The 21st session of vayanam, conducted by the Literary Club of KSBC with the resource person Ms. Athulyapriya K discussing the book ‘Thakshankunnu Swaroopam’ by U K Kumaran. Literally Thakshankunnu Swaroopam is an epic saga. It was originally written in Malayalam by UK Kumaran and translated in English by Jayasankar Keezhayi. The expanse of the novel is great and I had fabulous reading sessions with the book, though it stretched over many days.
It’s a Kerala story. The setting, the people, the places – Thakshankunnu was considered a province in the Malabar region of Kerala. Mainly its residents were untouchables…but like any other place they were being suppressed by high-caste people for their own motives and prejudice. The most confounding one was marking of the women of the untouchables by high-caste people. This novel at various places captures this taboo brilliantly and with time it gets fierce opposition by the real locals of Thakshankunnu.
430 pages…I absolutely loved it. No stopping, no unnecessary philosophical palaver…the storyline is filled with events and actions with the help of over one hundred characters fitting in the mojo of their roles from over and again. Though region wise it is a local story, however the vocal chorus of the independence struggle was heard, lived, and endured equally by the people of Thakshankunnu.