KANNIYAKUMARI: Ask actor Kamal Hassan about his book recommendations and the auteur will include a name unheard of — A K Perumal. A recipient of two state awards and having authored close to a hundred books, the 73-year-old folklore researcher and literary historian from Kanniyakumari has been a pioneer in keeping alive the state’s traditional storytelling, which has been ambushed by the all-pervasive social media.
The septuagenarian has been on a mission for the last 40 years to pass on oral history and folk arts to future generations. Additionally, he has been researching folk arts and temple culture in the state and has been involved in palm leaf transcription discovered in the district. Perumal tells TNIE that he collected Mudaliyar palm leaf manuscripts from Kerala archives and documented the administrative history, including agriculture and trade of the Kanniyakumari district between the 15th century and 19th century. Perumal travels across the state on the lookout for folk art forms and documents them in his books, having written 95 such texts so far.
Call it destiny’s play, but the trajectory of Perumal’s life seems to have directed him to this juncture today. A native of Parakkai, Perumal studied Tamil literature for his undergraduate from ST Hindu College in Nagercoil, and went on to pursue a master’s at the government arts and science college in Chittur, in Kerala’s Palakkad district. Meanwhile, he worked as a proofreader and reporter for a Tamil daily in Tiruchy for a few months. He also worked as a reader in Tamil department of Arignar Anna College in Aralvaimozhi.
Perumal took his first step towards folklore with his PhD in Villupattu from Madurai Kamaraj University under the guidance of anthropology scholar V Chidambaranathan. Later, he sharpened his saw on folklore research by working under renowned research scholars such as Professor Lourde, Father Jayapathy, Allan Dundis, and Black Burn. Although he had started writing books towards the end of the 1970s, he says, his academic writing did not start until the mid-1980s. Apart from researching Villupattu and Kanianattam, Perumal also studied leather puppet shows extensively.
Perumal interacts with and documents the dwindling circles of folk artists and also works towards providing them with welfare assistance. T A Srinivasan, a translator of Tamil language and one of Perumal’s students, who has known the professor for over three decades, says, “AKP (a term of endearment for Perumal) has a rare blend of scholarship and literary sensibility. His interests are astonishing. He is passionate without becoming sentimental, and empathetic, but not apologetic. Being a keen observer of the society, no aspect of our district could escape his vigilant eyes. He looks beyond the conventional academic polarities of high and low, classical and folk, main and peripheral. True to the spirit of this district (Kanniyakumari), he is inclined to see reconciliation and accommodation where others see friction and conflict. His four decades-long association with Sundara Ramasamy has sharpened his literary sensibility.”
Tracing Kanniyakumari’s history as an erstwhile part of Travancore, Srinivasan adds Perumal documents the past of the district. N Ramachandran, director of Folklore Resources and Research, St Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai, says Perumal’s work on leather puppet is his major contribution which has also uplifted these sections of folk artists. Remaining humble and true to his work continues to be Perumal’s modus operandi for preserving the oral histories of Tamil culture. Despite offers from abroad, Perumal continues his groundwork behind books in the quiet of Nagercoil.
(Edited by Shrija Ganguly)