Puducherry is a haven for writers from different walks of life – there is hardly a blank in its literary calendar nor is there a lull in the ceaseless contributions of Puducherry writers to world of literature.
In honour of their achievements and contribution, a one-day national conference on Puducherry writers in English, French, Tamil and other Languages was organised by the Department of English of the Pondicherry University.
Clement Lourdes, conference co-ordinator, said the arrival of Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry heralded a new beginning in English writing.
The later writers followed his example, though each maintained a unique style. For instance, Prof K.D Sethna, Prof Manoj Das and M.P. Pandit penned innumerable works, which were delivered in a deceptively relaxed prose.
He pointed out that Prof P.Raja, Ritanath Kesari, Aju Mahapathaya, Shyam Kumari are poets first, but they are equally at home in the other genres like drama, short story and novel. The works of the prominent Puducherry writers were read and discussed.
Nearly 40 research papers were presented. The speakers here recalled Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi and V. V.S Iyer, who sought political asylum in Pondicherry from where they wrote their masterpieces.
The genre of the Tamil short story is said to have emerged only from this soil, though the debate which can be called as the first short story in Tamil continues — was it Bharathi’s ‘Aaril Oru Pangu’ or V.V.S. Iyer’s ‘Kulathangarai Arasamaram?’ Bharatidasan, hailed as Puratchi Kavingyar, was a powerful voice of rationalism and social justice.
Dr. Clement said though the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram contributed a lot to enrich French Literature, there are many French writers in Pondicherry, who in the evening of their lives will not allow their critical faculty to rot in their ailing bed.
Justice David Annousamy, Madame Madana Kalyani, Venkata Subba Naiyakar and Prof Krishanamurthy are active writers and translators of high repute.
Varadhadesigan, Chevalier Prof NSR Swamy, Prof N R Bhat, S P Narang, Prof Venkataraja Sharma are some of the Sanskrit scholars of Pondicherry. Muthukumaran and J S Ramadass are masters of Hindi language and incomparable translators.
Prapanjan, Sahitya Academy winner and writer insisted that great world literature should be translated into Tamil. It was also equally important that rare works in Tamil get world status.
Mannermannam, Justice David Annousamy, Ko.Bharathy, P. Raja, Prof Noel Irudayaraj ,Bharathivasanthan, Girija Ramachandran, Fr. A S Antonisamy, the founder of Puducherry Writer’s Archive, spoke on the cultural heritage of Puducherry writers.
All of them stressed the fact that these types of conferences were the need of the hour.