Professor R. Srinivasa Desikan (1901-1967) was an English teacher by profession, and served in the Presidency College, Madras from 1928 till 1956. During that time he was also enriching himself by a devoted study of the classics in Tamil language. The translation of masterpieces in Tamil into English in order to enlarge their readership became a field of absorbing passion to him all through his life. Besides his work on the mystic hymns of the Alwars, he did an English translation of Tirukkural, which is regarded as Tamil Veda, and the epic Silappadikaram.
The nineteen forties and fifties saw a resurgence of Tamil short-story writing and Desikan was also an important contributor to leading Tamil Journals. In his later years he further expanded his writing to critical expositions and articles on the history of Tamil thought and culture.
His continuous pursuit of such lofty themes left its mark on his personal life as well and he evolved into a realised soul, who remained detached from the problems and difficulties of a middle class family background to live a life of grandeur inthe recesses of his soul. Long after his demise Desikan still remains an honoured name in the world of Tamil intellectuals and writers.
India is a multi-lingual country and each language has its great literature, both ancient and modern. It is however not given to everybody to read and enjoy the beauties of other Indian languages, excepting his own. There is in fact an utter lack of interest in most of us to know the writings in other languages. The Editors have genuinely felt this indifference and would like to create an interest in the readers to take to such studies. We also intend to bridge the gap by providing sincere and reliable translations.
Kurinji in Tamil is the name of a rare flower that blooms but once in twelve years. Kurinji is also the background for the great love poems of ancient Tamils. There is an unusual blending of directness with symbolism in the early Tamil poems and the young lovers have to meet only in Kurinji, the hills and the hilly region. Thus, Kurinji, in a broader sense also denotes.
The meeting place. It is our earnest desire that Kurinji Quarterly will be the meeting place of all lovers of literature.
Fittingly, the first in the series is a translation of Kurinci- p-pattu, a Tamil idyll, written by Kapila nearly two millenniums ago. This remarkable poem, fresh with the dew of the down of Tamil literature, was rendered into English by Mr. P. N. Appuswami and appeared in Triveni nearly thirty years ago. The poem and the translation so greatly impressed the late Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri that he said, "To be unable to enjoy it is to be kept out of a great heritage".
The Editors sincerely hope to make the best of our heritage available to the readers in English.
'Grains of Gold' is an English rendering, from Tamil, of some of the soul-animating strains of the Vaishnava mystics. We believe that the translations, contained in this little volume, will touch the hearts of all, for in them are embodied the brightest dreams that have ever floated before the mind of man.
It is difficult, in a translation, to recapture the aroma of the original. To seek to transfuse from one language into another the mighty creations of an artist is well-high impossible.
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