Veteran Tamil poet S. Abdul Rahman, popularly known as Kaviko , passed away here in the early hours of Friday, after a brief illness. He was 79, and is survived by his son and daughter. His funeral will take place on Saturday, according to a member of his family.
Born in Madurai on November 9, 1937, Abdul Rahman did his post-graduation in Tamil before joining the Islamiah College at Vaniyambadi in Vellore district as a teacher. He went on to become the head of the Tamil department at the college — a post he held for nearly two decades. Later on, he took to writing on a full-time basis.
When he was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi award in 1999 for his collection of poems Aalapanai , it was a “poetic irony.” He was, till then known to be a bitter critic of the Akademi, which he accused of not giving Tamil poets their due.
His criticism of the Akademi, however, was not wholly without justification at the time, as it took more than 30 years for the organisation to identify a work of Tamil poetry for an award. The last piece of Tamil poetry to have bagged the Sahitya Akademi award was Vellai Paravai , authored by A. Srinivasa Raghavan. This was in 1968.
Since Abdul Rahman’s work, three more pieces of Tamil poetry have received the national institution’s recognition, one of which was Akayathukku Aduthaveedu , written by Mu. Metha, for the year 2006.
Vairamuthu, another prominent Tamil poet, was, however, given the Akademi award for his novel, Kallikattu Ithikasam , in 2003.
In an hour-long meeting with this writer some years ago, Abdul Rahman blamed his literary fraternity for having failed in projecting to the outside world “the unique aspects of Tamil poetry.” He felt strongly that it was due to “our deficiency” that Tamil poetry had not been accorded the importance that it deserved at the national level.
‘A neo-classicist’
As one who had demonstrated his skill in using the complexities of imagery and symbolism in poetry, Abdul Rahman described himself as a neo-classicist. In the later part of his life, he devoted time to read the Vedas and the Upanishads, whose literary value, he said, was immense. He acknowledged that many of his expressions and symbols were taken from them. He received several awards and honours, including the State government's ‘Kalaimamani’ title (1989), and the ‘Agni Akshara’ award (1992).
Abdul Rahman closely identified himself with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, whom he had once hailed as “a pioneer in adopting the form of poetic prose.” D. Ravikumar, Tamil poet-writer and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi general secretary, said Kaviko had successfully experimented with new forms of poetry.
Here is an excerpt from ‘Pyramids in the Desert’, one of Abdul Rahman’s notable works:
The leaders also die like all of us
But, the leaders’ death alone becomes irreparable loss
Still, the thrones are not kept vacant.
