History of Malayalam Literature PDF
Preview History of Malayalam Literature
History of Malayalam Literature P. K. Parameswaran Nair SAHITYA AKADEMI NEW DELHI This is a masterly survey, at once compact * and comprehensive, scholarly and readable, '<*, of the origin and development of the language and literature of the people of Kerala. It was originally written in Malayalam by P. K. Parameswaran Nair and was published by the Sahitya Akademi in 1958 under the title Malay ala Sahitya Charitram. It has since been reprinted twice. The present English tran¬ slation has been prepared by E. M. J. Venniyoor, himself a scholar and writer of distinction. __ The birth place of the Adi Sankaracharya, Kerala has been a vital centre of the deve¬ lopment of Indian thought. Perhaps no other region in India has witnessed such a dynamic confluence of Dravidian and Sanskrit traditions, made more dynamic by the over¬ flow of Christian influence from beyond the seas. No less remarkable is the clash of current ideologies and the super-abundance of radical experimentation with thought and form in the contemporary literary scene. And yet very little of this old heritage or present achievement is known to readers in other Indian languages, particularly of northern India. It is therefore hoped that v this volume will help to fill this gap and will prove of as much interest to the general reader as to the student of comparative literature. This volume is part of a series of Standard Histories of Indian Literature sponsored by the Sahitya Akademi to enable readers all over India to share in common the wealth and variety of Indian literature written in any language. For other volumes in the Series, already published or in press, please see the back flap. Cloth bound Rs. IS.00 Paper bound Rs. 12.50 w NiIRPH ra 12; 1932 iY ' ImiifKs/1 DATE DUE P8T ?. O lX It 3FF L JAN 31 ’8 L 7 cO fm t L ratpr & to / ’VfiWfi ►[ wcrrpLi nuun 1 c- ub •yuj^yj i SFP FEB 24 '8! ) „ Srft nr.T l*’9t » L sr-pf,., UUL £U _I •wfoai y] G 1 0 -93 A *SWT 3 1 894.8 8 Oi 2 r ] T i Printed 201-6503 in USA t. Joseph, E. M., 1927- 1. Malayalam literature—Hint & crlt tr. n. Title. 450 S A 67-5449 PL4718.P3413 PL 4SO: I-E-8425 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2020 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/historyofmalayalOOOOunse HISTORY OF MALAYALAM LITERATURE HISTORY OF MALAYALAM LITERATURE BY P. K. PARAMESWARAN NAIR Translated from the Malayalam by E. M. J. VENNIYOOR ____ •W SAHITYA AKADEMI NEW DELHI First Published 1967 (C) Sahitya Akademi 1967 SAHITYA AKADEMI Rabindra Bhavan 35 Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi-1 SAHITYA AKADEMI REGIONAL OFFICE Rabindra Stadium Block VB, Calcutta-29 15 Cathedral Gardens Road Madras-34 Printed by P. K. Ghosh at Eastend Printers, 3 Dr Suresh Sarkar Road, Calcutta-14 PREFACE I deem it an honour that I have been asked by the Sahitya Akademi to write this account of Malayalam Literature for their series of short histories of the important Indian languages. I must confess, however, that the actual writing of it has proved a more difficult task than I thought it would be. It is the need to be concise, and at the same time comprehensive, that proved particularly challenging. A history in some greater detail, I feel, could have made for a smoother, a more spontaneous, piece of narration. It is a vast subject, the history of Malayalam Literature from its earliest days up to the present time, and when it has to be presented in a volume of this size, even the most important material has got to be condensed drastically. At the same time, it is necessary to discuss even relatively unimportant factors which went into its shaping. Every major poet and author, and all the movements they enriched, have to be presented in their proper sequence and perspective, and the social circumstances of the times in which they flourished interpreted and evaluated in terms of the present-day situation. Needless to say, to synthesise and coordinate the various factors has been no easy task, and the author had no models to go by, either. However, I have sought to make this work as comprehen¬ sive, within the framework of the series, as possible. It is the idea of the Sahitya Akademi to bring out, through this series, the correspondences and similarities among the various re¬ gional languages and the unity that underlies Indian Litera¬ ture as a whole. It is also their idea to translate the work into other Indian languages. It has therefore become necessary to conceive this work from a wider perspective and leave out certain details which may not interest non-Malayali readers. It has been my idea not to make the work a catalogue of names. In fact there is no relevance in a work of this kind to speak of authors whose works have no direct bearing on the growth of literature. But this choice of names becomes a real problem when we come to the modern period. While dis- VI PREFACE cussing a movement, many names may have to be mentioned, but it is hardly possible to discuss them all. I can only say that if some names are left out, the omission is in no way else deli¬ berate. I may also add that if a few well-known works, pub¬ lished since the preparation of the manuscript, have been left out, that too was inevitable. I acknowledge with thanks the very considerate assistance rendered to me by the Malayalam Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi in the preparation of this work. Sardar K. M. Panikkar, President of the Board, Professor Joseph Mundasseri, Sri Suranad Kunjan Pillai, Sri G. Sankara Kurup, Dr. K. Bhaskaran Nair and Sri N. V. Krishnawarier have all gone through the manuscript and helped me with their valuable suggestions. The discussions I have had with Sri Suranad Kunjan Pillai were particularly useful. I am also in¬ debted to Dr. K. M. George, Assistant Secretary of the Sahitya Akademi. As a linguist and critic, he has been of even greater help to me than as an official of the Akademi. We have had to correspond with each other at great length, and his suggestions have had much to do with giving the work its final shape. Once again I thank these distinguished men of letters and the Sahitya Akademi for their very kind help and guidance. Trivandrum 7-2-1958 P. K. Parameswaran Nair
The list of books you might like
