The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bringing back Azhwars’ mystical magic for children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 07, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bringing back Azhwars’ mystical magic for children

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Ganesan

TALE OF MIRACLEs: N. Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, presents the first copy of ‘Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve’ to Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, Dean and Director of Padma Seshadri Group of Schools, in Chennai on Friday. Author of the book Lakshmi Devnath is in the picture.

CHENNAI: The 12 saint- poets of South India have just become, well, cool — not to mention the story of a girl called Poorva with ‘Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve’. Teenagers and young children are sure to warm up to this tale told by Lakshmi Devnath, with its fine blend of fantasy, history and spirituality, said speakers at the book launch here on Friday.

Eleven-year-old Poorva embarks on an adventurous journey through history and mythology when Ramaswami ‘Thatha’ decides to tell her the tale of the Azhwars.

Parts of the story were brought alive before the launch by Balakrishnan and Sunanda of the Just Us Repertory with music by Apoorva and Anahita, students of Chitraveena maestro N. Ravikiran.

As the publishing industry grew increasingly profit-oriented, it was inspiring to see a book bringing together such varied threads, exclusively for children, said Mini Krishnan, Editor - Translations, Oxford University Press. The innovative format in which the life stories of the Azhwars and their mystical powers has been described is striking, said N. Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, and President, The Music Academy.

The author had presented the main characters zooming back and forth between space and time in her attempt to bring children in touch with their heritage. Written in an engaging and breezy style, the book makes for a heady brew of success. The works of the Azhwars represent the finest traditions in literature, music and poetry.

Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, Dean and Director of Padma Seshadri Group of Schools, said the book was meant for the ‘illiterate literates’ — students of English medium schools who thought it was not cool to talk in Tamil. Author Lakshmi Devnath said she had found very few works in English for children about the Azhwars.

‘Poorva: Magic, Miracles and the Mystical Twelve’ is published by East West Books and priced Rs. 195.

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