The Legends of Khasak - Post 1: Introduction, Characters

 The Legends of Khasak (Khasakkinte Ithihaasam)




The Writer:

Author and cartoonist.

Authored six novels, nine short-story collections, and nine collections of essays, memoirs and reflections. His works have range widely from the comic to the philosophical, and show diversity in situations, tones and styles. An incisive writer in English as well, Vijayan translated most of his own works from Malayalam to English. He was also an editorial cartoonist and political observer and worked for news publications including The Statesman and The Hindu.

First short story: Parayu, Father Gonsalves.

Khasakkinte Ithihaasam: Vijayan’s first novel (1969). It took 12 years for Vijayan to compose it. One of the best sellers in South Asia. Translated into English (by the author himself), French and German. It was a revolution in Malayalam literature, powerful enough to cause a divide as Pre Khasak and Post Khasak eras.

Influences from his life upon the book:

Born in Palakkad

Premature birth – sickly throughout his life (ultimately, victim to Parkinsonism). – references to the epidemic and illness in the work

Informal education arranged by his father – must have influenced the various processes of education in the work.

O V Vijayan’s sister was appointed as teacher in a single-teacher school at Thasarak, in Palakkad. Vijayan spend around 2 months with her in Thasarak. The spatial setting of the novel (Khasak) is woven around Thasarak. But it is not to be seen as an exact replica of Thasarak.

The Setting

Temporal: 1950’s – construction of Malampuzha dam; rise of communist trade unions

Spatial: Significantly, Khasak, Koomankaavu, Chitalimala

Fictional/ Semi fictional settings in literature: (Fictional, Lost, Fictionalised, Exact portrayals)

·       Thomas Hardy’s Wessex: a real place existed – a medieval Anglo Saxon kingdom; but the Wessex in Hardy is not an exact replica of the place.

·       Malgudi in R K Narayan

Yoknapatawpha County in William Faulkner

·       221B Baker Street of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The characters in Vijayan’s work too need not be from Thasarak. Appukili was modeled on a real-life character Vijayan met elsewhere, and first appears in a short story “Appukili” of 1958.

The backdrop of novel is predominantly muslim; however, Khasak is a village which has significant presence of both muslims and hindus. 

Wikipedia reading of the plot:

Khasakkinte Itihasam does not have a single narrative plot. It is crafted in the form of the spiritual journey of an under-graduate dropout, Ravi, plagued by the guilt of an illicit affair he had with his stepmother. Ravi abandons a bright academic career and a research offer from Princeton University. He deserts his lover Padma and leaves on a long pilgrimage, which finally brings him to the small hamlet of Khasak near Palakkad. At Khasak, he starts a single-teacher school as part of the District Board’s education initiative.

The novel begins with Ravi’s arrival at Khasak and his encounters with its people, Allappicha Mollakka, Appukkili, Shivaraman Nair, Madhavan Nair, Kuppuvachan, Maimoona, Khaliyar, Aliyar, and the students of his school like Kunhamina, Karuvu, Unipparadi, Kochusuhara and others. After some years, his lover Padma calls on him and Ravi decides to leave Khasak. He commits suicide through snake-bite while waiting for a bus at Koomankavu.

The novel has no story-line per se. It recounts the numerous encounters of Khasak from a spiritual and philosophical frame of mind. Through these encounters, Vijayan narrates numerous stories, myths and superstitions cherished in Khasak. He places them in opposition to the scientific and rational world outside, which is now making inroads into the hamlet through Ravi's single-teacher school. The irony of the interface between these two worlds occupies a substantial space in the novel. Through the myths and stories, Vijayan also explores similar encounters of the past recounted by the people of Khasak, enabling him to have a distinctly unique view of cultural encounters across time and space.

Language

In most places, other than for the narrative segments, the author follows the Palakkad dialect of Malayalam, which has influences of Tamil. The book provides ‘translation’ of many pieces of conversation, from the dialect form to literary Malayalam, through footnotes.

Structure

28 chapters. Almost linear; from Ravi’s reaching Koomankavu to start the school. to his reaching the same place after winding up his work. The past is brought out through subtle glance-backs, without confusing the reader.

Major Characters

Ravi: the protagonist. Comes to Khasak to be in charge of the single-teacher school at Khasak.

Sivaraman Nair – the impoverished feudal chief of Khasak. The school is set in his shed which was used to store seedlings.

Narayani- wife of Sivaraman Nair

Kalyanikutty – Daughter of Sivaraman Nair and Narayani

Madhavan Nair: the village tailor; nephew of Sivaraman Nair. Sivaraman Nair was not fond of him as he had disgraced the family by becoming a tailor. A close friend of Ravi till the end.

Allah-picha Mollakka: the mullah, aged 60, who teaches Muslim children in the madrassa.

Thitthi Bi – Allah-pitcha’s wife

Maimoona: daughter of Allah-pitcha and Thitthi Bi

Nizam Ali: a boy nurtured by Allah-picha. Later, he becomes a Khasi (a person inspired by a saint) of Sayed Mian Sheikh. Sayed Mian Sheikh is a venerated leader in the saga/ legend of Khasak. He came to Khasak with a group of thousand soldiers.

Aliyar: runs a tea shop

Kuppu Acchen: the palm climber; a village gossip

Kesi: Kuppu Acchen’s daughter-in-law

Appu-Kili: A dwarfed person who was sort of intellectually challenged. He too is Ravi’s student.

Neeli: Appu-Kili’s mother

Kuttaappu: Husband of Kali, Neeli’s elder sister

Zulfiqur Hayat: a supporter of Ravi’s school; cousin of Attar Muthalali;

Attar: A drop out from Mollacka’s school, he was first to trade beyond Khasak, and establish a beedi factory in Koomankavu.

Sohra Bi: Attar’s wife

Chukkru: A diver, nicknamed ‘Diving Fowl’. Marries Maimoona.

Abida, Chukkru’s daughter in an earlier marriage.

Kelan: An untouchable, who starts an upper-primary school

Thanka: friend of Maimoona; a jiggery seller. News like that of the beedi factory strike reach Khasak through her.

Kuttadan: A lower-caste oracle of the goddess Nallamma

Chand Umma: A muslim lady brought in by Madhavan Nair to help Ravi in cooking and cleaning.

Kunhu Nooru: Chand Umma’s eight-year old son

Chandu Mutthu: Chand Umma’s four-year old daughter

Gopalu Panicker: Village astrologer

Cholayumma: Mother of Kunhamina, Ravi’s student.

Kelu Menon: the postman

Padma: Ravi’s friend from the Christian College of Tambaram

Kunhamina, Chatthan, Perakkadan, Alam Khan, Kholusu, Karuvu (the monkey-performer’s son), Sohra, Appu-Kili, Adam, Madhavi, Ramankutty (Gopalu Panikker’s son), Vavar, Noorjehan, Uniparathy, Kinnari – Ravi’s students

Kallu: Wife of Kuppu

Prepared by Jacob Eapen Kunnath

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