Sa. Kandasamy has reason to celebrate. Saayavanam , his novel, which won the Sahitya Akademi award, has entered its golden jubilee this year, since it was first published in 1968 by Vasakar Vattam of Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, daughter of freedom fighter S. Sathyamurthy.
Saayavanam, Special Arrangement
“Is there really a place called Saayavanam?” “Yes,” replies the author. “It is between Kaveripoom Pattinam or Poompuhar and Mayiladuthurai. It is three kilometres from Poompuhar. I was born in Mayiladuthurai, to Santhappa Thevar. We used to go to Poompuhar by cart up to a point and walked the rest of the distance. You will be surprised to know that this place has 2,000-year history and in the tenth century, a temple was re-built by King Raja Rajan.
The Lord’s name is Saayaneswarar and his consort is called Kuyilinum Iniya Nanmozhi Mangai, in Tamil! Saayavanam is also known as Thiruchaikaadu. When we traversed this route, we used to ask our mother, “Have we reached our destination?” Amma would reply, “We have reached Saayavanam. We have to walk a little more!” It is closer to the banks of Cauvery and the road was laid by the Chola king Raja Rajan. It is a dense forest and you cannot find the temple tower” recalls the writer in reminiscence.
FOR FRIDAY PAGE _ Sa. Kandasamy giving lacher about Anandaraya pilli at Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya T. Nagar Chennai on Satarday. Photo S_Thanthoni.
Kandasami wrote this novel when he crossed twenty. He was wondering what to write, but was firm not to write a story. “I did not want to make it a novel. I just wanted to present the life of the locale. We had migrants in our family. My mother used to say that her brother had migrated to Singapore or Malaysia then. “You know, he would look like a Bhima!” my mother had described. I imagined what he would do once he came back here. With money, acquired knowledge and interest in new vocation, he would turn the area into a place brimming with activity. He would not reveal his mind, but show to the world what he could do. He had changed his religion and yet did not leave his original name Chidambaram, but came to be known as David Chidambaram. Mind you, he only changed his name, but did not follow the religion he embraced.”
“Was the plot of the story sown here?”
“Chidambaram finds out his only relative Sivanandi Thevar and revives his relationship. He meets the owner, a Brahmin, and settles the deal. He was not worried about what he was going to do with it. It was a land for cultivation of rice but Chidambaram was determined to grow sugarcane there and build a sugar factory. He tries to destroy the jungle, but could not. Later, he propagates for sugarcane cultivation!”
Jungle land
Kandasami says that he had known only 25 varieties of trees in the jungle-land, but Vasantha Surya, who had translated this novel in English, ( The Defiant Jungle ) has counted 54 varieties!
“I have read Hemingway’s Tanjore District Manual written in around 1800 and also gone through P.S. Baliga’s work on Tanjore. He was the Director of Archives. I was interested in knowing the life of the people in the region and what happened to them. I read Edgar Thurston’s Castes and Tribes in Southern India where the life of Kallars has been recorded,” recalls Kandasami.
Literary Review: Book Review: The Defiant Jungle_by Sa Kandasamy
“You have not mentioned the period anywhere in the novel!” I comment. “Yes, but I have given the background. It happened when Bharathi and O. Chidambaram Pillai travelled together to the Surat Congress. Of course, I have not mentioned the year, say 1908.”
The novel has even quotes from Upanishads. “I read them seriously, sitting in a corner of Connemara library. They were written by ‘Anna’ Subramania Iyer.” Kandasami had written the original script in his own hand using a Swan pen, in green ink. “I like the colour. I wrote ten pages a day and it took me a month to complete. I decided then that there was nothing more to write and put the pen down. I feel the real story begins where it ends. I had left it to the imagination of the readers. I honestly feel that there are more important untold things than what was told!”
Although Kandasami wrote the novel in 1965, he kept it with him for another six months, completely wrapped. After a gap of two years, he looked at the script for carrying out corrections. Wherever he felt was unreadable, he simply removed them. He believed that readability was more important.
His colleague in MIT, Chennai, M. Rajaram, who had just won an award for his short story (chosen by Thi. Janakiraman for the first prize in a competition in Kalki ) read the novel and had a talk with Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. She was keen to publish the works of young writers and asked him to suggest young promising writers’ works for publishing under her Vasakar Vattam series.
“I gave the script to Lakshmi Krishnamurthy at her house. Gundoosi Gopal was the manager there, who did not know me. Lakshmi was in Kodaikanal and he promised to pass the script on to her. Six months later, in a meeting at LLA Building, a few writers were invited to speak. I was one among them. Lakshmi Krishnamurthy came to me and said, ‘I have tentatively decided to publish the novel!’ I still remember her words. When I got married, she invited us to her house for dinner and came to our house to honour us. Krishnamurthy was the person who approved the title I had given.”
Saayavanam has seen several editions by publishers, including Annam, Kavitha and Natrinai. It was broadcast by AIR. Bharatidasan University had it as a text book. A. Vincent did a film on this novel, for Doordarshan. Ashokamitran wrote a brilliant article in the Tamil literary monthly Kanaiyazhi . In a literary meeting held at Delhi, Ka.Na.Su, N.S. Jagannathan, Thi. Janakiraman and Rangachari, Director of National Book Trust, spoke elaborately on the novel. NBT described it as a masterpiece of Indian literature. N.S. Jagannathan went on to say that the novel could be hailed as ‘Bhashai Ennum Varaprasadam’ for its sheer narrative skill. In 1971, Dr. Kamil Zwelabel, Tamil scholar of Russia, said that it was the first grade experimental novel. Thi.Ja. Ranganathan (Thi.Ja.Ra.), the most respected editor of Tamil monthly digest Manjari himself condensed the novel and published it.
Award-winning short story
Kandasami has written six novels - Suriya Vamsam , Visaranai Commission (which fetched him the Sahitya Akademi Award), Avan Aanathu , Tholaindhu Ponavargal , Perum Mazhai Natkal and Neelavan – and over 300 short stories. One of the stories, Thakkaiyin Meedhu Naangu Kangal , was selected as a classic. It was also filmed and won an award.
Sahitya Akademi sent him to several cities and recently to Agartala for the literary festival. He was invited to be a judge for the Singapore Tamil Story competition by National Arts Council, Singapore, while Singapore National Library honoured him as a guest for a ten-day festival. Kandasami had also served on the film censor board for ten years, besides serving NBT and Sahitya Akademi in advisory capacities.
“Mind you, this novel was written when the hot topics of ecology or environment protection were not even discussed!” smiles Kandasami.
