In the ‘write’ direction

Ashvin Kumar says 'Lore and Legends of North Malabar', his translation of 'Vadakkan Aithihyamala', is an attempt to reach out to a new generation of Malayalis and to new readers

Ashvin Kumar

Like many of us, Ashvin Kumar was brought up on a steady diet of stories of kings, queens, warriors, heroes, heroines, magicians, demons and scholars… from the treasury of Indian mythology, folklore and ballads.

But by the time he became a parent himself, he realised that the number of indulgent grandparents and relatives who could remember these stories and recount them for a new generation of curious children was dwindling rapidly, with the possibility of such tales eventually being erased from collective memory.

That is when Ashvin, a hotelier by profession, decided to translate well-known scholar and orator Vanidas Elayavoor’s

Vadakkan Aithihyamala into English to cater to a wider group of readers. The beautifully produced volume,

Lore and Legends of North Malabar, with evocative illustrations by M.P.Gireesh, has been published by DC Books.

Elaborating about the motive for his five-year-plus endeavour, Ashvin says: “I belong to a generation that had the privilege (for want of a better word) of elders, mainly grandparents, telling us stories from the epics and the old texts. But even I had not heard most of the stories featured in this book. And when I started asking questions, it was distressing to note that there was literally no one alive who could tell me more.”

Pointing out that there are thousands of Malayalis who have grown up outside the state and who are unfamiliar with their heritage and the language and culture of their ancestors, he adds: “More disconcertingly, even the young generation growing up in Kerala do not know, and some are not interested too, in knowing where they come from. If at least some of them read these stories, I will consider it ample reward.”

As in many ancient civilisations, skilful raconteurs traditionally resorted to an oral recitation of many of the stories from Indian legends and myths. As Ashvin points out, these stories of Gods, Goddesses and divinities, heroes, warriors and scholars, shrines and ruling houses, are a part of our collective past. “In each telling, the stories got more and more exaggerated and incredible. But the fact remains that these are aspects of our intangible heritage. It is often said that if Kottarathil Sankunni had not taken the initiative of recording the centuries’ old legends of southern and central Kerala handed down orally over generations and published them as the

‘Aithihyamala’ , very possibly that treasure trove from the past, that ‘archaeology of knowledge’, might have been lost to us forever.”

Radical changes brought about by fast modernisation and urbanisation of present day society might have resulted in the eventual loss of this aspect of our heritage too but for the monumental effort taken by Vanidas Elayavoor in documenting the stories of north Malabar (Kozhikode and northwards) in the Vadakkan Aithihyamala.

It was not an easy task to translate the stories that spoke in the language of another era and of a different lifestyle. Some simple terms in Malayalam, familiar to most Malayalis, were extremely difficult to translate to convey the right meaning. “The writing was done after my long hours at work and I had to do a lot of reference to check on semantics and historical facts, apart from visiting various places and people in search of more information. Often, there were no apt words in English for things that were common in our language. For instance, even a term like aunt does not do justice to Indian languages that will tell you exactly whether she is your paternal or maternal aunt and whether she is older or younger than your parent,” says Ashvin.

But he persevered and the book will finally be available in book stores and online shopping sites like Amazon and Flipkart in a week or two. The e-book is already on the DC Books website.

Noteworthy achievements

P.V.Gangadharan Nambiar, better known by his pen name Vanidas Elayavoor, was born on the June 4, 1935 at Elayavoor, Kannur, to M.V. Krishnan Nambiar and Padinjare Veettil Ammalu Amma.

He retired from Koodali High School after 36 years of service as a teacher, during the course of which he received the ‘Best Teacher’ award from the President of India. A member of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, he has been recognised by the NCERT for his work Rachanayil Oru Anuseelanam and by the Institute of Education for his book Ekabodhini. Among his nearly 30 works of literature are Pravachaka Kathakal and Prasangam Oru Kala.

Pages from the past

The cover is a water-colour painting (from a sketch-book of 36 drawings) that was done sometime between 1795 and 1801 CE by John Johnson, an employee of the English East India Company and is titled ‘Cannonore fort & Bay’. The British Library gave the author permission to use it for the cover.