The Saint and The Garland

By Dr.K.S.Subramanian

Dr.K.S.Subramanian (1937) belongs to the Thirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu and presently lives in Chennai. He has Masters Degrees in Physics, History, and Business Management and a Doctorate in Public Administration. He served the Government of India (IRAS) from 1960 to 1975 and the Asian Development Bank from 1975 to 1998, retiring as a Director. Since his return to India in 1998, he has been involved in literary and social pursuits. He has translated more than 30 Tamil literary works into English. The translations cover 11 novels, 7 novellas, 3 collections of short stories, 7 anthologies of Poetry (including about eighty Sangam Poems). He has also translated a large number of collected essays covering literary and socio-economic themes as also biographical and autobiographical works. He has translated more than 40% of Subramania Bharathiar’s poetic corpus as a part of the proposed Sahitya Akademi publication of the entire works of Bharathi in English translation. His translations have been published by Sahitya Akademi, Macmillan, Katha, East-West Books, New Horizon, Tamil University, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Kanaiyazhi Pathippagam and others. He has presented a sizeable number of Papers in Tamil and in English in different fora. These include Papers on eminent creative writers of Tamil such as Subramania Bharathi, Na.Pichamurthy, Laa.Sa.Ramamirtham, Thi. Janakiraman, Ka.Naa. Subramanyam, Asokamithran, Jayakanthan, Venkat Samnathan, Sirpi Balasubramaniam, Erode Thamizhanban and others. The papers also encompass literature – society interface and development – humanism challenges. He was the compiling editor of Jayakanthan Reader, one of the pioneering efforts in this genre in Tamil. He has collated and brought out seminal articles of the Father of India’s Green Revolution, C.Subramaniam ( a Bharath Ratna Honouree), published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Seven volumes of his Tamil articles and Papers have been published, covering literary, social and developmental themes. He has received a few awards in the field of literary translation. He is a trustee of National Agro Foundation involved in comprehensive rural development, and also a trustee of MOZHI Trust, a resource centre of Tamil language and culture. He is a former member of the Tamil Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Mar 16, 2016
• ISBN: 6580208301094

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The Saint and the Garland

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Table of content

Valmiki Should Come

The Slaughter of the Saurus Cranes

J J Swami

War of the Cross

Prisoner in Saffron

Glossary

Valmiki Should Come

This too happened at Sankarapuram, which has witnessed so much in the course of its history.

All major historic events in the country have found their echo in Sankarapuram. We can find their traces even today, amid the ruins of the village.

Centuries ago, Adi Sankara planted the triumphal flag of Hindu dharma in the four corners of this ancient land and initiated its resurgence. The Sankaralingeswara temple here is a living testimony to Adi Sankara's visit to Sankarapuram.

Then Islam came to India. It churned the very vitals of Hindu dharma, and later blended and became one with the land. Its symbol is the mosque here.

Representing two centuries of British rule—with its uplifting and enslaving impact—are an 'English Convent School' and a church.

The scourge of untouchability, a scar on the resplendent face of Mother India, is embodied in a slum.

The influence of Mahatma Gandhi who came to lift India out of this morass is still evident in the presence of the Gandhi Ashram in the village.

Generations of great men have immortalised these legends of Sankarapuram through sthala puranas, modern stories and novels.

It will need a reborn Valmiki to chronicle the abomination that recently visited Sankarapuram—an abomination reminiscent of the slaying of the Saurus crane which saddened and angered the sage poet.

Valmiki begins his epic The Ramayana with a story about the anguish of separation. The male half of a loving pair of Saurus cranes is slain by a hunter's careless arrow.

In Sankarapuram too a pair of lovebirds flitted and frolicked all over the village. On the thinnai of the agraharam houses, at the Sankaralingeswara temple, on the banks of the Sankarabharanam River, in the bathing ghats, in the shade of the peepul tree near the river, on the platform decked with a spread of cannonball tree flowers... It was a commonplace sight for the villagers.

Jayalakshmi was ten years old and Jayaraman two years older.

That mere children could fall in love could have been beyond the ken of certain witless people.

But it is a fact that, for some special individuals, such pristine love manifests even at a young age.

The poet, Subramania Bharati, also came under young love's influence. He wrote in an autobiographical sketch, A mere nine years was she, but was like the epic beauty Sakuntala to me; it may astonish some, but was I to blame? The dart of love that has pierced many a saint of yore—how can my poor self challenge its power...

Countless epics have paid lyrical homage to calf-love. Laila-Majnu, Ambikapathi-Amaravathi, Romeo-Juliet, Devdas-Parvati...

Sankarapuram was known as a place of renunciation, a place where family life was anchored in religion, a place where social reforms sprouted and the arts were vibrant. This very place was witness to the unfettered ecstasy of the god of love.

The poets have set no bounds for love. They do not blossom into poets by merely composing poems. It is their unfailing support for love that makes them poets. They never fail to draw their swords against any obstacle to love and its manifold manifestations of joy. They even heap curses on God if they find Him guilty of transgressing against love.

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