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Syllabus of Adhikaram

     q       What’s your reaction to the Adhikaram controversy?

q       VKN: Malcolm Maggeridge, who was the editor of Punch, was earlier, a lead-writer with the Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian). He used to sit in his cabin with his colleague Kingsley martin. Martin asked him: “What’s our line on capital?” Maggeridge replies: “The same as that on capital punishment.”

Temperature is still running high in the literary and academic circles of Kerala over VKN’s Adhikaram, which has been finally retained as an optional non-detailed textbook for the second year degree students of Calicut University.

Vadakke Kuttala Narayanan Nair –VKN as he is to his avid readers – is one of the foremost living writers in Malayalam. Now settled in Tiruvilwamala, he has been chronicling the life of our times for the past four decades.

A former journalist – during 1959-’69 in Delhi – his literary output has been least economical. Fourteen novels and 20 collections of short stories. Often misplaced as a humour writer in the mainstream literary discourse, his writings are quixotic response of an original cosmopolitan creative mind to the absurd time we are passing through. With his dark humour and sexual innuendos intertwined with razor-sharp observation, he creates parodies of history with chilling perfection.

Defying conventional categorizations, VKN writes compellingly about the deceit and decay of contemporary society. He did something few Indian writers dared to do: he tore away the veil of moral postures surrounding our system and history.

Through legendary ‘Payyan’, who is a go-getter with his super-human virtues, VKN, creates a hero destined to bear the wicked times. Payyan represents the Indraprastha in transition – from the post-Nehruvian era towards the time when money becomes the buzzword. Sir Chathu, another recurring VKN character, also represents the wonderfully wide-ranging characteristics of his oeuvre. It shows that VKN is at ease with the nuances of the feudal system as with that of the back-room political maneuverings in Delhi.

VKN’s works attest Mikhail Bakthin’s observation: “Laughter celebrates its masses, professes its faith, celebrates marriages and funerals, writes its epitaph, elects kings and bishops.” His devastating wit combined with an acute sense of history has no parallels, not just in Malayalam fiction but in other Indian languages too. Dr. V. Rajakrishnan, critic, rightly puts it: “Had VKN chosen English as his language of expression, he would have surely become one of the few great humourists of the century.”

The controversial novel, Adhikaram, had a quiet publishing history when it was serialized in Kala Kaumudi about a decade ago. Later when it was published as a book in 1987, no eyebrows were raised.

Adhikaram, a political satire, has come under attack by the pro-Congress Kerala Students Union as they alleged that the novel narrated the life and times of the late Rajiv Gandhi. However, the KSU, which raised a hue and cry over the novel, shifted the focus of the attack midway through the academic year to ‘excessive doze of obscenity’ in the book.

The KSU claim was furthered by writers and critics like Prof. Ss. Guptan Nair and E. Vasu.

The narrative of Adhiakaram is structured around a young king and his cronies turning the whole political system into an absurd theatre. Consequent events make the security chief, Raman Namboothiripad, the almighty.

The utter senselessness of the new king reaches such a level that even the President comes under attack by one of his Cabinet colleagues for returning a Bill without signing it. The plot culminates in the dismissal of the Government by the President – but the king and wife manage to flee the country before it.  Many characters of the novel are thin disguises of V. P. Singh, Buta Singh, Zail Singh, T. N. Seshan, and Mani Shankar Aiyar. The KSU agitation was promptly blessed by none other than the KPCC president, Vayalar Ravi. He compared the novel to the porno magazine, Playboy.

An unfazed VKN comments: “His statement shows that he hasn’t read either.”  Interestingly, when the issue was raised by a Congress MLA in the Assembly, the Education Minister had given a hint to the university to reconsider its decision. The otherwise militant SFI leadership came out with a feebly-worded statement demanding an “amicable solution to the issue.” That too after the Vice-Chancellor was gheraoed by the KSU activists.

“Is this a labour dispute to find an amicable solution,” quips VKN.

Writer Paul Zacharia is least puzzled by the issue. “Now writer has any special rights other than that of a common man. The issue once again highlights the widespread violation of human rights in our society. Here VKN also got a share of it.” Dr. V. Rajakrishnan, who was a member of the Board of Studies, which prescribed the novel as a textbook, is upset by the agitation. “It is a reflection on the nose-dive the democratic values the Congress had once upheld have taken. In fact, this provides an ample opportunity to the Congressmen for soul-searching. The post-Nehruvian era led by Indira Gandhi has been responsible for the present rotten culture of the Congress. It is high time the Congressmen abandoned the Indira-Sanjay-Rajiv legacy.”

Rajakrishnan fails to grasp why Congressmen are so touchy about the dynasty. On the other hand they often turn a Nelson’s eye towards attacks on Mahatma Gandhi. Zacharia says that it shows the mental slavery of the Malayali psyche, which is willing to bear anyone and anything from Delhi.

Meanwhile, VKN’s contributions to Malayalam language and literature remain undisputed. Dr. B. Rajeevan, also a critic, notes that VKN had broken the notion that words were mere carriers of meaning. “He creates language without being bothered about their meaning. Reversing the proverbs and the traditional usages of the language, he evolved a unique milieu in the language,” he says.

Dr. Rajakrishnan also agrees that VKN’s new style of language, mixing English and Malayalam, is unparalleled. A few writers like O. V. Vijayan and Vaikom Muhammed Bahseer could successfully experiment with the language. Zacharia is of the opinion that there is no other writer who pushed the Malayalam language to new frontiers like VKN. “IN this achievement, he even surpassed Kunjan Nambiar.”

VKN laughs at the allegation that his works are obscene. He quotes from a story, which appeared in New Yorker, the top-ranking literary journal whose contributors include Marquez and Ben Okri. I found out my clitoris at the age of sixteen on the pages of a book.  “Compared to this, what we write is nothing.”

“It is quite understandable,“ says Zacharia. “It reflects the hypocritical male-dominated moral conservatism of the Malayali society. Be it a modern writer or a post-modern writer, when it comes to handling sex as a subject, everybody conveniently skirts it.”

According to Zacharia, VKN is one writer who treated sex so boldly. “A few writers could achieve it n our language – like Thakazhi and O. V. Vijayan.” VKN admits that the limitations of Malayalam make the treatment of sex a difficult task. “One way out is to give it in another language and then give a translation.”

Rajakrsihnan agrees that there is criticism from the feminist quarters that VKN’s female characters are meant only for fulfilling the sexual desire of their male counterparts. They are also alleged as one-dimensional characters. “But what the critics forget is the fact that these women are also part of the comic universe created by VKN. The whole universe here is distorted and exaggerated, at which VKN laughs.”

Rajeevan is of the opinion that at a time when sexuality has entered the centrestage of society it is farcical to allege obscenity in VKN’s works. “Though it is said that sexuality is repressed in our society, it enters the public sphere with each passing day. Those who raise a hue and cry over the issue must be the forces poised against his.”

As a writer, VKN attributes his success to the exposure he could get during his Delhi life. “If I had restricted myself to Kerala, I could never have any visions of my life. The years in Delhi as a journalist helped to transcend my regional outlook.”

He is sad that few writers in Malayalam are interested in the new literature from other part of the world. “Read Ben Okri, it is the real stuff. Which writer goes after new titles other than one MT or one N. P. Muhammed.?” VKN’s historical sense also invites instant critical acclaim from many quarters. Pithamahan beautifully illustrates his anachronism. Sir Chathu, Lady Shat, Nanuar, Ittup, and Payyan – all are curious mixtures of history, economics, and politics.

As Rajeevan puts observes, VKN’s novels are marked by an intense desire for history – a history that is unwritten and that is radically different from all the written histories of Kerala. “However, in VKN’s novels, the way this desire finds expression is through the subversion of positivist notions of history. This often takes the form of irony and parody of the existing textbook histories of Kerala… the literary effects of these texts remain irreducibly modern and universal relying on subversion and parody rather than nostalgic construction of a ‘real’ past.”

 The present controversy has only reinforced the supreme writing quality and the uncompromising honesty of VKN. One can only hope that the issues stirred by this controversy may do good for literature and language in the long run. It may provide an opportunity for both the writers and political activists for some kind of soul-searching. But only if the cultural world is able to evolve meaningful debates out of it.

Politics, work of arts

It is quite natural that in a highly politically polarized State like Kerala any work of art even with distant connotations of politics evokes furious emotional reactions. When Kesava Dev’s Odayil Ninnu was made a textbook for college students in the sixties, there was criticism that the first Communist government was trying to spread the Communist ideology. More recently, P. A. Warrier’s article on The Last Temptation of Christ under the same title was included in a textbook in Calicut University. Following harsh criticism from religious groups, the article was withdrawn. Poet Vishnu Narayanan Nambothiri’s attempt to humanize God in his poem Adavum Daivavum also invited the wrath of the Bishops Council. Finally Kerala University decided to retain it in the textbook but not to teach it. Curiously, N. S. Madhavan’s story Vanmarangal Veezhumbol is being taught in Calicut University, which owes its title to an infamous statement by the late Rajiv Gandhi in the wake of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. Turning to visual media, P. M. Antony’s drama Christuvinte Aaram Thirumurivu base don the Nikos Kazantzakis novel The Last Temptation of Christ was banned following virulent criticism from various religious quarters. Kaniyapuram Ramachandran’s Bhagavan Kaalumarunnu also came in for virtual physical attack from the Sangh Parivar in the State. Not to be left behind, the vast organized network of Communist intellectuals was up in arms against Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Mukhamukhom, for the alleged distorted portrayal of the Communist movement in the State.

The Indian Express

Express Week

16 November 1996