Wallathol

Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon comes from the Malayali people ( Kerala ), belongs to the Naira caste. His mother is Kuttipparu Amma, his father is Kadungott Mullisseri Damudoran Ellayatu. ^[1] He was born on October 26, 1878 in the village of Chennara, a Malabar district subordinate to Britain .

According to some sources in Russian, Vallattol Narayana Menon received a traditional Brahmin education ^[2] . His first Sanskrit teacher was Varjam Parambil Kunjan Nair, and then his maternal uncle Ramunni Menon.

Ramunni Menon was a renowned physician and had extensive practice. Uncle introduced Vallattola to Sanskrit poetry: the Vedas, Puranas, and other treasures that nourished his imagination from childhood, and also gave him an education in Ayurveda .

At the age of 23, Vallattol Narayana Menon married. Later, he was the head of a large family, had 10 children, numerous grandchildren, with whom he sought to spend leisure time. He was an exemplary householder, loved to make friends and was famous for his generosity. Moreover, he worked a lot, led a strict and punctual lifestyle. Vallattol Narayana Menon lived in his native village until the age of 26, practicing Ayurveda, but devoting all his leisure to poetry.

In 1904 he received an invitation to head the Printing Press in Trichur and immediately accepted it. Until 1910 he directed the publishing house, publishing several poetry magazines. During these years, he met many famous writers, including Kumaran Auchan and Ullur Parameshvara Ayyar , who together with him composed the Great Triumvirate of Malayal poetry.

In 1919, at the age of 31, Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon completely lost his hearing. Life became like a struggle for him, and in order to bridge the gap that separated him from people, he learned to write in the palm of his hand, like on a blackboard, to express himself using gestures and signs.

Writing the Name of the Poet

In Russian translations of the poet, two versions of the spelling of his name are used - Vallathol (apparently used by translators who first got acquainted with the poet’s works in English sources, where his name is usually written Vallathol) and Vallattol (for translators with Malayalam). Neither one nor the other name is correct, since the spelling Vallatol will be closest to the sound of the name of the poet in his native language.

Vallattol was an associate of Mahatma Gandhi . Vallatol Narayana Menon steadfastly followed the precepts of Gandhiji and sought to propagate with his poetry the virtues of secularism and democracy in accordance with the way these questions were posed by the national liberation movement.

Describing the lives of ordinary workers, their hard work and endless suffering, the poet exposes the exploitation system as the main culprit of their misfortunes. At the same time, Vallattol was proud of the great past of his country and painted with others a picture of its past glory. So in a poem ^[3] dedicated to the Mahatas of Gandhi, he writes: ^[2]

The whole world is his family, and even herbs, plants, worms are members of that family.

He teaches us that by giving out generously, we gain that by refusing

from violence, we achieve prosperity. So happy

harmony all the qualities in myself are connected by my revered teacher.

Only the land where the teachings of the Gita was born could give the world such a person,

only the region that surrounds Vidhya and the Himalayas could see

a lion of peace, and only the land that the Ganges feeds,

was able to grow that golden tree on which

the fruits of well-being ripen.

Vallattol sided with the Indian National Congress (INC) before the start of the non-cooperation campaign initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. He composed poems on the death of such political figures as Dadabhai Narorodzhi , Bal Gangadhar Tilak and others.

Vallattol wore Khadi - the homespun ojed of their rough canvas - which meant belonging to the INC and was considered, in the words of Nehru, "an outfit of freedom."

He attended the INC sessions in Madras (1927) and Calcutta (1928), for which he had to give up participation in the annual conferences of the literary society Kerala Sahitya Parishad , one of the leaders of which was Vallattol, which was held simultaneously with the INC sessions. He was attacked by some contemporaries because he preferred politics to poetry, but remained deaf to these accusations.

In 1930-1931 everyone had on his lips his songs for the national liberation movement. He condemned the caste system and untouchability. The liberation movement established a new scale of values ​​in Wallatoll's poetry.

Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon began to write poetry from the age of 12. He composed them for any reason and in a traditional manner. He had excellent command of the word, had a light style, in none of his poems is there the influence of either modern education, or the influence of English or any other literature than Malayal or Sanskrit.

In 1905 he created his first work - a translation of the Ramayana from Sanskrit - the great epic poem, numbering 25,000 slokas. The translation was performed flawlessly and since then Vallattola's prestige as the best translator of Sanskrit poetry has remained unshaken. Until the end of his life, Vallattol was engaged in translations: many Puranas came out from under his pen, all the dramas of Bhasa , Shakuntala Kalidasa - the greatest Sanskrit drama of all time, at the age of 75 he began to translate the Rig Veda and managed to complete the translation in the year of his death. ^[four]

The literary fame and title of Mahakavi came to Vallattol in 1913, when he completed his makhakavya “Chitrayoga” of 18 songs and 1591 slokas. ^[5] Despite the fact that this work caused a flurry of criticism from Kumar Auchan , it was welcomed by many readers and it remains popular to this day. However, Vallatol Narayana Menon listened to the criticism of his like-minded person and a completely new type of poetic works appeared in his poetry, examples of which are the famous kawi "Weeping Deaf", "My esteemed teacher", "Prisoner in Anirudha Prison", "Student and Teacher", "Father and Daughter," "Mary Magdalene," "Song of the Peasant." ^[6]

Vallattol is a key person in the revival of Kathakali and Mohini Attam (styles of Indian classical dance ). The titanic work of reviving these arts, subjected to humiliation and humiliation by Muslim, and later Anglican morality, began around the 1930s and continued throughout his life. ^[7]

Art was the essence and meaning of his life, and literature, and his own contribution to literature, was only a small part, a necessary component of Natya's art, with which he was familiar, having received a traditional education. His statement is known: “If Brahma appeared before me, holding“ morality ”in one hand and“ art ”in the other, and offered to make a choice, then I would not hesitate to take the second.” ^[eight]

In this statement, Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon exposed the conflict that continued for centuries, when religious morality was placed in the hierarchy of values ​​higher than Natya’s art, which, according to Bharata Muni, is an unlimited source of truth regarding all knowledge:

It’s impossible to reach the end of the matter here ,

it is endless due to the multitude of knowledge and skills,

It’s impossible to [reach] the end of even one ocean knowledge,

how to reach [to the end] all knowledge in accordance with the truth. ^[9]

These words of Vallattola had a great resonance among his compatriots: false accusations of immorality, profligacy, etc. fell on him, which was absurd for those who knew him personally, his lifestyle and his ascetic work in the name of preserving art. ^[ten]

Since time immemorial, two styles of dance have flourished in Kerala - spectacular - kathakali ^[11] , performed only by men and - chamber - by Mohini Attam, which was owned exclusively by women. These ancient forms of art were in decline and oblivion, for they needed protection. In earlier times, makharazdi and wealthy aristocrats acted as patrons. When those in Kerala did not support the traditional styles of Kerala for Natya's presentations , there was no one. If not for the intervention of Vallattola, these styles of dance would surely perish. ^[12]

He created the Kerala Academy of Arts Kerala Kalamandalam in the house where he spent his childhood, using the funds he collected in the lottery, which lasted three years. He personally attracted the legendary performers, who became the most authoritative teachers, to study in Kerala - the kathakali reformer Kalamandalam Krishna Naira ^[13] and the reformer Mohini Attam , his cousin, Kalamandalam Kalyanikutti Ammu .

He translated poetic texts for Natya’s representations in Malayalam so that the representations were understandable to his contemporaries. ^[14] He was involved in the popularization of Natya’s art in Russia: a fragment of Ramayana , choreography by Kalamandalam Kalyanikutti Amma , performed by Milan Severskaya (Mandira) , can be seen on the stage of the Natya Theater in St. Petersburg .

In the 40s, Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon became a member of the friendship movement with the Soviet Union, which made him a target for sharp attacks: he was booed at a rally in Bombay, where they threw rotten eggs during a speech. At the same time, Vallattola's position remained unshakable.

In the summer of 1951, as part of a large delegation, he visited the USSR . While in the USSR, he wrote a series of poems "In Russia". In the poem “Lenin's Mausoleum”, Vallattol sincerely admires the Soviet leader and in his characteristic epic manner compares Lenin with the sun, and Gandidzhi with the moon.

He believed in the equality of people.

He flooded Russia with a solar stream.

Fighting, like flames, flared up everywhere.

And satyagraha Gandhi is the moonlight that liberated India from the darkness.

For us, they are like the sun and moon. ^[15]

In verses about Russia, Vallatol especially emphasizes that a person in the Soviet Union is free, and men and women are equal. The theme of freedom is painted in the poetry of Vallattola with a special religious meaning. This is not only legal freedom, but also moksha - liberation from maya , which creates peace and illusory being. ^[16] In the Kavia “Rise of the Sepoys”, the theme of freedom is revealed as the right to national identity and self-government, opposing the imperial aspirations of Britain and its colonial policy. In the same poem, Vallattol uses the image of a woman warrior, Rani Jhansi , as a symbol.

The theme of discrimination against women and the dignity of women is repeatedly raised in Vallattola's poetry, which is absolutely not typical of the Indian culture of the first half of the 20th century, but finds explanation in the origin of Vallattola from the Nairas, where matriarchy , polyandry and maternal inheritance of property are preserved. His poems ( kavia ) Hunger, The House of Widows in Madras, Courage of a Woman are imbued with sincere admiration and sympathy for a woman. Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon drew the power and expressiveness of his works from the struggle of the Indian people for national liberation, and the woman is often a symbol of this struggle in his verses.

Mahakavi Vallattol was an active member of the World Peace Movement. In 1950 participated in the World Congress of Peace Supporters in Warsaw. Speaking at the congress, he read his poem, "The Song of the Peasant," which caused a storm of applause. Vallattola’s anti-war position is expressed in the “Ask!”, “The world is one” kaviahs, but in “The Peasant's Song” Vallattola managed to formulate it in several lines, using the techniques of traditional poetics:

“If steel knew how to cry, then from its tears that spilled onto the ground and froze, the words would be:“ I am intended to create agricultural tools that support human life, and I am used to produce weapons that shed human blood. ” " ^[8]

The Mahakavyas of Vallattol Narayan Menon were not translated into Russian. Kavia with Malayalam were translated by E. Rein , A. Senkevich , M. Pavlova. In total, 25 poems of the poet are translated, which are published in various almanacs and collections of authors:

• Vallatol. Anthem of the morning dawn: verses. Foreword C. Achuta Menon; Comp .: Chandra Sekhar; Comp., Note. V.A. Makarenko Translation from Malayalam M. Science 1980. 84s
• India says. Poems of Indian poets. Second edition. M., 1954. - S.13-62.
• Favorites. Poems. M., 1958.

In 1913, Vallattol Narayana Menon received from the government of the state of Madras the title of Laureate Poet - Mahakavi , a title that is assigned forever and is used in front of the poet’s name as a sign of respect and reverence. ^[17]

In 1958, Mahakavi Vallattol Narayana Menon was awarded the highest award of the Republic of India - Padma Bhushan .

• Mahakavi Vallatola Memorial in Kerala Kalamandalam
• Vallatola Museum ^[18]
• Vallattola Literary Prize
• (1978) A stamp with the image of Vallattola and Kathakali dancer ^[19]

• Brief Encyclopedia of Literature. T. 1.M., 1962. - P.840
• Vallathol Narayana Menon , Makers of Indian Literature (1974, 1982) by B. Hrdayakumari