Kumaran Asan

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Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox writer Template:Renaissance of Kerala Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (12 April 1871 – 16 January 1924) was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry during the first quarter of the 20th century, transforming it from the metaphysical to the lyrical and his poetry is characterised by its moral and spiritual content, poetic concentration and dramatic contextualisation. He is one of the triumvirate poets of Kerala and a disciple of Sree Narayana Guru. He was awarded the prefix "Mahakavi" in 1922 by the Madras university which means "great poet".Template:Refn

Biography

File:Asan with guru.JPG
Kumaran Asan (standing right) with Narayana Guru (seated middle).

AsanTemplate:Refn was born on 12 April 1873, in a merchant family belonging to Ezhava community in Kayikkara village, Chirayinkeezhu taluk, Anchuthengu Grama Panchaayath in TravancoreTemplate:Refn to Narayanan Perungudi, a polyglot well versed in Malayalam and Tamil languages, and Kochupennu as the second of their nine children.<ref name="Akademi">Template:Cite web</ref> His early schooling was at a local school by a teacher by name, Udayankuzhi Kochuraman Vaidyar, who taught him elementary Sanskrit after which he continued his studies at the government school in Kayikkara until he was thirteen. Subsequently, he joined the school as a teacher in 1889 but had to quit as he was not old enough to hold a government job. It was during this time, he studied the verses and plays of Sanskrit literature. Later, he started working as an accountant at a local wholesale grocer in 1890, the same year he met Shree Narayana Guru and became the spiritual leader's disciple.<ref name="Chronicle">Template:Cite web</ref>

Narayana Guru's influence led Asan to spiritual pursuits and he spent some time at a local temple, in prayers and teaching Sanskrit.<ref name="Akademi" /> Soon, he joined Guru at his Aruvippuram hermitage where he was known as Chinnaswami ("young ascetic"). In 1895, he moved to Bangalore and studied for law, staying with Padmanabhan Palpu. He stayed there only until 1898 as Palpu went to England and a plague epidemic spread over Bangalore and Asan spent the next few months in Madras before proceeding to Calcutta to continue his Sanskrit studies.<ref name="Chronicle" /> At Calcutta, he studied at Tarka sastra at the Central Hindu College, studying English simultaneously and also got involved with the Indian Renaissance, but his stay was again cut short due to plague epidemic.<ref name="A History of Indian Literature 1911–1956: Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India">Template:Cite book</ref> He returned to Aruvippuram in 1900.<ref name="Chronicle" />

Asan was also involved with the activities of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) and became its secretary in 1904.<ref name="SNDP Yogam">Template:Cite web</ref> The same year, he founded Vivekodayam, a literary journal in Malayalam, and assumed its editorship.<ref name="Das2005">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="A Social History of India">Template:Cite book</ref> Under his leadership, the magazine became a monthly from a bi-monthly.<ref name="Kumaranasan - Kerala Media Academy">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1913, he was elected to the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly (Sri Moolam Praja Sabha),<ref name="Chronicle" /> the first popularly elected legislature in the history of India.<ref name="History of legislative bodies in Kerala-- Sri Moolam Praja Sabha">Template:Cite web</ref> He relinquished the position at SNDP in 1919 and a year later, took over the editorship of Pratibha, another literary magazine In 1921, he started a clay tile factory, Union Tile Works, in Aluva but when it was found that the factory was polluting the nearby palace pond, he shifted the project to a site near Aluva river and handed over the land to SNDP for building an Advaitashramam.<ref name="Kumaran Asan As A Business Man">Template:Cite web</ref> Later, he moved to Thonnakkal, a village in the periphery of Thiruvananthapuram, where he settled with his wife.<ref name="Chronicle" /> In 1923, he contested in assembly election from Quilon constituency but lost to Sankara Menon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Asan married Bhanumathiamma, the daughter of Thachakudy Kumaran Writer in 1917.<ref name="Makers of Indian Literature. Kumaran Asan">Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

Asan died on 16 January 1924, after a boat named Redeemer carrying him capsized in the Pallana river in Alappuzha.<ref name="Kumaranasan Biography Kerala PSC">Template:Cite web</ref> His body was recovered after two days and the place where his mortal remains were cremated is known as Kumarakodi.<ref name="Kumarakodi - District Alappuzha, Government of Kerala">Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

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File:Kumaranasan - handwriting from notebooks kept at Thonnakkal museum (28).jpg
Handwriting of Kumaran Asan : From the notebooks of Asan kept at Thonnakkal Asan museum

Kumaran Asan was one of the triumvirate poets of modern Malayalam, along with Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer.<ref name="When poesy met poise on stage - Times of India">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of the earlier works of the poet were Subramanya Sathakam and Sankara Sathakam, which were devotional in content but his later poems were marked by social commentary.<ref name="Kumaran Asan - Indian poet">Template:Cite web</ref> He published Veena Poovu (the fallen flower) in December 1907 in Mithavadi of Moorkoth Kumaran which went on to become a literary classic in Malayalam; its centenary was celebrated in 2017 when a book, Veenapoovinu 100 was published which carried an introduction by M. M. Basheer and an English translation of the poem by K. Jayakumar.<ref name="Veena Poovu: still in bloom">Template:Cite web</ref> Prarodanam, an elegy, mourning the death of his contemporary, friend and grammarian, A. R. Raja Raja Varma, Khanda Kavyas (poems) such as Nalini, Leela, Karuna, Chandaalabhikshuki, Chinthaavishtayaaya Seetha, and Duravastha are some of his other major works.<ref name="Kumaran Asan - A Biography">Template:Cite web</ref> Besides, he wrote two epics, Buddha Charitha in 5 volumes and Balaramayanam, a three-volume work.<ref name="Books and Works">Template:Cite web</ref>

Honours

In 1958, when Joseph Mundassery was the Minister of Education, the Government of Kerala acquired Asan's house in Thonnakkal and established the Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture (Kanic), as a memorial for the poet,<ref name="Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture">Template:Cite web</ref> the first instance in Kerala history when the government took over a poet's property to convert it into a memorial.<ref name="The Memorial of Asan">Template:Cite web</ref> It houses an archives, a museum and a publications division. Asan Memorial Association, a Chennai-based organization, has built a memorial at Kayikkara, the birthplace of the poet.<ref name="Asan Memorial, Kayikkara">Template:Cite web</ref> They have also instituted an annual award, Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram, for recognising excellence in Malayalam poetry.<ref name="Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram">Template:Cite web</ref> The award carries a cash prize of Template:INR30,000 and Sugathakumari, O. N. V. Kurup, K. Ayyappa Panicker and K. Satchidanandan are some of the recipients of the award.<ref name="List of Awardees">Template:Cite web</ref> Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School is a CBSE affiliated higher secondary school run by Asan Memorial Association.<ref name="ASAN Memorial Senior Secondary School">Template:Cite web</ref> The India Post issued a commemorative postage stamp depicting Asan's portrait in 1973, in connection with his birth centenary.<ref name="Amrut Philately Gallery - 1973">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Commemorative and definitive stamps">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn

Works

File:Kumaranasan - Chandalabhikshuki scene at Thonnakkal Asan Smarakam.jpg
Kumaran Asan - Chandalabhikshuki - a mural at Thonnakkal Asan Smarakam

Major works

Year Work Remarks
1907 Veena Poovu (The Fallen Flower)<ref name="Veenapoovu">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> Asan scripted this epoch-making poem in 1907 during his sojourn in Jain Medu, Palakkad.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A highly philosophical poem, 'Veena Poovu' is an allegory of the transience of the mortal world, which is depicted through the description of the varied stages in the life of a flower. Asan describes in such detail about its probable past and the position it held. It is an intense sarcasm on people on high powers/positions finally losing all those. The first word Ha, and the last word Kashtam of the entire poem is often considered as a symbolism of him calling the world outside Ha! kashtam (How pitiful).<ref name="Lal1992">Template:Cite book</ref>
1911 Nalini<ref name="Nalini : Patam, Patanam, Vyakhyanam">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Nalini">Template:Cite book</ref> It is a love poem, which details the love between Nalini and Diwakharan.<ref name="George1972">Template:Cite book</ref>
1914 Leela<ref name="Leela">Template:Cite book</ref> A deep love story in which Leela leaves Madanan, her lover and returns to find him in forest in a pathetic condition. She thus realises the fundamental fact Mamsanibhadamalla ragam (true love is not carnal)<ref name="ലീലയ്ക്ക് 100 വയസ്">Template:Cite web</ref>
1919 Prarodanam (Lamentation)<ref name="Prarodanam">Template:Cite book</ref> An elegy on the death of A. R. Rajaraja Varma, a poet, critic and scholar; similar to Percy Bysshe Shelley's Adonaïs, with a distinctly Indian philosophical attitude.<ref name="Das2005" />
1919 Chinthavishtayaaya Sita (Reflective Sita) <ref name="Chindavishtayaya Seetha">Template:Cite book</ref> An exploration of womanhood and sorrow, based on the plight of Sita of Ramayana.<ref name="Pati2019">Template:Cite book</ref>
1922 Duravastha (The Tragic Plight)<ref name="Duravastha">Template:Cite book</ref> A love story depicting the relationship between Savithri, a Namboothiri heiress and Chathan, a youth from a lower caste. A political commentary on 19th and early 20th century Kerala.<ref name="Theatrical adaptation brings Kumaran Asan’s poem to life - Times of India">Template:Cite web</ref>
1922 Chandaalabhikshuki<ref name="Chandala bhikshuki">Template:Cite book</ref> This poem, divided into four parts and consisting of couplets, describes an untouchable beggar-woman" (also the name of the poem) who approaches Lord Ananda near Sravasti.<ref name="Sadasivan2000 1">Template:Cite book</ref>
1923 Karuna (compassion)<ref name="Karuna">Template:Cite book</ref> The story of Vasavadatta, a devadasi, and Upagupta, a Buddhist monk.<ref name="Sadasivan2000">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Raveendran2002">Template:Cite book</ref> Tells the story of sensory attraction and its aftermath.<ref name="BoehmerBoehmer2010">Template:Cite book</ref>

Other works

File:Kumaran Ashan.jpg
A statue of Kumaran Asan in front of the University of Kerala.
Year Work Remarks
1901 Sthothrakrithikal Poetry anthology
1901 Saundaryalahari Poetry anthology
1915–29 Sree Budhacharitham<ref name="Sree Budhacharitham">Template:Cite book</ref> This is an epic poem comprising 5 volumes (perhaps Kumaran Asan's longest work), written in couplets
1917–21 Baalaraamaayanam This is a shorter epic poem consisting of 267 verses in three volumes. Most of these verses are couplets, with the exception of the last three quatrains viz. Balakandam (1917), Ayodhyakandam (1920) and Ayodhyakandam (1921). There are, therefore, 540 lines in all
1918 Graamavrikshattile Kuyil<ref name="Kuyil">Template:Cite book</ref>
1922 Pushpavaadi<ref name="Pushpavadi">Template:Cite book</ref>
1924 Manimaala<ref name="Manimala">Template:Cite book</ref> Poetry anthology
1925 Vanamaala<ref name="Vanamala">Template:Cite book</ref> Poetry anthology

Kumaran Asan also wrote many other poems. Some of these poems are listed in the book Asante Padyakrthikal under the name "Mattu Krthikal" (Other Works):

  • Sadaachaarasathakam
  • Sariyaaya Parishkaranam
  • Bhaashaaposhinisabhayodu
  • Saamaanyadharmangal
  • Subrahmanyapanchakam
  • Mrthyanjayam
  • Pravaasakaalaththu Naattile Ormakal
This is another collection of poems that come from various letters Kumaran Asan wrote over the course of several years. None of the poems were longer than thirty-two lines.
  • Koottu Kavitha

The other poems are lesser known. Only a few of them have names:

  • Kavikalkkupadesam
  • Mangalam
  • Oru Kathth
This is another one of Asan's letter-poems.
  • Randu Aasamsaapadyangal

poems or stories which are written by kritikal 1. Leela 2. veenpuv 3. nlene 4. kruna 4. parodnam

Prose

Translations

Works on Asan

See also

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Notes

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References

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