Illuminating book on a variety of subjects, despite its brevity
View(s):Consequently, his newest publication, Lankan Thamil Culture will be welcomed both by those familiar with the field and those eager for acquaintance with it. Despite the inevitable and deplorable limitations imposed on it by its length of a mere 96 pages, it focuses on a variety of subjects and sharpens our awareness of the need to widen our range of experiences in the arts if we don’t want to lose out.
The author is generous in his praise of many of the literati of his community, justifiably so as I can testify regarding Sillaiyoor Selvarajan, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for guidance regarding the use of rhyme in Tamil poetry. I also recall an enchanting blend of lyrics (ignorance of the words being considerably reduced by the expressive faces and voices of the performers) and dance which he had composed and directed for a prize giving at Methodist College. His son and his wife Kamalini showed their skill in performance on stage and screen.
It is also good to learn more about C.V. Velupillai, “a trade unionist and former member of Parliament” whom I only knew by his kindness in sending me in 1954 his slim but fine book of poetry ‘In Ceylon’s Tea Gardens’.
To the tom-toms beat
The dawn lies startled
Trembling upon the tea …
The tom-toms throb!
It resounds and sighs
In the still mountain
They in their ancient vigil
Keep in a record of bones
The tears and sweat
Of a hundred years ..
The poet reveals his compassion and admiration for the exploited workforce.
Sivakumaran records with due respect the great contribution to the study of Tamil Drama by Professor Vithiananthan.
There are a few slips in the text, for example on page 87, which probably originated with Supramanian Makenthiran. “The Sinhalese are Aryans as claimed without any basis.” However it has a sound basis since “Aryan” does not refer to race – it refers to language – speakers of Indo-European languages – German, Sinhalese, Russian, English, Hungarian are distinguished from speakers of Dravidian, Basque etc. by their use of languages linked by common features, for example daughter- duhitru, thugater (English, Sanskrit, Greek). Likewise dvara, dora, door, thura. Linguistics proves facts. Incidentally for the sake of clarity, the term Indo-European has now replaced “Aryan” according to Webster’s Dictionary.
The first article, a commentary on the Early Lankan Novel in Tamil, and the growth of the Tamil Novel in Sri Lanka by Sillaiyoor Selvarajan and other critics covers the development between 1891 and 1962 and presents “significant excerpts”. How one sighs for two or three lines of a novel or two at least, revealing the concerns of the first male Tamil novelist (1891) and the first woman novelist Sellammal (1924). The briefest comments from a perceptive critic like Sivakumaran would have offered a flash of enlightenment regarding the thinking and social conventions of that remote period, especially the insights provided by the passage of time to an acute social analyst. Recalling the wealth of knowledge and opinions expressed in ‘An Interview with K.S. Sivakumaran on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka’ (Leroy Robinson, 1988) one hopes that Mr Sivakumaran despite the demands on his time will select some of the articles in this book and enrich and expand them with analytic and commentarial matter that he can provide with ease.
Other articles provide brief but fascinating glimpses of Tamil views and activities, such as ‘Valvettiturai Seafarers sail for U.S’ (The Island, February 24, 1985).
‘Veaddi’ clad Thamilians from Lanka set sail on January 27, 1937 on a locally built sailing boat, ‘Annapoorani’ belonging to an American, to cross the Atlantic and reached New York 18 months later. They were received with astonishment”.
‘Rituals and links between Thamils and the Japanese’ (Sunday Leader, July 06, 1997) introduces a book in English by Susumu Ono and Arunasalam and Manonmani Sanmugadas published in 1986 by Gakushin University, Tokyo. “In the initial paper, Professor Ono has discussed the concept of a three-level universe – gods, men and the underworld as depicted in Japanese mythology and in ancient Thamil poems … in my second paper I describe both the Japanese New Year celebration and the Pongal celebration among Thamils … In addition, Prof Arunasalam Sanmugadas provides examples from Sangam anthologies …”
Evidently ‘Lankan Thamil Culture’ performs the function of introducing scholars absorbed in cultural investigations to research already at hand, including references, to Emeneau and Zvelebil. Unlike my close contemporary, Mr Sivakumaran, I would not expect anybody to learn Sinhala – rich and lovely indeed, but rather difficult. English, now the world language and incredibly easy to learn could be the abundant supplier of fresh knowledge. Certainly this too slim collection of articles shows how interesting and enlightening our bridge language can be.
The book is published by Godage & Brothers (Pvt) Ltd and priced at Rs. 650.
| Book facts | |
| Lankan Thamil Culture – by K.S. Sivakumaran. Reviewed by Dr. Lakshmi de Silva |