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Receiving
the Sahitya Akademi Award in Delhi |
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Portrait
displayed at the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Thrissur, Kerala |
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Waiting
for the ferryman. In one of his late poems the Poet portrays death as the veritable
ferryman. |
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With
family of Mahakavi G. Sankarakurup, the Gyanpith Award
winning Poet. |
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With
Mahakavi
P.Kunhiraman Nair, a great poet and contemporary
of Edasseri |
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During a
grand reception given to Edasseri on his 60th birthday.
Around him are his contemporaries in the literary field. |
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With his
closest friend and well-known novelist and broadcaster
Uroob,
in the fiftees. |
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With
his wife Janaki Amma when they visited Agra
in 1970 |
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Prof. M. Achyuthan
, Mahakavi Akkitham and M.T. Vasudevan Nair at
the release of Edasseri's Complete Poetic Works. |
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Another
photo during the 60th birthday celebrations in 1966.Almost all leading Malayalam writers and
intellectuals took part in the 3-day seminar. |
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An artists view of the Edasseri Centenary
Hall and Research Center. The design and dimensions are subject to change. |
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A Monument for Edasseri
Govindan Nair,
the Great Malayalam Poet & Playwright
Edasseri
Govindan Nair (Edasseri, as he was known) was a
poet, playwright and thinker in Kerala, a state situated in
the south-west Indian frontier. The state is enveloped by the
Arabian sea on the west and south and mountainous ranges of
Western Ghats along the east and north. Popularly known as “Gods
Own Land” the state is well endowed with natural and human
resources. The state had also been in the forefront of various
intellectual epochs in history and had given birth to the greats
like Sankaracharya, the spiritual apostle of Adwaita, Sree
Narayana Guru, the great Guru and social revolutionary, Swathi
Thirunal the great composer of Karnatic music,
Raja Ravi Varma, who invoked the Goddess of Art with his
brush and colors, Vallathol, a great poet, who conceptualized and
indeed nurtured Kathakali, a world famous dance form - to mention
a few. Edasseri (1906-1974)
lived his life in this state and imbibed the rich tradition and
culture of the land.
Admirers
of Edasseri have come under the banner of
a society christened as Edasseri Smaraka Samithi to
commemorate the birth centenary of the poet falling in the
year 2006. As part of the celebrations, a series of activities
have been planned including
seminars, poetry recitals, presentation of drama etc. But the more
important and enduring tribute
to the poet’s memory is the ambitious plan to erect a memorial
building in the poet’s memory - a building which for generations
would provide a platform for understanding the poet’s work,
facilitate research work in Malayalam literature in general and
Edasseri’s works in particular. This memorial would foster
thoughts and activities which
would strengthen the poet’s humanistic ideals.
It is interesting to take stock of the poet’s work in so
far as they reflect the poet’s ideals.
Edasseri’s writings clearly brought out his belief in
the ultimate goodness of man.
He depicted in his plays and poems characters who were
strong, but capable of empathy
of epic proportions; villainous, but deserving one more chance in
the grand scheme of God. The poet never
ignored or “wrote- off” any person whether good or bad,
but tried to relate and represent them, as warp and weft,
in his humanistic beliefs. His poems reverberated the
concerns about industrialization, the inevitable environmental
disaster and human misery it portended. He was indeed a great
environmentalist even before
the term “Environmentalism” itself would have entered
the lexicon of nature lovers. Years before 'Feminism' became a
major subject of discussion among humanists, Edasseri wrote about
it, very powerfully of course. Edasseri was indeed a phenomenon and a more detailed account of him is available
Construction
of the above mentioned centenary building is estimated to cost
about Rs.4.0 million (approx. US$ 80,000/-).
This is too large an amount for the Society which is
organizing the centenary celebrations with the limited resources
it can command. In fact the dream to construct the building can be
realized only with the full support and donations from all those
who believe in the ideals of Edasseri. These ideals which have
added significance in the current phase of
globalization can be stated as :
(i)
Faith in the man’s capacity to dream and achieve a fair
and just society
(ii)
Environmental aspects of global survival
(iii)
Need to empathize with and support
social struggles against various kinds of oppression
(iv)
Respect for old myths, good social traditions and
a sense of continuity
in man’s progress and civilization
(v)
A Gandhian approach to development
(vi)
Support to science and technology tempered with concern for
their negative impact on man and society
How
the Centenary Building reflect Edasseri’s ideals
A. The Edasseri Centenary Building will
(i) house a
good library consisting of all important
reference books to facilitate research, predominantly in
literature, but also on areas related to environment, social and
economic impact of globalisation etc. which are in consonance with
Edasseri’s ideals (ii) provide all facilities for serious
research including tie-up
with various Universities.
B. Drama was close to the heart of Edasseri who has made
mighty contribution to the stage by producing some of best plays
in the language and also one-act
plays both on stage and over radio.
The centenary
building will be a
venue for active promotion
of Drama, both
as a literary specie and also a stage activity.
C. Edasseri firmly believed in the universality of human
intellect and emotions and felt that, at the basic levels, all
beings including humans, are capable of
communicating, understanding and empathizing with each
other. But according to Edasseri, human relations are
rendered complex by various divides like language, religion
and nationality. Any memorial for Edasseri has to reflect this
ideal by being supportive of all nationalities, religions and
languages.
D. Edasseri had placed particular emphasis on Hindu-Muslim
harmony and mutual respect. This will be a central theme in all
the activities to be undertaken at Edasseri Memorial.
All
who believe that the efforts described above merits support are
requested to send in their donations to
Mr.
P. Krishna Warriyar
Secretary, Edasseri Smaraka Samithi
Sukrutham
15th Street, Harinagar, Punkunnam
Thrissur 680002
India
Should
you need any further clarifications, please feel free to contact
us at:
secretary
or Mahakavi Akkitham (President), Devayanam, Kumaranellur,
Palakkad Dist, Kerala, India.
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