Even since I chanced to read the novel 'Ini Njan Urangatte' I eagerly wished that somebody should translate it into English so that it can have a wider readership. I waited so many years to see that done by a worthy hand. But, some-how or other, it did not happen so far. There are mainly two reasons for my desire to see this novel becoming world famous. One factor is the theme therein. The novel is based upon 'Vyasa Bharata a universally acclaimed macrocosmic volume which has lived for more than two thou-sand years. Especially in the present context when the global village is in the offing, English will surely be its dialect. That is why I think that great writings in Indian Languages be made available to the world at large for mutual benefit.
Second persuasion is the feeling that this book occupies a pride of place among P.K. Balakrishnan's literary output. I thought that he should be introduced to the West also so that his towering literary reputation among Malayalees should be recognised and acclaimed, the world over.
In more there one respect, 'Ini Njan Urangatte' is a literary creation par excellence in that while the work is based upon Vyasa Bharatha, the author has recreated the characters and incidents independently. This comely artistic work where the flash-backs maintain the stylised language and atmosphere of the classic get intertwined with narrations and episodes of his own creation is a class of its own. The greater part of this com-position is the entire story of Karna. The author created of his own a parallel concept revolving around Draupadi and in those imaginary threads, he fastened the petal of Karna's story. The soliloquies of Draupadi are innovated imparting to it a new philosophical dimension and tragic depth which in its turn gets entwined and enveloped on Karna the great banyan tree presenting a wonderful spectacle of blooming ochre flowers of futility and alienation Along with the forces of these parallel currents, one can discern in this book a sincere effort to intro-duce with utmost elegance other important characters and in-cidents in the 'Maha Bharata'. There are revealed the old time ideals of the courage and pride of woman and the glory of man.
The novel that originates from the drumbeats of bitter tragedy is flowing down tuning the melancholic note of dark reality that is inevitable in life and consequent dilemmas. When it gets silenced in the frozen darkness of lonely meaningless-ness, the novel lingers in the reader's mind as an unforgettable experience. The flow of the narration which starts from the guilty conscience of the mother Draupadi and from the moral indignation of the lady love Draupadi changing its aspect and coalescing into the affliction of all womanhood and culminating in the melancholic stuttering of this vain earthly life at times reaches the heights of lofty lyric. The language and presentation are so appealing that I could translate certain portions only with tearful eyes and a throbbing heart. For example, scenes like the conversation between Sree Krishna and Draupadi, the meeting between Kunti and Karna, the interview between Sree Krishna and Karna, the meeting between Karna and Bhisma in the bed of arrows etc: I fear whether I could succeed in imparting the same effect in the translation. My only consolation is that I tried my best to be true to the original. Actually I felt and wrote.
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