Books and Authors

A literary Causerie

[We are glad to introduce in Triveni this new feature– “Books and Authors.” Creative writing in different languages in India will be reviewed. Any reference to a particular book in this feature will not preclude a more detailed review later, if found necessary.
–EDITOR]

Is English on the way of this country? It has been, for the last three decades and more, since the attainment of our political independence. That Indian languages, regional as well as national, should come into their own, by developing their immense potentialities, is agreed on all hands. The problem relates, however, to the pace of replacement of English in the various fields-administrative, educational and cultural. Whatever be the situation in the field of administration and the lower levels of education, it has a vital place in the promotion of cultural understanding, especially as a medium of translation and as a catalytic agent for experiment and modernisation. Otherwise, how could we rationally explain the situation in Indian publishing, in which English continues to account for the largest number of titles for a single language?

To the well-worn argument of the “Angrezi Hatao” patriots, that after generations of English education, not even three per cent of our population can claim to read and write English, one might reply that this percentage obviously happens to buy and read a lion’s share of the books published in this country as well as those imported from abroad. Which would lead us to the conclusion that English serves not only as a window on the world, but as the open door of communication among the languages within our own country. Not only does the Sahitya Akademi continue to have English as its official language, but even the most aggressive Hindi writers, with an overpowering allergy to English, finds his life’s ambition unfulfilled until he has seen some of his masterpieces brought out in their English version!

Mr. Satchidanand Hiranand Vatsyayan, the distinguished Hindi writer, and Jnan Pith Award Winner, who writes under the pen-name “Ajneya” (literary meaning “the Unknowable”) would really be “unknowable” for most of us, south of the Vindhyas, if his works are not translated in English. Luckily for us, and luckily for himself, Vatsyayan happens to be an accomplished writer in English as well as in Hindi. His epoch-making novel, “Nadi ke Dweep,” first published nearly three decades ago, has been translated by him in English under the evocative title “Islands in the Stream” (Vikas. Rs. 75). The English rendering is sensitive, precise, and brilliant, matching the Lyricism and depth of the original. Always an experimentalist, in quest of new horizons, in ideas as well as in technique, Vatsyayan was never content to follow in the traditional grooves of Indian fiction or poetry. He tried, with varying degrees of success, to fuse the two forms and plumb the deeper levels in his exploration with the aid of new insights from the West as well as the East. He also achieves a new awareness by reconciling classical values with a contemporary sensibility in an intensely personal way. The end result comes on the reader with a new shock of recognition. No man, or woman, can be an island, it is said, but they might perhaps survive as islands in the stream! Might or might not. But Islands in the Stream is one of the most significant of Indian books to come out recently in the English language.

Not only in the field of translation but in that of literary criticism of works in the Indian languages could English have a useful purpose to serve. In connection with the birth centenary of Munshi Premchand, the eminent Hindi novelist, many critical works have been published. Notable among them, for balance and restraint, is that of Prof. V. S. Naravane (Premchand: His Life and Work. Vikas. Rs. 75), who combines in himself the stylistic elegance of a literary craftsman with the perspective of a philosopher. His chapter on “Assessment” can be considered as the highlight of the book. In this, he shows how his admiration for the undoubted merits of Premchand as a fiction-writer does not blind him to his serious defects. Among the latter he includes a too frequent use of the device of “chance” as a tool in constructing his “ stories; suicide or death by accident in disposing of unwanted characters; a tendency to use long passages of explanation and moralising; and a general lack of sensitivity to poetic subtlety and philosophical depth in any situation.

This year and the last two mark the birth centenaries of many other great Indians–saints, savants and political thinkers. In the first category, Ramana Maharshi, an example of childlike simplicity and spiritual poise, occupies a high place. Prof. K. Swaminathan, a life-long devotee of Ramana, as also a Gandhiite, incorporates his impressions and ideas in a concise biography for the National Book Trust. Gentle, unobtrusive, mature and seasoned, the style of the book is typical of the man. It is, however, not clear if he adds anything substantial to the authoritative work on this subject done by the late Mr. Arthur Osborne; Prof. Swaminathan also contributes a thoughtful introduction to a volume of tributes edited by B. K. Ahluwalia and Shashi Ahluwalia. It presents thirty articles drawn from a variety of sources, including Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Dr. C. G. Jung, Prof. D. S. Sarma, Dr. T. M. P. Mahadevan, Dr. M. Hafiz Syed, Paul Brunton, Dilip Kumar Roy, Apa B. Pant and Krishna Chaitanya. Quite a useful collection, throwing light on all the different aspects of the personality of the sage of Arunachala.

V. V. S. Aiyar was a sage of a very different type. A brilliant student of Tamil, Sanskrit and Latin, he started his life as a lawyer, and later went to England to he called to the Bar. But, in London, he came into contact with Indian revolutionaries like Shyamji Krishna Varma, Madanlal Dhingra and V. D. Savarkar, who planned to overthrow the British Government by armed rebellion. After return to India he stayed for a time at Pondicherry and was later converted to Gandhian way of non-violence and started a Gurukulam at Shermadevi. He died prematurely in a drowning accident in 1925. His life and work are vividly described by R. A. Padmanabhan in his brief biography, published by National Book Trust (Rs. 8). Now he is better, remembered as an able translator of Tirukkuraland Kamba Ramayana. The N. B. T. has also brought out a severely condensed version of the detailed and documented biography of the political revolutionary and original thinker, M. N. Roy, by his colleague and admirer, Mr. V. B. Karnik.

That great interpreter of the Indian tradition, Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, has been the subject of two more books–one, easy, readable, and comprehensive, by Jagmohan in the “Builders of Modern India” series, brought out by the publications Division; and another an essay, by Dr C. V. Ramachandra Rao, who hails him as “an inspirer of Indian Renaissance.”

Not that there are no heroes and heroines amidst us today, who had played a notable part in the freedom struggle of the past. Smt. G. Durgabai, now Mrs. Deshmukh, is one of them. In the vanguard as a freedom-fighter, she has been a pioneer and a dynamic one at that, in social work as well. The Stone that Speaketh in two volumes is a factual record of the numerous institutions in Madras, Hyderabad, Delhi and elsewhere, under the umbrella of the Andhra Mahila Sabha which she had founded. A different aspect of her life, personal and womanly, is seen in the slim volume Chintaman and I (Allied. Rs. 50), which gives an intimate account of her life with Mr. C. D. Deshmukh.

From life to literature again. In its attempt to familiarise the Indian reader with the literatures of the various linguistic regions the Sahitya Akademi had launched a series of histories of  literatures in English. The latest in the series is the History of Rajasthani Literature by Dr. Hiralal Maheshwari (Rs. 25). It is a learned and well-documented work, from which we learn that the beginnings of Rajasthani language and literature, whose separate identity is apt to be lost in the enveloping hold-all of Hindi, go to the eleventh century A. D. It is a good, authoritative survey, though the number of translated examples may not be adequate and their quality not up to the mark. Any reader unsatisfied on this account will do well to go in for Contemporary Rajasthani Poetry (Rajasthani Bhasha Sahitya Sangam (Academy), Bikaner. Rs. 30) ably translated and edited, with an elaborate introduction, by Mr. I. K. Sharma. The original in Nagari script is given on the left, with the English translation on the right. Prof. V. K. Gokak contributes a highly appreciative foreword.

Poetry is viewed as providing bridges of friendship across the seas and lands by Mr. Amal Ghose, founder-editor of Ocarina (Madras). The latest issue of Ocarina (June-July 1980) is developed to international poetry, with the accent on Japan. Trutomu Fakuda and Naoshi Kofiyama are the guest editors and Sandra Flower is associate editor. There is an informative exposition of Japanese poetry by Koriyama. “The Eastern sun is so inviting” says the editor, in describing this volume. So are the translations.

Not only poetry, but philosophy too is preoccupied with Beauty. The Indian Philosophy of Beauty is dealt with, in all its aspects; by Dr. T. P. Ramachandran in his work in two volumes (Rs. 10 and Rs. 13), presented by the Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy. “Perspective” and “Special Concepts; are dealt with in the first and second volumes respectively of this study, which discusses not only the aesthetics of Beauty, but its metaphysics as well.

“It is not the ordering of life but the ordered life that is important,” says Dr. T. S. Devadoss in his well-written monograph on Hindu Family and Marriage (Rs. 12), presented by the same Institute. A careful student of Sarvodaya, the author looks for inspiration to Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo in asking for moral and spiritual force as an instrument of social change.

The moral law is stoutly upheld in the publication The Law and the Prophets (Price Rs 5) subtitled “Pearls of the Faiths,” in which cardinal statements from all religions are compiled by Mr. R. Rangachari, with a view to reinforcing the underlying unity of all religions. “Reality is one, the learned express it variously,” quoted at the opening of the first chapter could serve as the fittest motto for the whole bookas well.

There are other laws and other prophets for other men. For the veteran journalist, Mr. V. R. Narla, who describes himself as “a materialist, rationalist and humanist”, it is the law of man rather than the law of God. “Inconsistency is the bone of religion”, he remarks, adding “if life is an illusion, immortality is a delusion.” In his scrap-book of thoughts and quotations, titled, “Gods, Goblins and Men” (Minerva Associates, Calcutta. Rs. 50), Mr. Narla effectively adopts the technique of shock therapy, of shaking the complacent and conventional out of their wits by his pungent remarks culled from sources as ancient as Socrates and as recent as Russell. Some of them can well be compared to the sayings of Shaw in the “Handbook of a Revolutionary” or extracts from the speeches of Bradlaugh and Ingersoll.

In his lecture on Indian Culture-Its Caste Complexion (Department of Sociology, Osmania University, Hyderabad. Rs. 8) Mr. Narla comes down heavily on the institutions of caste and the doctrine of Karma. “Our caste-culture, since it cannot cultivate men, continues to spew up mice,” he says, adding, “the first target of our revolution should be the dogmas of Karma and Rebirth, which together constitute the Bastille of the cruel despot, caste.”

The year 1980 marked the birth centenary not only of the great stage actor of Andhra, Bellary T. Raghava, but of the Andhra stage itself. This occasion was celebrated in Hyderabad, Madras and elsewhere. To commemorate this event, the well-known stage and screen actor, Mikkilineni Radhakrishnamurti, who had earlier produced the substantial volume, Andhra Nataka Rangacharitra has now come out with another substantial volume (in Telugu) titled Nata Ratnaalu (Renuka Granthamala, Madras.24. Pages 564. Price Rs. 50) literally meaning “Gems among the actors.” It contains vivid profiles of over 250 actors and actresses of Andhra stage, of whom the present generation of readers need to know a lot. The book is well produced, profusely illustrated with photographs.

We need hardly be ashamed of acknowledging our debt to others in the evolution of our contemporary cultural forms. It is not only an exercise that does credit to our intellectual integrity but is likely to promote clear thinking and a sense of perspective, besides a historical understanding. In her well-planned book, Aadhunikaandhra Kavitaa tattvamu (The Spirit of Modern Telugu Poetry), Dr. D. Lalitakumari of the Andhra University, Waltair, makes an in-depth study of the influence of English literature on the growth of new forms and modes in Telugu poetry. She has cast her net wide, as could be seen from her impressive bibliography of titles in English as well as in Telugu, and can contemplate, with satisfaction, her substantial catch in the shape of new facts and new ideas. She has made a notable contribution to a field in which earlier scholars like Dr. K. Veerabhadra Rao and Dr. C. Narayana Reddi had done commendable work.

It is never too late for a man to compose poetry. If there are poets, whose springs of creativity are dried up by the time they reach seventy, there are others, whose current begins to find an outlet after that age. To the latter category belongs Dr. B. Gopala Reddi, who had distinguished himself in other fields, and in literature as a translator of Tagore, and generally as a Rasika and as a friend of poets and writers. For Gopala Reddi, the poet, life begins at seventy, in a manner of speaking. Beginning to publish poems in periodicals in May 1977, he has already brought out four volumes of them at the rate of one to every year. The slim and elegantly got up volumes are: Aame(1978); Kaala Vaahini (1979); Sahitya Sundari (1980); and Prasuna Manjari (1981). If the first of them bears a new look with the introduction of concepts and conventions common to Persian poetry, the other three seek novelty through a refreshing simplicity of diction, an uninhibited freedom from classical forms, conventional metre and rhyme.

Vibgyor and other Poems is a collection of poems by the late B.V. Singaracharya–earnest, experimental, variegated in technique. In Aarti geetaalu Dr. C. R. Sarma has brought together a number of his shorter poems, all suffused with a spirit of humanism. Boldness of imagery and sensitivity to human suffering seem to be the dominant characteristics of the poetry of “Samad” who has brought out his Vedanaa sikharaalu (Peaks of Pain.) Its merits are underlined in Dr. Dasarathi’s detailed introduction.

Vedi Velugulu (literally “Heat and Light”) is an anthology of verse, representing the work of the younger poets, presented by Yuva Bharati, an active literary organisation of the youth of Hyderabad, which has so far brought out over sixty volumes on different subjects. The latest batch comprises the booklets–Bharatiya Punarujjivanam (Indian Renaissance) by D. Ramalingam; Kundurti Kavitaa Vaibhavam (by A. Ramamohana Rao); Peddana Kavitaa vaibhavam (by Dr. Palla Durgaiah); Kankanti Kavitaa Vaibhavam (by ‘Karunasri’), and Ramayana Paramaardham (by Dr. I. Panduranga Rao). Yuva Bharati has also started a literary quarterly of its own, titled Nandini, not only to project its activities but to publish articles and discuss contemporary trends in Telugu literature.

Among the practising Telugu writers of today, it would be hard to think of one more prolific than Ravuri Bharadwaja, whose resourcefulness is more than a match for the obstacles that stand in the way. Starting with few of the assets in the shape of an unearned income or a university education, he came up the hard way. Having seen life in the raw, he has a close rapport with the lowly and the lost. His latest book Jeevana Samaram (Struggle for Existence) (Kamala Publishing House, Vijayawada-2; Price Rs. 30) is a collection of vignettes from life–as lived in the street by those below the poverty line–the street hawkers, the sweet-vendors, the bricklayers, in short, all the hewers of wood and drawers of water. Itis thoughtfully illustrated. The snapshots are telling like a blow on the face; the writing has a punch, like a hit on the solar plexus!