Two other modifications: Yasmine Gooneratne edited the New Ceylon Writing in the 1980s and two special issues of 'Community' on Lankan (Ceylon, then) Writing in the early 1960s. 'Community' was edited by C.R. Hensman  ( Although his name sound English, he is from the Thamilian community, I believe ) His daughter also writes fiction.  ' Community ' had a two part editions titled ' Ceylonese Writing ' ( Those  days Sri Lanka was called Ceylon ) In Part 1,  the late Sillayoor Selvarajan wrote about the Early Thamil Novels of Sri Lanka, excerpted from his book in Thamil, 'Eelthu Thamil Naaval Ilakkiyam '. In part 2, the late S.Vithiananthan  wrote about Early Sri Lankan Thamil Literature  and K.S.Sivakumnaran  analysed the late Ilankeeran's (Subair) novel ' Thentralum Puyalum ' ( The Breeze and the  Storm ) 

Translations!
There is something about the business of translation. We all know that a lot of translation is going on among our writers, past and present, not only in the field of the arts, but also in other areas. I cannot possibly mention everything I know of these projects in such a column. And I am writing purely out of memory and without any resources at my disposal. Omissions might have been made, unwittingly. Please bear with me. For instance, I should have mentioned all the translations done from Sinhala to Thamil and vice versa. Maybe even translations done from other languages into Thamil, which language I know thoroughly well. But I couldn't do that comprehensively for reason mentioned above. 

Take for example, Sovanna Nadarasa's (the late Somasunthara (Pulavar) Nadarasa) translation of 'Selalini Sandesya' and Sanskrit works into Thamil. Incidentally Mr. Nadarasa turned a Buddhist monk and passed away a few years ago. And his daughter, Sarojini Arunasalam is continuing to do translations from Sinhala to Thamil. Then in drama too, there had been many translations. Henry Jayasena, Sugathapala de Silva were among important dramatists. In Thamil, Thiru Kandiah and Indrapala were a few of the translators. In fact, in the 1980s, I have written a little note on translated and adapted plays in Thamil, in Lanka in the now defunct 'Lanka Guardian' The late A.N. Kandasamy was a poet, novelist, short story writer, dramatist and essayist. He had translated Emilie Zola's 'Nana', and Bertrand Russel's' Arabs and Jews' into Thamil and some of the couplets from a great work in Thamil, the 'Thirukural' into English in the now defunct, 'Tribune'. A few Sinhala scholars, including a lady, have translated Thiruvalluvar's (3rd century circa) 'Thirukural' into Sinhala. 

Let me begin from this week to introduce the Thamil books covering the contemporary Thamil Literature in Sri Lanka. Two books are introduced for the present and the others in subsequent weeks. 

The book that covers the earliest Sri Lankan Thamil Literature (Circa 14th to 18th centuries) was written by the late K.S. Nadarajah He passed away in Canada. KSN was the head of the Thamil Service of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and later a Deputy Director General of that institution. He wrote poetry under the name of Navatkuliyoor Nadarasan. His book is titled 'Eelathu Thamil Ilakkiya Valarchi' (The Growth of Lankan Thamil Literature) . 

Readership! 
At this point, I must explain something to a misinformed readership. The word 'Eelam' is an ancient Thamil word denoting Sri Lanka and does not have any political connotations. But 'Thamil Eelam' does. KSN's book has a foreword by the late A. Sathasivam, who was an academic and a scholar in linguistics. 

A living scholar, J.B. Dissanayaka wrote a moving piece in the Daily News some time ago, when Sathasivam died. Let me quote in translation what the foreword summarizes: "The book discusses Lankan Tamil Literature from the 14th to the late 18th centuries from many angles. It begins with the period of Denuvara Perumal's book on astrology titled 'Sakasothi Maalai' and ends with the period of Mylvahana Pulavar (Pulavar in Thamil means a Pandit), who wrote 'Puliyoor Anthathi'. 

The book deals with Lankan Thamil Literature, the growth of personal (aham) and public (puram) poems and those which do not come under the purview of the genre, Prabancha (universal). The author provides information for researchers to probe into prevalent and extinct literary works. Those desirable to view from a historical perspective of the Lankan poetic tradition, the works of the poets, their own tradition, social consciousness and imaginative experience should read this collection of essays by K.S. Nadarajah." 

The other book is by the late Subramaniam Vithiananthan, a name associated with Lankan Thamil Culture. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Yalapanam (Jaffna). He edited and published many indigenous folk plays and wrote three or four outstanding books in Thamil. The late Vithiananthan and the late Sarachchandra (the bilingual scholar and dramatist) shared a room in London, when they were pursuing their post graduate studies, if that would interest you. 

Two of SV's books in Thamil were 'Ilakkiya Thentral' (The Breeze of Literature) and 'Thamilar Saalpu' (I don't know what the appropriate English equivalent is to the word 'Saalpu'. I infer it means the 'intrinsic nature of the Thamils'. 

Thamil scholars, please correct me). A third book, 'Thamil Iyat Chinthanai' (Conception of Thamillogy) is another collection of essays importance. 

There are seven articles in Thamil and two in English in this book of essays. The English essays inform the Thamil influence on Sinhala culture, Lankan Thamil scholars, materials in English of Thamil, researches conducted and the like. One of his articles in Thamil is 'Islamites and the genre of Prababntha, new in Thamil'. 

In fact, he was the first to write about the Islamic contribution to Thamil literature. 

S.M. Hanifa, a former journalist and publisher has brought out this particular book. SV in one of his essays discusses Lankan Religions and Education. He says that the religion of the Thamilians is entwined with their culture. 

He claims that the 'Thamilians enriched the lifestyles of the Sinhalayas and introduced the Saiva practices of worship, thereby bringing in sanctity to Buddhism' He also states that during the reign of Parakramabahu III, (who ruled from Dambadeniya) the Pandit, Bosarasa launched his work, 'Sarasothi Maalai' in the august assembly of the monarch. 

The last king of Lanka, Sri Wickrama Rajasingha who ruled from Kandy, also paid attention to the development of education of the Thamilians. The latter part of the essay talks about the attempts made to improve the education and religion of the Thamilians during the period of the European regimes in Sri Lanka. 

As a sequel to the earlier essay, the next one discusses the education of the Thamilians and the Universities. He traces the background of pursuits towards establishing a university for the Thamilians. He states: "The Thamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka have a unique cultural enrichment and the educationist felt for the need of a university to preserve and promote their language and culture'. 

The late Vithiananthan was an authority in Thamil Folk Theatre (Naatu Koothu) In one of his essays, he talks about especially of the folk plays in Mattakalappu (Batticaloa) and Mannar and also elucidates on the nature of folk theatre. 

He also describes that the plays in the Mannar district are available in Sinhala. He finds similarities between the Kannada and Yakshgana and the Mattakalappu 'Vadamodi' (the northern mode) folk plays. 'Navalar and Thamilnadu' is another essay. He describes how the Thamilnadu State in India is greatly indebted to the scholar and religious revivalist Aarumuga Naavalar of Yalpaanam (Jaffna) . 

In the subsequent essay, the writer compares the great contributions of both Aarumuga Naavalar and Swami Vipulananda (He was a monk of the Ramakrishna Mission, a religious order, based in India and established in Sri Lanka. His real name was Mylvaganam). Born in Kaarathivu in the Mattakalappu district, Swami Vipulananda was the first professor in Thamil in the University of Ceylon in 1943. His magnum opus, 'Yarl Nool' is an expository work on ancient musical instrument in the shape of Harp. 

And in my view he was the pioneer in literary criticism in Thamil in Sri Lanka. Swami Vipulananda's name should not be confused with the name of another Ramakrishna swami, the intellectual from Bengal in India, Swami Vivekananda. His oratory on Hinduism in Chicago in the U.S. mesmerized the Americans in the early 20th century. There is a road in Chicago bearing his name. Would you believe it!

Vithiananthan also documents the contributions of C.Y. Thamotharam Pillai, Cumarasamy Pulavar (poet), Sithamparapillai, T. Kailayapillai and Swami Gnanapragasar. He also says that 'it was the Lankans that safeguarded the Thamil language from being disfigured or irregularised in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was the Lankans that preserved the grammatical tradition of the Thaml language'. 

Contact: kssivan1@juno.com 
courtesy: Daily News