and K. T.
Muhammad, touring theater companies became a major cultural factor
in Kerala, but in the late 60s, the artistic theater declined with
the rise of the popular, commercialized theater, performed by
groups like Alleppey Theaters and Kalanilayam and by dozens of
smaller professional and amateur companies located throughout the
state. That most of these performing groups are still patronized
by Hindu temples and church organizations explains the general
weakness of modern Malayalam drama.
Other important playwrights of the mid-century include Ponkunnam
Varkey, C. N. Srikantan Nair, Kainikkara Kumara Pillai,
Thikodeeyan, Idassery, T.N. Gopinathan Nair, K. T. Muhammad, P. R.
Chandran, C. L. Jose. Though television and the film industry have
weakened the theater, a new wave of post-modernist drama has begun
to take root rivaling the mainstream theater. Again, like the
fiction writers and poets, their formal approach is determined by
a new anchoring in pre-colonial cultural forms, reinterpreted for
a world that has lost much of the certainties of modernism. This
new generation is led by G. Sankara Pillai, Vayala Vasudevan
Pillai, Vasu Pradeep, Kadavoor Chandran Pillai, S. Ramesan Nair,
Narendra Prasad and Kavalam Narayana Panickar. They have begun to
re-link theater with Kerala's ancient traditions of ritual
theater.
Theater has been used by promoters of scientific temper, extremist
socialist groups, and more importantly by Malayalam speaking
people settled elsewhere--the post-modern reality of geopolitical
displacement to other parts of India, and in the United States and
Arab countries. A fatwa was declared upon an amateur group that
performed in Abu Dhabi, for daring to portray Mohammad in a play
along with Jesus and Buddha and other religious figures. The
entire cast has been jailed; the playwright Vayala Vasudevan
Pillai who lives in Kerala has allegedly denied its authorship. In
the past decade the state government has banned the production of
several plays in Kerala, the most recent one being P. M. Antony's
adaptation in 1986 of The Last Temptation of Christ.
Criticism, Theory and Other Prose Writings
We discussed the influence of criticism and aesthetic theory (M.
P. Paul, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai and Joseph Muntasseri) upon
modern writers who came to be known as the Progessives. Critical
activity at the turn of the twentieth century was limited to
delineations of two primary Indian classical notions of rasa
(mood, aesthetic pleasure, reader response) and dhvani
(suggestion, tone, intentionality) and their variants anumanam,
riti, alamkaram, gunam, ouchityam, and vakrokthi codified in
classical Sanskrit texts composed between sixth and seventeenth
centuries.
Even after the flood of European criticism, a small group of
critics has continued to write primarily on the basis of Indian
literary theories. The best example of such an approach is
Kuttikrishna Marar whose classical scholarship and dense
Sanskritized prose performance, notably in his 1950 classic
Bharatha Paryadanam (A Journey Through Mahabharatha) dazzled
readers and elevated the status of critical writing. His works
such as Sahitya Vidya (on literary technique), Hasasahityam (on
humor), and his selected critical essays Kala Jeevithan Thanne (on
the purpose of literature) have enabled Malayalam literature to
keep itself grounded in the Indian traditions. A writer with
greater range in both Indian and European traditions is
Nityachaitanya Yati. Among his dozens of philosophical works, his
two critiques of Kumaran Asan's poetry, Nalini Enna Kavya Shilpam
and Duravastha: Oru Patanam demonstrate the continuing relevance
of the Indian aesthetic approach.
As a continuation of the legacy of both the critical traditions, a
new generation of younger critics capable of developing a
postmodern critical practice seem to be emerging. They seem to be
attempting to harmonize the Western avant-garde criticism and the
Indian traditional aesthetics to create a new critical
methodology. Notable among this group is Asha Menon. And, a few
new critics like R. Vishwanathan, V.C.Sreejan, P. P. Ravindran,
and V.C. Harris have begun to explore our literature and culture
in the context of postmodernist, post-colonial world writing.
Major Critics and Prose Writers
A survey of a century of critical prose in Malayalam should at
least name the following writers and the areas they have enriched:
Sardar K. M. Panikker's work in politics and the history of
Western dominance is internationally known. The prolific
historical and philosophical output of the Marxist leader E.M.S.
Namboothiripad and K. Damodaran will continue to have national
relevance. The Montaignesque essays of Sanjayan and E.V.Krishna
Pillai will go down in literary history as the best prose works of
the century. Kottarathil Sankunni's eight-volume work on Kerala
mythology and Vettom Mani's voluminous philological and
lexicographical works will be difficult to replace. The
philosophical work of Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal, and
Nityachaitanya Yati will become part of our great tradition. Among
those who made lasting contributions to criticism and prose
writings, the following writers deserve mention: P.K. Parameswaran
Nair's biographies of Gandhi and Voltaire, I. C. Chacko's work on
linguistics, K. P. Kesava Menon's life of Christ, Mathew
Kuzhiveli's work on children's literature, Dr. K. Raghavan
Pillai's work on existentialism, M. Achuthan's monumental studies
in the Western literary theory and the history of the short story
in Malayalam, Prof. K. M. Tharakan's work on the novel, M.
Mukundan's essays on modernism, K. T. Rama Varma's historical
survey of Western Art, Ayyappa Paniker's collections of essays on
English and Malayalam literature, Sukumar Azhikode's work on
literature and Vedanta, Dr. S. K. Nair's literary memoirs, Dr. K.
M. George's philological studies and comparativist approach to
Indian regional literatures, Sebastian Kappen's seminal book on
liberation theology for the Indian context, K. Venu's theoretical
speculations on a Marxist-Leninist revolution for the Kerala
working class, Ajitha's memoir about her failed experiments with
that revolution, K. P. Appan's provocative essays on European
modernist writers, P. K. Balakrishnan's critical works on Western
novel and Kerala historiography, Ponjikkara Rafi and Sabina Rafi's
reflections on counterculture, Chummar Chundal's work on folklore,
Krishna Chaitanya's monumental literary histories and cultural
critiques, the psychological criticism of M. Lilavathy,
Satchidanadan's essays on neo-Marxist aesthetics and modern
literary and cultural theory, and of course, the personality of
Prof. M. Krishnan Nair, the columnist who has been publishing a
weekly almanac of the literary world for over a quarter of
century. He has been provoking writers and entertaining readers by
writing off the week's literary output after comparing them with
his usual touchstones: Borges, Garcia-Marquez, Foucault, and Carl
Jung. Though he is an enemy of every writer in the land, his
column, albeit its glibness, has brought Malayalam readers and
writers closer to an awareness of our existence as part of two
larger categories, Indian Literature and World Literature.
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Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1977.
Madhavikutty. Neermathalam
Poothakalam. Kottayam: D. C. Books, 1994.
Maramuttam, V. G. Anantham.
Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1994.
Marar, Kuttikrishna.
Bharathaparyadanam. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1950.
Kala Jeevitham Thanne.
Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1965.
Terenjedutha Prabandhangal
(Selected Essays). Trichur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1990.
Mar Gregorios, Paulose.
Darsanathinte Pookkal. Kottayam: Current Books, 1992.
Menon, Asha.
Kaliyugaranyakangal. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1982.
Mukundan, M.
Mayyazhipuzhayude Theerangalil. Kottayam: National Book Stall,
1972.
Eelokam Athil Oru Manushyan.
Calicut: Purna Books, 1992.
Adityanum, Radhayum, Mattu
Chilarum. Kottayam: D.C. Books, 1993.
Muntasseri, Josep.
Professor. Trichur: Mangalodayam, 1946.
Nair, Parameswaran P. K.
Malayala Sahitya Charithram. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1977.
Padmanabhan, T. Sakshi. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1973.
Prakasam Parathunna Oru
Penkutti. Kottayam: Current Books, 1993.
Panicker, Ayyappa. Selected
Poems of Ayyappa Panicker. Trivandrum: Modern Book Center, 1985.
Paul, M.P. Novelsaahityam.
Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1963. Rajakrishnan, V.
Rogathinte Pookkal. Kottayam: National
Book Stall, 1979.
Sachidanandan. Anchu Suryan.
Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1971.
Satchidananthante
Thiranjedutha Kavithakal. Kottayam: Little Prince, 1981.
Kavithayum Janathayum.
Kottayam: D. C. Books, 1982.
.Evanekoodi. Kottayam: D.C.
Books,
Sankarakurup, G. Odakuzhal.
Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1950.
Selected Poems. Trans. T. C.
Sankara Menon. Trichur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1978.
Sankunni, Kottarathil.
Eithihyamaala. 1909-34. 8 vols. Kottayam: Current Books, 1992.
Sreejan, V.C. Ya Devee
Sarvabhudeshu. Calicut: Mulberry Publications, 1992.
Chintayile Roopakangal.
Kannur: Sameeksha, 1991.
Surendran, K. Sathyamapriyam.
Kottayam: D.C. Books, 1944.
Thakazhi, Sivasankara Pillai.
Chemmen. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1956.
Chemmeen. Trans. Narayana
Menon. UNESCO Indian Translation Series. New York: Harper, 1962.
Thottiyude Makan. Trichur:
Mangalodayam, 1947. Scavanger's Son. Trans. R. E. Asher. London:
Heinemann, 1993. ---.
Randitangazhi. Trichur:
Mangalodayam, 1948.
Enippatikal. Kottayam:
National Book Stall, 1966.
Kayar. Kottayam: D. C.
Books, 1982.
Oru Kuttanadan Katha.
Kottayam: D.C. Books, 1992.
Ullur, Parameswara Iyer.
Bhaktidipika. Trivandrum: Ullur Publishers, 1973.
English Essays and Poems of
Mahakavi Ulloor. Ed. N. Vishwanathan. Trivandrum: University of
Kerala Department of Publications, 1978.
Vallathol, Narayana Menon.
Achanum Makalum. Cheruthuruthi: Vallathol Grandhalayam, 1973.
Sahityamanjari. 3 vols.
Cheruthuruthi: Vallathol Grandhalayam, 1963.
Selected Poems. Trans. from
the original by Ayyappa Panicker, et al. Ed. K. M. Tharakan.
Trichur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 1978.
Vasudevan Nair, M. T.
Therenjedutha Kathakal (Selected Short Stories). Trichur: Current
Books, 1968.
Nalukettu. Kottayam:
National Book Stall, 1958.
Vijayan, O. V. Khasakkinte
Ithihasam. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1969. The Lengends of
Khasak. Trans. by the author. New Delhi: Penguin, 1994.
Dharmapuranam. Kottayam: D.
C. Books, 1985. The Saga of Dharmapuri. Trans. by the Author. New
Delhi: Penguin, 1988.
Ithihasathinte Ithihasam.
Kottayam: D. C. Books, 1986.
After the Hanging and Other
Stories. Trans. by the Author. New Delhi: Penguin, 1989.
Vilasini, M. K. Menon.
Avakasikal. 4 vols. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1980.
Vinayachandran, D. Narakam
Oru Premakavitha Ezhuthunnu. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1991.
Yati, Nityachaitanya.
Bharathiya Manasastrathinu Oramukham. Kottayam: Current Books,
1988.
Zacharia. Oridathu:
Zachariayude Kathakal. Kottayam: National Book Stall, 1978.
Bhaskara Pattelar and Other
Stories. Trans. Gita Krishnankutty, A. J. Thomas, and the author.
Madras: Manas Books, 1994.
Arkariyam. Kottayam:
Kottayam: Current Books, 1986.
Govindam Bhajah Modamathe:
Kottayam: D. C. Books, 1994.
Salaam America. Kasargode:
Kurukshethram, 1994.
Praise the Lord. Kottayam:
D.C. Books, 1996.
.Enthundu Vishesham
Pilathose? Kottayam: D.C. Books, 1996.
Budhanum Njanum. Kozhikode:
Mulberry, 1997.
A Note on Malayalam
publishing : Though Kerala has an active publishing culture,
several bibliographical problems still persist, most importantly a
lack of consistency in citing sources; writers tend to avoid
citations in general. The most important publishing phenomenon of
the century was the formation of Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana
Sangham (SPCS), an authors' co-operative with its network of
bookstores all over Kerala, (National Book Stall). SPCS remains a
significant publishing house even though D.C Books, owned by D.C.
Kizhakemuri, one of the founders of SPCS, has emerged as an equal,
if not a superior force, with the purchase of the esteemed Current
Books and other smaller imprints. In spite of the decline of the
Kerala Library Movement, which arranged funds for village
libraries throughout the
state, the strength of book publishing is evident in the number of
houses in business. Among
the following list of active publishers, many have come to
prominence in the past decade:
Mulberry, Purna, Prabhath, Vidyarthi Mithram, Chinta, Deepika,
CICC, Kairali Book Trust,
Mathrubhumi, Sahitya Akademi, Jeevan, Janatha, CLS, Kerala Bhasha
Institute, P.K. Brothers, Vidyarambham, D.C.Books, Current, and
SPCS. The top two publishers bring
out an average of two hundred titles a year. SPCS (National Book
Stall) is said to be giving
35% royalty to its authors, but it is unlikely that more than a
dozen writers in Kerala make a
living out of their vocation. Almost all the novels, stories, and
poems first appear in such
commercial periodicals as Mathrubhumi, Kalakaumudi, India Today,
Kumkumam, Deshabhimani, Chandrika, Kerala Sabdam, Manorama Weekly,
Bhashaposhini, Mangalam,
Manorajyam, Deepika, Vanitha before they are released as books,
mostly in trade paperback
format. Some of the low-brow periodicals serialize as many as ten
novels simultaneously.
Children's publishing and religious publishing are also important
elements of the book
industry in Kerala.
Jeffrey, Robin. 1976. The
Decline of Nayar Dominance: Society and Politics in
Travancore, 1847-1908. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
_____. 1978. Travancore: status, class and the growth of radical
politics, 1860-1940
-- the temple-entry movement. In People, Princes and Paramount
Power: Society and
Politics in the Indian Princely States, ed. Robin Jeffrey, 136-69.
Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Namboodiripad, E. M. S.
1976. How I Became a Communist. Trivandrum: Chinta
Publishers.
_____. [1967] 1984. Kerala Society and Politics: An Historical
Survey. New Delhi:
National Book Centre.
Nossiter, T. J. 1982.
Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
_____. 1988. Marxist State Governments in India. London: Pinter
Publishers.
Panikkar, K. N. 1989. Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant
Uprisings in
Malabar, 1836-1921. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Other Scholarly Publications:
Mappila Muslims of Kerala; A
Study in Islamic Trends by Roland E. Miller
Islamic society on the South Asian frontier : the
Mεappilas of Malabar,
1498-1922 by Stephen Frederic Dale
Knowledge Before Printing
and After : The Indian Tradition in Changing Kerala
by Ananda Wood
Hindu-Muslim Relations in
North Malabar, 1498-1947 by Theodore Gabriel
This article was
published in Kerala Journal ShelterBelt. Dr.
Thomas Palakeel teaches courses in creative writing, advanced
expository writing, Literatures of Asia as well as courses in
British Literature. His current research interests include
postcolonial literatures and theory, regional literatures in the
era of global popular culture, Malayalam language and Kerala
history, autobiographical writings, and the future of narrative in
the age of cyberspace.
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