Kalki: An Estimate

By N. KAILASAM, M.A.

The last two months have witnessed the genuine grief of the entire Tamil people at the passing away of Kalki (Sri R. Krishnamurti who had endeared himself to them in many ways and was pre-eminent in the fields of journalism and literature. Though too near to him in point of time, I feel I was sufficiently remote from him in other respects to enable me to attempt an estimate of his position in the world of Tamil Letters.

Kalki’s literary career may be roughly divided into three periods. From the point of time and association, these maybe called the ‘pre-Anand a Vikatan’, the ‘Ananda Vikatan’ and the ‘Kalki’ days. From the literary angle, these periods might again be termed the period of preparation and apprenticeship, the period of great achievements, and the period of greater achievements and consolidation. Of these, the first was mainly taken up by his efforts towards popularising the constructive programme of Mahatma Gandhi in the South, though his literary output was not negligible.

Kalki’s activities with the pen covered a very wide range touching almost every known literary form, from a mere humorous sally to a novel of immense dimensions. These included, among others, essays in light and serious veins, art and literary criticism, biography, the short story, the lyric and the novel, and in each one of these he excelled.

But Kalki’s contribution to the cause of Tamil journalism and literature can be best understood only in the context of the circumstances that prevailed during his early days. When he entered the field, the periodical, as it is understood today, virtually had no existence. Towards the removal of each one of the factors that contributed to such a state–linguistic, psychological, political and social, he individually laboured more than any other. As this is untimely related to the bigger question of his contribution to Tamil literature, it will be dealt with at length.

When Kalki took up the pen, literature in Tamilnad was groping its way. The language, as the result of a neglect and a conservatism bordering on orthodoxy, was in a state of languor. The English educated section of the people looked upon every new venture with an air of contemptuous scepticism, which was equalled only by the ‘jealousy’ of the pandits. The early pioneers, of whom Kalki was the most notable, had to demonstrate to one section the great though latent potentialities of the language as an efficient medium of thought and communion in the modern world, and at the same time convince the other section that the language, though possessing an ancient literature, great and considerable must, to be alive, continually breathe the fresh air of constant association with the life of the people and be nourished by the live language and thoughts of the masses.

The output in Tamil prose upto the end of the last century could ill compare with that in other languages, or its own poetical one. Of course, as everywhere else, the reason was that prose suffered badly in comparison with poetry in respect of brevity and the possibility of easy committal to memory. But the predominant reason seems to have been a notion that the writing of prose called forno great gifts, or, if at all, only an inferior kind of gift. To get over this psychological ‘pull’, the few who tried their hands at prose made the style as strange and remote from life as poetry was in form. That is, what the piece lost in form, they hoped to make up in style. The result was a language stiff and formal; studied and artificial; hard upon the tongue and harsh upon the ear. By bringing the language of literature nearer the live language of the people and by giving it flexibility and strength, and simplicity and spontaneity, Kalki completed the task earlier begun by Bharati. Between them, these two great masters of prose and poetry, respectively, proved that there was almost nothing in the world of human thought and knowledge that could not be well and thoroughly expressed in Tamil, and what is more, in a manner understandable, and acceptable to all.

The Tamil Journal owes its present stature to a great extent to the efforts of Kalki. Kalki did not write, but spoke through the printed page to the people. His easy way of presenting the most difficult problems of the day gave the people of Tamilnad a grounding in the fundamentals of politics and economics, which enabled them to take their proper place in the national movement. Kalki realised to the full the potentialities of the serial story in enlisting and maintaining a flow of regular subscribers; and exploiting this to the full, he played the PiedPiper with his pen, turning the thousands of his readers into children at his heels. Following his example, many young and efficient writers have come up with the result that the periodical has become part ofthe scheme of things in every Tamil home, and the two journals in the shaping of which Kalki had no mean share, namely, the ‘Ananda Vikatan’ and the ‘Kalki’, together with the ‘Kalai Magal’ remain today the supreme expression of everyday life.

Inseparable from Kalki’s work as a journalist is his career as a pamphleteer. Mention has already been made about Kalki’s prose style. Under the magic of his hold, his pen became a camera, a brush, a lute, a trumpet and a sword. The colours of the rainbow, the stillness of the southern breeze, the majesty of the mountain, the speed of the storm and the roar of the surf, all unfolded themselves as Kalki veiled his pen. With this in hand and ed by a prodigious creative vigour, he adventured into many lands and explored new regions, finding new delights and unearthing fresh ones. Vigorous in their inspiration and uncompromising in their directness, his editorials, when they concerned the world and the nation at large, were analytic and instructive and always actuated by a patriotic fervour. To undo many an injustice, to redress a grievance, to focus public attention upon a point, to raise memorials to the great dead and a score of other good causes, he acted as ‘the bell-ringer who was up first” and called others. During the three general elections, he woke up the people to a sense of duty and virtually led the voters to the Congress box.

But with problems ‘domestic’ and nearer home, it was not rarely that he lost the objective outlook upon things, and allowed his fancy to become a law unto itself. With him every difference became a ground for controversy and every controversy tended to grow into a quarrel. The Kalki of the controversies is a controversial figure indeed. Whether it was the ‘Rajaji’ question or the Tamil Isai (music) movement, the question of the film footage or the problem of the Travancore Tamils, the Prakasam Ministry (of Madras) or the Parulekar Report, he jumped into the fray with unhesitating zeal, the moment his sympathies got roused. Once inside, he scarcely looked to see where his opponent stood and continued the battle long after the enemy quit–defeated or disgusted. His indictments often over-shot the mark; for he allowed himself to be diverted from the normal literature of reason by the currents of passion.

From his pamphlets to his short stories and novels is a happy change. Here Kalki stands on ground which is his, for he was a supreme master of that craft by any standard. Whatever be his subject his brush moves with ease and sureness over the canvas. His short stories, a good number of which is of world class, abound in fine specimens of character study and are purposeful without being tediously moralising.

Of hisnovels, ‘Kalvanin Kathali’ and ‘Parthipan Kanavu’ are perfect specimens of harmony and symmetry from the artistic point of view. The former is a tragedy drawing its material from modern middle-class life. It tells the story of an innocent and noble youth whom circumstances turn intoa thief and his love for a village girl which does not culminate in marriage. Convincingly told, this story brings to our mind at hisbest, both in point of style and technique. ThisHardy element can be traced in some of his later novels also, as a subtle undercurrent. But with Kalki there is a greater balance between the individual and the circumstances, and the unseen cruel hand of Fate does not play so crushing a role. The result is that they are far less pessimistic in their tone. This is only in keeping with Kalki’s own philosophy of life, that man can and must raise himself by his own efforts–a philosophy which he amply proved in his own life.

In ‘Parthipan Kanavu’ Kalki makes his first entry into the field of historical romance. Having for its ground the South India of the Pallava Period, it tells of the sense of curiosity and the craving for adventure which prompted the early Tamils to cross the ocean, found empires and spread the Tamil art and culture in distant lands. Running through it like a thread is the love story of Prince Vikrama of the Chola Dynasty and Kunthavai, the daughter of the Pallava. Subdued in tone and delicate in refinement, these novels display a rare dignity that silently proclaims their greatness.

‘Alai Osai’ is a social of big proportions. Gripping though in its interest and abounding in dramatic situations, this story, in common with ‘Ponnivin Selvan’, its successor, a historical, has distinctly the ‘periodical’ label stamped upon it. An abundance of intricacies inthe plot and a tendency on the part of the author to be carried away by the ease and swiftness of his invention, are the other draws of these two great novels.

‘Ponniyin Selvan’, the last of his novels, would suggest that, due to considerations other than literary, the author has to abandon part of the original structure of his plot. The characters at first seem to be heading for a particular kind of climax, but in unwilling obedience to the dictates of their creator, appear to have built up another. An Occasionally long description that slightly overburdens the narrative at places, and some artificiality in the dialogues, especially of those of high rank, are other snags which this novel shares with ‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’, the author’s greatest and most mighty creation. These minor faults pale into nothing before the majesty of these two works in which the author scales lofty heights of imagination.

‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’ besides, is a novel without an end; it slowly fades off to the Horizon and eternity. Sivakami’s last dance at the temple of Sri Ekambara Natha is not merely an ‘Ananda Natanam.’ (Dance of joy) but it is ‘Anantham’ (endless). And as Mamalla sway wipes his tears and wends his way home, removing himself at each step further and further away from her in point of space, so we, the readers, seem to recede farther and farther in point of time. The words ‘Thalaivan Thall’, together with the rhythmic sound of Sivakami’s steps, seem to echo in the reader’s ears with slowly diminishing intensity.

One feels that no study or estimate of Kalki would be complete witbout a reference to Scott, who first broke the ground for the historical novel. Both had absolute possession of the materials they were using–a complete knowledge of the history of the place and time. Both had admittedly a genius for vitalising the past. Both the authors mainly concentrated upon the picturesque externals, though the inner life of those periods did not altogether escape Kalki.

When the history of the Tamil literature of the first part of the twentieth century comes to be written, three names will be found towering over the rest. They are those of Dr. Swaminatha Iyer, Bharati, and Kalki.