THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Calling caste a conundrum, writer M K Sanu on Thursday said that Kerala and India would not be saved unless the social evil was wiped out.
Speaking after presenting this year’s Vayalar Rama Varma Literary Award to writer U K Kumaran, Sanu said casteism had enslaved and degraded society. The origins of this savage custom were shrouded in mystery, he said.
Kumaran’s novel ‘Thakshankunnu Swaroopam,’ which won the writer this year’s award consisting of `1 lakh, a statuette and a citation, amply reflected history and society, said Sanu, who is the president of the Vayalar Rama Varma Memorial Trust, which institutes the annual award. ‘’As in history, society becomes a character in literature. Novel, at all times, has mirrored society. Stendhal described novel as a mirror carried along a high road,” Sanu said.
The trust described ‘Thakshankunnu Swaroopam’ as a memorable work of art which revealed the social environment of post-independence Malabar. How a society overcame the adversities of caste, discrimination, poverty, neglect and political slavery was revealed in the novel, the trust said. The poems of Vayalar Rama Varma portrayed the inner conflicts of an age, writer Perumbadavom Sreedharan said. Prof G Balachandran and trust secretary C V Thrivikraman spoke.