The book Guruchinthana comes with a cover that unleashed a storm a few months ago over the way renowned artist Riyas Komu pictured Sree Narayana Guru, with activists of the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a right wing political outfit comprising a section of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam members, taking to the streets decrying the portrayal.
The BDJS, itself under flak for its alleged departure from the principles of the Guru, had said the image presented the Guru, widely regarded as a philosopher, reformer, poet and iconoclast, in a poor light. What appeared on the cover of the book was an image of a bronze bust of the Guru sculpted by Mr. Komu a few years ago, but it drew the ire of the group when the same was reproduced on the cover of a Malayalam literary weekly. The storm has passed. The book, penned by an erudite author seeking anonymity – not as a refuge for renouncing responsibility but as a matter of principled rejection of the superior position that comes with authorship, as the general editor of the series Dilip Raj puts it – has made its mark as an unravelling of the thought of the philosopher who has over time been interpreted by many in many different, often conflicting, ways.
A bilingual version of the book, with an English rendering, titled Thinking with Sree Narayana Guru , done by academic and writer J. Devika, was released at the inaugural of a conference on ‘Metaphysics and Politics’ organised by the Backwaters Collective in collaboration with the Kochi Biennale Foundation on Friday.
Originally brought out by the Uru Art Harbour in association with DC Books, the book approaches Guru’s philosophy rather directly and through a dissection of various constructs without losing focus on the self.
Ms. Devika, who translated the work into English, said it was well-structured and since the interpretative strategy had been set at the outset itself, it wasn’t tough translating the book. “It is not an approach unfamiliar to us and shows us why there’s no inherent contradiction in the perceived contradictory views on the Guru and his thought.”
At the book release event, writer Sunny M. Kapikad, who received the book, spoke about the way in which Guru was being appropriated from a reformer to a saint by religious and anti-secular forces. He said Guru was being presented as a Hindu saint who brought about social reform. Hence a social reformer. The book, Guruchinthana , eschews this appropriation by considering Guru as a philosopher. “The book considers Guru a philosopher and a social reformer, maintaining that these two aren’t separate,” he said.
