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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