M.T. Vasudevan Nair, a novelist, short story writer, screen play writer, film director, critic and editor is a prolific and versatile writer. His works depicted the problems of human life with keen social perception. He was awarded Padmabhushan, Kerala Jyoti and he has won Kendra and Kerala Sahithya Awards. He has directed seven films and written screen plays for 54 films. When he delivered a speech at Sahithya Academy, in 1995, he talked about the ways in which Malayalam literature has been influenced by myth, folk lore and legends.
M. V. Vasudevan Nair is of the opinion that literature has always been affected by the history, geography, myths and the provincial wisdom of the places of its origin. Ramayana and Mahabharata have a pan-Indian influence. “Aithihyamala” is the most sold book in Kerala, which is a compilation of regional legends. The genesis of Kerala itself is linked to a myth. Parasuraman decided to get absolved himself of the sins of committing kshatriya murders. So, he donated all his property to Kasyapa Muni. When the muni reminded him that he doesn’t have an inch of land as his own, Parasuraman hurled his axe into the sea, standing on Mount Gokarna. The sea retreated and gave up a piece of land that came to be know as Kerala. This myth has been the raw material for many poets in Kerala. When Balamaniamma connects the axe with sacrifice, Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon salutes the axe that was with the early migrant societies to pierce the depth of forests.
Though Kerala is a coastal area, our lieterature don’t have much sea related legends in it. In the novel “Chemmeen”, “Kadalamma”, the sea goddess, expects the women folk to live a taint-less life, while their men are toiling in the sea. Many criticized this novel and the film for upholding superstitions. But, the late C. Rajagopalachari justified the superstition saying, “What harm could come out of it, if the women of a remote locality continue being chaste believing in an old legend?”
Prominent Malayalam story writers of thirties and forties were under the sway of the concept of class struggles. But, the lives of our ancient writers are actually linked to several myths and legends. Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam language is the reincarnation of a ‘Gandharvan’ (an ethereal spirit). Similarly stories of divine and supernatural interventions are there in the lives of the Poonthanam Namboothiri and Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri.
However, in our modernist literature of O.V. Vijayan, Kovilan, Punnathil Kunhabdulla, N. P. Muhammed and M. Mukundan, regional folk tales are used with the status of parables and allegories. Moreover, young novelists like K.P. Ramanunni and T.K. Kochubava recreate the folk tales for contemporary times. They consider the myths and legends not as fabrications but as imaginary possibilities. Apart from this, they rediscover the past and blend it with the present as they echo our culture and civilization.
----Thulasidharan V
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