by Jeyamohan and Suchitra Ramachandran
When the troops of the powerful sultan Allauddin Khilji conquer Madurai, the city’s goddess, Meenakshi, flees to the coastal land of Kumari. There she remains for sixty years, sheltered within the Venad kingdom, as the land flourishes under her presence and protection. When the divine law finally calls Meenakshi to her home, Madurai, her departure is felt as a deeply human loss – to the people of Kumari, she is no longer just a deity but also a daughter.
This elegant and vivid translation traces the entwined lives of gods and mortals, where history, devotion and love meet – and where faith is tested by exile and return.
B. Jeyamohan (b. 1962), based in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, is a pre-eminent writer in modern Tamil literature. Apart from his other landmark novels such as Vishnupuram (1997) and Kotravai (2005), his body of work includes more than three hundred short stories, many volumes of literary criticism, biographies, travelogues,introductory texts to Indian and Western literature, as well as essays on heritage and philosophy. He won the Akilan Memorial Prize for his first novel, and the Katha Samman and the Sanskriti Samman awards.
Suchitra writes fiction in Tamil and translates between Tamil and English. Her work has appeared in journals such as Asymptote and Narrative Magazine.The Abyss is her first full-length translated work to be published. Suchitra lives in Basel, Switzerland.
***********************
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.