'Kalki' R Krishnamurthy (1899-1954) was inspired by the tumultuous Indian nationalist movement to become an iconic novelist and giant of the Tamil press. This biography is an exhilarating chronicle of his multi-layered impact on Tamil self-fashioning; the power of his pen, which he used to promote the freedom struggle, Gandhian ideals, reformist causes and an Indian renaissance. It also shows him denouncing cant and superstition, creating inimitable and beloved works of historical fiction, and forming lasting friendships with exemplars in the fields of art, learning and nation-building.
'Sunda', MRM Sundaram, the late author of Ponniyin Pudalvar (as the biography is titled in Tamil), was a respected Tamil writer, who made his name as a broadcaster with All India Radio and the Tamil service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Serialised in Kalki magazine, the biography was a pioneering work of the genre, marked by painstaking research and objectivity of a kind hitherto unknown in Tamil writing.
Dr Gowri Ramnarayan, the translator, has authored the biography of the legendary musician MS Subbulakshmi whom she accompanied vocally in concerts. An all rounder 'who has carved a niche for herself as a journalist (The Hindu), award-winning playwright and director, she brings to her translation the rigour of her academic training and a lifetime of experience as an acclaimed writer in English.
Gowri, Kalki's granddaughter, revisits Sunda's magnum opus, equipped with an intimate knowledge of the protagonist's literary excellence, patriotism, and sacrifice. For all its rigorous fact-checking, the book proves to be a rivetting read, a veritable page-turner.
Though my Tamil was always strictly limited, I knew from spells I had spent in Chennai that in the world of Tamil literature, "Kalki" Krishnamurthy stood sky high. After reading some pages of this biography I told myself, with a little more precision, "He seems to be the Munshi Premchand of Tamil." Much later in the text I found that others infinitely more qualified to comment had said precisely that.
But before I say anything more here about Krishnamurthy, let me point out that this book is the result of three "works" that were accomplished one after the other, in chronological sequence. The first was a literary genius's toil over a lifetime, which ended in 1954 when, at the age of 55, Krishnamurthy died. The second happened in the 1970s, when MRM Sundaram, famed as "Sunda" in the Tamil world, compiled, compressed and composed Krishnamurthy's life-story.
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