Honouring K. S. Venkataramani: An Appeal

HONOURING Sri K. S. VENKATARAMANI

AN APPEAL

The shashtiabdapoorthi of Sri K. S. Venkataramani, one of our foremost men of letters, falls on June 10. We feel that, for one who served his country and his generation eminently well in the cultural sphere, this auspicious occasion should be marked by fitting recognition at the hands of the public whom his writings in English and Tamil have delighted and edified for over three decades.

Though he was bred to the law and early achieved striking success, his aptitude for creative work and his zeal for public service combined to divert his energies into the channels of literature and serious journalism. His “Paper Boats”, in which the informal English essay was successfully grafted on to the authentic Indian tradition appeared in 1918 and won immediately the warm encomium of the discerning.  A year or two later he inaugurated Tamizh Ulagu which could well claim to be a pioneer in serious weekly journalism in Tamil. During its short life it steadily endeavoured to approach the study of public questions in a spirit of intellectual idealism and popularized an argumentative style which was dignified without being pedantic and familiar without being trite.

For over a quarter of a century Mr. Venkataramani laboured tirelessly as author and publicist, producing a quantity of work as distinguished by its variety and range as by the consistency of the vision it projected of the new India that was to emerge from the fire of sacrifice and struggle. In his novels “Murugan The Tiller” and “Kandan The Patriot” he recaptured the essence of our rural civilisation and the malaise of a transitional society not only with fidelity but with forward-looking faith. In his many short stories and sketches, in his Tamil periodical Bharata Mani which he conducted for over ten years at much loss, and in more systematic attempts, embodied in such books as ‘Renascent India’, to formulate plans for the good life, he strove with all his eloquence and skill to bring home to the common man the truth that political freedom must be trained towards constructive ends, so that it may flower in an integrated and fearless community life.

All his life Mr. Venkataramani has worked with no thought of reward. Authorship is a notoriously risky business in a country where till the other day publishing had not emerged as a profession and a book-buying public was hard to find. It could have no attractions for anyone who was not upborne by the self-sufficient joy of the craftsman and a lofty sense of mission. Besides, Mr. Venkataramani has not been content to preach. At considerable sacrifice he ran for many years an Ashrama in which he sought to give practical expression to his theories of education and rural uplift.

For some time now he has because of declining health, been living in retirement in his village home. We are sure that his numerous friends and admirers will be glad of this opportunity to honour, appropriately at this hour when free India confidently faces her future, one of her distinguished sons who has toiled without thought of self for her greater glory and whose writings have not only given pleasure to his countrymen but won them much esteem and goodwill in distant lands. May we appeal for liberal contributions, so that Mr Venkataramani’s shashtiabdapoorthi may be fittingly celebrated by the presentation to him of a substantial purse as a token of his countrymen’s appreciation and regard.

All contributions may be sent to: K. Chandrasekharan, Ashrama, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Madras-4.

C. P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR
K. SRINIVASAN
S. S. VASAN
C. R. SRINIVASAN
PAPPU SOMASUNDARAM
N. RAGHUNATHAN
A. N. SIVARAMAN
E. R. GOVINDAN
R. KRISHNAMURTHI (Kalki)
K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAU
KHASA SUBBA RAU