Kalki Krishnamurthy: The man behind ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ and its enduring legacy

A public meeting in small town Karur, Madras Presidency, 1922. A scrawny young man lambasts the British government in a shrill voice. He is arrested and hauled to court. The presiding magistrate, a ‘European’ ICS officer, tells the prosecuting inspector, “The accused seems very young. Ask him if he knows what sedition means.” The stripling cuts in to say, “Yes, Sir! I do. That is what I have been engaged in for about a year now.” The reward for speaking the truth? Rigorous imprisonment.

This entry in his prison diary by ‘Kalki’ Krishnamurthy (1899-1954) is a reminder that the forces which transformed a young man from an indigent family in rural Thanjavur into an iconic writer were his revolutionary ardour and thirst for freedom. Writing was an act of protest, a demand for a better future for the nation.

Today, Kalki is best known for his historical fiction, a genre he pioneered in his mother tongue, and in which he remains unsurpassed. Swashbuckling? Yes. Triggered by Walter Scott and Alexander Dumas? Yes. But no mimicry. In a style brand new and quintessentially Tamil, reminiscent of bardic lays of heroes and clans, those historical romances  were the writer’s means of restoring self-confidence and pride in readers plagued by the insecurities and inferiorities bred by colonisation. As he recreated the magnificent traditions of art, culture and literary achievements of the Pallavas and imperial Cholas, their glories were brought to bear on contemporary Tamil self-fashioning.

Kalki’s name has become synonymous with Ponniyin Selvan, his 2,500-page epic novel in five volumes, arguably the most read work of fiction in modern Tamil literature. However, like those of Kannada and Marathi poets BR Bendre and ‘Kusumagraj’ Shirwadkar, his readers were mostly those who shared his mother tongue. This year, the soon-to-be-released screen version of Ponniyin Selvan has triggered a greater interest in Kalki’s writings outside the Tamil realm.

A pioneer of modern Tamil literature and journalism, R Krishnamurthy  used as many as thirteen pen names, including best known “Kalki”. His output included novels, short stories, essays, political analyses, reformist tracts, travelogues, music/dance critiques, film/theatre reviews, biography, satire, songs, poems, a film script or two, and translation.  All suffused with trademark humour from slapstick to satire. Very quickly did he craft a style of his own, fluent, limpid, like a nonchalant chat with a friend as you strolled along, no looking back. The language could be informal or literary, but always translucent, with lyrical images, lilting cadences and onomatopoetic phrases, effortlessly fading in and out. Critics called it “Kalkitamizh”.

Not content to remain behind his desk, Kalki attended concerts, soirees, plays, film screenings, lectures, art festivals, and stayed in touch with current affairs. A compelling orator, he raised funds for many causes, mobilised support for indigent writers, masterminded the construction of monuments to the poet Subramania Bharati in his birthplace, and to Mahatma Gandhi in Madras.

Quitting school to answer the Mahatma’s call for non-cooperation, young Krishnamurthy started writing pamphlets at the Congress party’s office in Tiruchi.  His induction into journalism was at the patriotic journal Navasakti with reports, columns, and the serialised translation Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth.  Next came the prized opportunity to assist life-long mentor C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) in the anti-liquor magazine Vimochanam.  Kalki’s unswerving allegiance to Rajaji was to draw flak on many sides and prevent him from gaining wholehearted acceptance for his creative achievements.

It was as editor, Ananda Vikatan, that Kalki came into his own. His writings boosted the magazine’s sales and its stature.  Here Kalki began his lifelong practice of promoting young talent, women writers among them. Though he came to wield considerable influence in different fields as an opinion maker, it was his fiction that captured the hearts of the Tamils. Breathing patriotism and reformist zeal, in tones ranging from fiery idealism to frustrated irony, his stories trounced caste/creed/gender discrimination, untouchability and child marriage, supported women’s emancipation and scientific progress. He was among the first to depict the freedom fighter as a hero. His women were not victims, but strong-minded, intelligent agents of positive change.

Kalki’s early novel Tyagabhumi (1939), the land of sacrifice, condemns patriarchy and gender discrimination by centre staging Savitri, a woman who refuses to be cowed by misfortunes. Tyagabhumi became a sensation on several counts. The text was illustrated with movie stills as its filming and serialisation went hand-in-hand. While the film was banned by the British government for sedition, the novel was trounced by the hidebound for blasphemy. Savitri’s declaration that she would pay alimony to her husband rather than live with him aroused outrage. So did her statement, “I will make any sacrifice for freedom — not for slavery.”

Kalki faced his share of criticism. The Manikkodi group of writers accused Kalki of plagiarism and populism. Political opponents threw their brickbats. Kalki packed his counter punches with humour, always remembering the words of the French philosopher Voltaire, “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” He remained a stranger to malice. He could publish the writings of adversaries with whom he had engaged in acrimonious spats. Similarly, ideological differences with CN Annadurai did not prevent him from hailing the DMK leader as “the Bernard Shaw of Tamilnadu.”

Being reprimanded for preferring propaganda to literary worth however, elicited a different response. Kalki announced bluntly, “Expect writings of lasting literary value from the hundreds and thousands of Tamil writers who will appear hereafter. Let me be what I am, a propagandist!” Hadn’t the liberal humanist chosen his pseudonym — the name of Vishnu’s final avatar for the destruction of the world — because he was singularly resolved to “destroy regressive regimes, express radical thoughts, take readers into new directions, and create a new era”!

Kalki weathered the shock of being unceremoniously booted out of Ananda Vikatanin 1940 for his decision to perform satyagraha. Months later, he launched his eponymous magazine in partnership with friend T Sadasivam, with funds raised by Sadasivam’s Carnatic vocalist wife MS Subbulakshmi.

Readers queued to grab their copies of Kalki, the new magazine on the block, at newsstands, bus stops and railway stations. Some read it as they walked home, others subscribed to two issues to avoid rivalry in the family, while many households solved the problem by listening to the serial being read aloud by a family elder. The Audit Bureau of Circulation certified that each Kalki issue had a print order of 71,366. In the 1950s, Kalki’s circulation was higher than that of any newspaper or magazine in any language in India.

 Kalki cast its spell with its historical romances, drawing a record number of women into the readers’ fold. But the writer had a purpose beyond entertainment. Partiban Kanavu (1941-43) allegorised the thirst for freedom in a Chola prince who refused to make compromises.  Sivakamiyin Sapatham showed how the civilian population, arts and values are the first casualties of violence and warfare, even as it warned of the dangers of religion invading politics. Ponniyin Selvan featured daring conquerors and deadly conspirators in its political machinations, but the focus is on peace keeping and protecting the innocent in war zones. To the author, the mammoth narrative climaxed not on the battlefield, but on the dharmic victory of Prince Arulmozhi in renouncing the throne.

Alai Osai,  the sound of waves, which the author deemed his best work, documents the turbulent decades of India’s freedom struggle between 1934-1948, seen through the eyes of ordinary people who are inevitably affected by socio-political changes. The author had witnessed and participated in those turbulences and recorded them as a journalist before depicting them in fiction. Kalki planned to write the novel against the panoramic background of a nation waking to freedom, aglow with the spiritual radiance of the Mahatma. But the horrors of the Partition and the gunshot ricocheting from the assassination of Gandhi, put an end to valorisation. Hope could not banish the shivering apprehensions.

 As Alai Osai journeys through the subcontinent — from village Thanjavur to Madras, Bombay, Karachi, Delhi, Agra, Calcutta, Lahore and more, the reader begins to face questions in the here and now — about politics and ethics, state and citizen, society and the individual, the vestiges of colonialism, privilege and marginalisation, history and cultural revisionism. The reader can also see how, though rooted in  Tamil culture, region, language and identity, Kalki’s eclectic and inclusive vision, with its national sweep and international focus, remains relevant in our changing times.

In his keynote address at the Tamil Writers’ conference a few months before his death, Kalki spelt out his credo:

The test of good writing is whether it aids the unification of the human community or promotes discord… Any writing that militates against the ethical principles of love, empathy, justice and truth will bring harm to humanity. And any evil sprouting in any section of society will have an irreversible impact on the whole world.

In Kalki Krishnamurthy’s own work, the revolutionary inflames the writer, the poet coexists with the propagandist, the creative mind informs the crusading spirit. As he saw it, to write is to be free. It is also  the fulfilment of the writer’s responsibilities as a human being endowed with the powers of thought, action and imagination. Without fear. With compassion.

 Inhouse playwright and artistic director, JustUs Repertory, Dr Gowri Ramnarayan  was f_ormerly Deputy Editor, ‘The Hindu’, and vocal accompanist to Carnatic musician MS Subbulakshmi. She has authored several books, including a biography of MS Subbulakshmi (MS & Radha), and translated MRM Sundaram’s biography of Tamil writer Kalki (Kalki Krishnamurthy: His Life and Times)._

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