HONOURING Sri K. S. VENKATARAMANI
AN APPEAL
The
shashtiabdapoorthi of Sri K. S. Venkataramani, one of our foremost men
of letters, falls on June 10. We feel that, for one who served his country and
his generation eminently well in the cultural sphere, this auspicious occasion
should be marked by fitting recognition at the hands of the public whom his
writings in English and Tamil have delighted and edified for over three
decades.
Though
he was bred to the law and early achieved striking success, his aptitude for
creative work and his zeal for public service combined to divert his energies
into the channels of literature and serious journalism. His “Paper Boats”, in
which the informal English essay was successfully grafted on to the authentic
Indian tradition appeared in 1918 and won immediately the warm encomium of the
discerning. A year or two later he
inaugurated Tamizh Ulagu which could well claim to be a pioneer in
serious weekly journalism in Tamil. During its short life it steadily
endeavoured to approach the study of public questions in a spirit of
intellectual idealism and popularized an argumentative style which was
dignified without being pedantic and familiar without being trite.
For
over a quarter of a century Mr. Venkataramani laboured tirelessly as author and
publicist, producing a quantity of work as distinguished by its variety and
range as by the consistency of the vision it projected of the new India that
was to emerge from the fire of sacrifice and struggle. In his novels “Murugan
The Tiller” and “Kandan The Patriot” he recaptured the essence of our rural
civilisation and the malaise of a transitional society not only with
fidelity but with forward-looking faith. In his many short stories and
sketches, in his Tamil periodical Bharata Mani which he conducted for
over ten years at much loss, and in more systematic attempts, embodied in such
books as ‘Renascent India’, to formulate plans for the good life, he strove
with all his eloquence and skill to bring home to the common man the truth that
political freedom must be trained towards constructive ends, so that it may
flower in an integrated and fearless community life.
All
his life Mr. Venkataramani has worked with no thought of reward. Authorship is
a notoriously risky business in a country where till the other day publishing
had not emerged as a profession and a book-buying public was hard to find. It
could have no attractions for anyone who was not upborne by the self-sufficient
joy of the craftsman and a lofty sense of mission. Besides, Mr. Venkataramani
has not been content to preach. At considerable sacrifice he ran for many years
an Ashrama in which he sought to give practical expression to his theories of
education and rural uplift.
For
some time now he has because of declining health, been living in retirement in
his village home. We are sure that his numerous friends and admirers will be
glad of this opportunity to honour, appropriately at this hour when free India
confidently faces her future, one of her distinguished sons who has toiled
without thought of self for her greater glory and whose writings have not only
given pleasure to his countrymen but won them much esteem and goodwill in
distant lands. May we appeal for liberal contributions, so that Mr
Venkataramani’s shashtiabdapoorthi may be fittingly celebrated by the
presentation to him of a substantial purse as a token of his countrymen’s
appreciation and regard.
All
contributions may be sent to: K. Chandrasekharan, Ashrama, Luz Church Road,
Mylapore, Madras-4.
C.
P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR
K.
SRINIVASAN
S.
S. VASAN
C.
R. SRINIVASAN
PAPPU
SOMASUNDARAM
N.
RAGHUNATHAN
A.
N. SIVARAMAN
E.
R. GOVINDAN
R.
KRISHNAMURTHI (Kalki)
K.
RAMAKOTISWARA RAU
KHASA
SUBBA RAU