Novel
When I was 7 or 8 years old, there was this translated weekly episode of a Malayalam novel published in the Tam weekly "Saavi". The novel was "Krishna Parundhu", written originally in Malayalam by P.V.Thambi (translated into Tam by Sivan). I sporadically read a couple of episodes. The plot,set in a time may be a hundred years ago in Kerala, is about black magic practised by a few illustrious families there. I was dead scared then and said to myself that I would grow up and read the novel after that.
Last week, in a nearby lending library, I got this novel (2 volumes) and read it. P.V.Thambi describes the Kerala social set-up in great details. He says he spent many months interacting with sorcerers and such people to understand black magic and how it was put to use. The novel also explains the unique, matriarchal set-up in Kerala.
There are many interpretations that one can draw from the novel regarding the ethics and reality of black magic and also the larger questions that evolve (fate, free-will, to what extent black magic is effective etc.). But such conclusions are quite subjective and I am not going to dwell on such things here.
More than the exotic happenings explained by the narration, it is the social life of the ordinary people caught in the circumstances described by P.V.Thambi that has been keeping me occupied...those details are more exotic...
On the whole a fulfilling experience.
The novel was also made into a Malayalam movie starring Mohanlal, in 1984 (the original Malayalam version of the novel appeared in 1984, I think)
I am into Tamil novels, greatly, these days.
Last week, in a nearby lending library, I got this novel (2 volumes) and read it. P.V.Thambi describes the Kerala social set-up in great details. He says he spent many months interacting with sorcerers and such people to understand black magic and how it was put to use. The novel also explains the unique, matriarchal set-up in Kerala.
There are many interpretations that one can draw from the novel regarding the ethics and reality of black magic and also the larger questions that evolve (fate, free-will, to what extent black magic is effective etc.). But such conclusions are quite subjective and I am not going to dwell on such things here.
More than the exotic happenings explained by the narration, it is the social life of the ordinary people caught in the circumstances described by P.V.Thambi that has been keeping me occupied...those details are more exotic...
On the whole a fulfilling experience.
The novel was also made into a Malayalam movie starring Mohanlal, in 1984 (the original Malayalam version of the novel appeared in 1984, I think)
I am into Tamil novels, greatly, these days.