The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Translation of first Tamil novel released

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 06, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Translation of first Tamil novel released

Staff Reporter

Ashokamitran, the Sahitya Akademi award winning writer at the function. — Photo: M. VEDHAN

CHENNAI: A district munsiff in Mayiladuthurai, influenced by Western ideals such as secularism and women's liberation, put pen to paper late in the 19th century.

Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai also chose a western literary form, the novel, to tell the story of Pratapa Mudaliar. The first Tamil novel, Pratapa Mudaliar Charitram, was published in 1879. It was translated into English by Meenakshi Thyagarajan. The book was published by Katha and released at Bookpoint here on Saturday. "He was not too concerned with realism. We shouldn't be asking if its possible for a woman to rule a kingdom, disguised as a man," said Ashokamitran.

He handed over the first copy of the book to C.T. Indra, the translator and academician.

Describing how translations were finding their way into literature syllabi, she said that the book had several aspects to it. "It is also a discourse on education of women, family structures and the experience of serving Britain in Tamil Nadu," she claimed.

Ms. Thyagarajan, granddaughter of Madavaiyya, has previously translated his book, Padmavati Charitram.

Mr. Ashokamitran pointed out that while the first Malayalam novel was translated and published in England in the late nineteenth century itself, the first Tamil novel was translated in full only at the beginning of the twenty-first.

Representatives of Katha described the book as an "adventurous journey to the realm of folk tales and fables, mythology and morality."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail