Poet Prabha Varma’s Shyamamaadhavam has been selected for this year’s Sahitya Akademi award.
Shyamamaadhavam , which had won the Vayalar Literary Prize and the Malayattoor Award in 2013, was chosen for the Sahitya Akademi award by a three-member jury comprising critic M. Leelavathy, poet Alankode Leelakrishnan, and V. Sukumaran. He had won the Vyloppilli Award for his first anthology of poems Souparnika and the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for his second collection, Arkkapoornima .
He is also the winner of the Asan Prize, Kunchupillai Award, Krishnageethi Puraskaram, Mooloor Award, Changampuzha Award, Mahakavi P Puraskaram, Kadavanad Award, Abudhabi Shakthi Award, Vennikulam Award, and Mahakavi Pandalam Keralavarma Kavitha Puraskaram, among many others. His other major works include Chandananaazhi , Aaardram , Kaalaprayaaga , Avichaaritham , and Manjinotu Veyil Enna Poleyum . He had also won the State government’s best film lyricist award in 2006 and 2013.
Shyamamaadhavam , described as a novel in verse, is a 15-part poem that captures the thoughts and images that pass through Krishna’s mind as he lies dying, hit by a hunter’s arrow.
Beginning on a poignant note, the poem, dark and brooding in its imagery, progresses to reveal a Krishna who is the exact opposite of the playful persona in the popular mind. At a time when Malayalam poetry has moved decisively away from traditional metric patterns, Prabha Varma has tried to remain steadfast in the traditional mode of poetic articulation, something that Shyaamamaadhavam epitomises in full vigour.
