| The Main Page | NARAYANA GURU —
ANTHOLOGY P. K. Balakrishnan
Review as it appeared in The Hindu on 03/09/2002 http://www.thehindu.com/br/2002/09/03/stories/2002090300120303.htm SRI NARAYANA GURU is universally recognised as the most inspiring leader of the Renaissance movement that put Kerala ahead of the rest of India socially in the last century. A large body of writings by contemporaries on his life and work is available, but they remained strewn across the pages of many books and periodicals. In 1954, P. K. Balakrishnan , the noted writer and journalist, brought out an anthology drawing material from all available sources and supplementing it with contributions of his own. This is a comprehensive work that deals with all aspects of the Guru's work in a proper historical context. The contributors include C. Krishnan, K. Ayyappan, E. V. Krishna Pillai, Mannath Padmanabhan and others. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar makes an assessment of the Guru as "an acharya in the Hindu tradition". Balakrishnan's own contributions include life-sketches of associates of the Guru in the social reform movement, like P. Palpu, Kumaran Asan, C. Krishnan, T. K. Madhavan and C. V. Kunjuraman. The editor's observation that although caste prejudices have ended the Keralites' emotion life is being regulated in the old cellars still remains valid. B.R.P. BHASKAR A short description of the book can be found at |
