Kumaran Asan
{{short description|Indian poet}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_prefix = Mahakavi
| name = Kumaran Asan
| image = Kumaran Asan 1973 stamp of India.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1871|04|12}}
| birth_place = Kaayikkara Kadakkavoor, Chirayinkeezhu, Thiruvananthapuram, Travancore
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1924|01|16|1873|4|12}}
| death_place = Alappuzha, Travancore, Kerala
| occupation = Poet and writer
| nationality = Indian
| alma_mater =
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = {{ubl|Veena Poovu|Duravastha|Chinthavishtayaaya Seetha|Nalini|Leela|Chandala Bhikshuki|Prarodanam|Pushpavadi|}}
| spouse = Bhanumathiamma
| partner =
| children = Prabhakaran and Sudhakaran
| relatives = {{ubl|Narayanan Perungudi (father)|Kochupennu (mother)}}
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
}}
{{Renaissance of Kerala}}
Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (12 April 1871 – 16 January 1924) was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry during the first quarter of the 20th century, transforming it from the metaphysical to the lyrical and his poetry is characterised by its moral and spiritual content, poetic concentration and dramatic contextualisation. He is one of the triumvirate poets of Kerala and a disciple of Sree Narayana Guru. He was awarded the prefix "Mahakavi" in 1922 by the Madras university which means "great poet".{{Refn|group=note|Asan was commonly referred to as Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (the prefix Mahakavi, awarded by Madras University in 1922, means "great poet" and the suffix Asan means "scholar" or "teacher")}}
Biography
Image:Asan with guru.JPG (seated middle).]]
Asan{{Refn|group=note|Asan was commonly referred to as Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (the prefix Mahakavi, awarded by Madras University in 1922, means "great poet" and the suffix Asan means "scholar" or "teacher")}} was born on 12 April 1873, in a merchant family belonging to Ezhava community in Kayikkara village, Chirayinkeezhu taluk, Anchuthengu Grama Panchaayath in Travancore{{Refn|group=note|present-day Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, South India}} to Narayanan Perungudi, a polyglot well versed in Malayalam and Tamil languages, and Kochupennu as the second of their nine children.{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/Kumaranasan/Html/Kumaranasanngraphy.htm |title=Biography on Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |date=2019-03-02 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi portal |access-date=2019-03-02}} His early schooling was at a local school by a teacher by name, Udayankuzhi Kochuraman Vaidyar, who taught him elementary Sanskrit after which he continued his studies at the government school in Kayikkara until he was thirteen. Subsequently, he joined the school as a teacher in 1889 but had to quit as he was not old enough to hold a government job. It was during this time, he studied the verses and plays of Sanskrit literature. Later, he started working as an accountant at a local wholesale grocer in 1890, the same year he met Shree Narayana Guru and became the spiritual leader's disciple.{{Cite web |url=http://kanic.kerala.gov.in/index.php/cronicle |title=Chronicle |date=2019-03-02 |website=kanic.kerala.gov.in |access-date=2019-03-02}}
Narayana Guru's influence led Asan to spiritual pursuits and he spent some time at a local temple, in prayers and teaching Sanskrit. Soon, he joined Guru at his Aruvippuram hermitage where he was known as Chinnaswami ("young ascetic"). In 1895, he moved to Bangalore and studied for law, staying with Padmanabhan Palpu. He stayed there only until 1898 as Palpu went to England and a plague epidemic spread over Bangalore and Asan spent the next few months in Madras before proceeding to Calcutta to continue his Sanskrit studies. At Calcutta, he studied at Tarka sastra at the Central Hindu College, studying English simultaneously and also got involved with the Indian Renaissance, but his stay was again cut short due to plague epidemic.{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA440 |title=A History of Indian Literature 1911–1956: Struggle for Freedom: Triumph and Tragedy |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-7201-798-9 |editor-last=Das |editor-first=Sisir Kumar |edition= Reprinted |pages=306–308 |chapter=The Narratives of Suffering: Caste and the Underprivileged}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lTnv6o-d_oC&pg=PA184 |title=Handbook of Twentieth-Century Literatures of India |last=Natarajan |first=Nalini |year=1996 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. |isbn=0-313-28778-3 |pages=183–185 |access-date=8 February 2015}} He returned to Aruvippuram in 1900.
Asan was also involved with the activities of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) and became its secretary in 1904.{{Cite web |url=http://sndpyogam.in/sndp/ |title=SNDP Yogam |date=2019-03-03 |website=Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam |language=en |access-date=2019-03-03}} The same year, he founded Vivekodayam, a literary journal in Malayalam, and assumed its editorship.{{cite book|author=Sisir Kumar Das|title=History of Indian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHklK65TKQ0C&pg=PA257|year=2005|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-7201-006-5|pages=257–}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be3PCvzf-BYC&pg=PA600 |title=A Social History of India |last=S. N. Sadasivan |publisher=APH Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=978-81-7648-170-0 |pages=600–}} Under his leadership, the magazine became a monthly from a bi-monthly.{{Cite web |url=http://archive.keralamediaacademy.org/content/kumaranasan |title=Kumaranasan - Kerala Media Academy |website=archive.keralamediaacademy.org |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=19 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319041347/http://archive.keralamediaacademy.org/content/kumaranasan |url-status=dead }} In 1913, he was elected to the Sree Moolam Popular Assembly (Sri Moolam Praja Sabha), the first popularly elected legislature in the history of India.{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralaassembly.org/history/popular.html |title=History of legislative bodies in Kerala-- Sri Moolam Praja Sabha |date=2019-03-03 |website=keralaassembly.org |access-date=2019-03-03}} He relinquished the position at SNDP in 1919 and a year later, took over the editorship of Pratibha, another literary magazine In 1921, he started a clay tile factory, Union Tile Works, in Aluva but when it was found that the factory was polluting the nearby palace pond, he shifted the project to a site near Aluva river and handed over the land to SNDP for building an Advaitashramam.{{Cite web |url=https://www.veethi.com/articles/kumaran-asan-as-a-business-man-article-2457.htm |title=Kumaran Asan As A Business Man |website=veethi.com |access-date=2019-03-03}} Later, he moved to Thonnakkal, a village in the periphery of Thiruvananthapuram, where he settled with his wife. In 1923, he contested in assembly election from Quilon constituency but lost to Sankara Menon.{{Cite web |url=https://localnews.manoramaonline.com/kollam/local-news/2019/03/19/kollam-kumaranasan.html |title=Kumaran Aasan once contested from Kollam |date=2019-03-20 |website=Manorama |access-date=2019-03-20}}
Asan married Bhanumathiamma, the daughter of Thachakudy Kumaran Writer in 1917.{{cite book|author=K. M. George|title=Makers of Indian Literature. Kumaran Asan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vnpkNQEACAAJ|access-date=3 March 2019|year=1972|publisher=Sahitya Akademi.}}
=Death=
Asan died on 16 January 1924, after a boat named Redeemer carrying him capsized in the Pallana river in Alappuzha.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pscteacher.com/2018/03/kumaranasan-biography-kerala-psc.html |title=Kumaranasan Biography Kerala PSC |date=2019-03-03 |website=pscteacher.com |language=en |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=6 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044006/https://www.pscteacher.com/2018/03/kumaranasan-biography-kerala-psc.html |url-status=dead }} His body was recovered after two days and the place where his mortal remains were cremated is known as Kumarakodi.{{Cite web |url=https://alappuzha.nic.in/tourist-place/kumarakodi/ |title=Kumarakodi - District Alappuzha |date=2019-03-03 |website=Government of Kerala |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}}
Legacy
{{quote box|align = left|width=21em|Remove the bonds of your effete tradition / Or it will ruin you within your own selves, Excerpts from Duravastha - Kumaran Asan}}
File:Kumaranasan - handwriting from notebooks kept at Thonnakkal museum (28).jpg
Kumaran Asan was one of the triumvirate poets of modern Malayalam, along with Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer.{{Cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/When-poesy-met-poise-on-stage/articleshow/50264186.cms |title=When poesy met poise on stage - Times of India |website=The Times of India |access-date=2019-03-03}} Some of the earlier works of the poet were Subramanya Sathakam and Sankara Sathakam, which were devotional in content but his later poems were marked by social commentary.{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kumaran-Asan |title=Kumaran Asan - Indian poet |date=2019-03-03 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |access-date=2019-03-03}} He published Veena Poovu (the fallen flower) in December 1907 in Mithavadi of Moorkoth Kumaran which went on to become a literary classic in Malayalam; its centenary was celebrated in 2017 when a book, Veenapoovinu 100 was published which carried an introduction by M. M. Basheer and an English translation of the poem by K. Jayakumar.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/lsquoVeena-Poovursquo-still-in-bloom/article14898654.ece |title=Veena Poovu: still in bloom |date=2007-12-21 |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |access-date=2019-03-03}} Prarodanam, an elegy, mourning the death of his contemporary, friend and grammarian, A. R. Raja Raja Varma, Khanda Kavyas (poems) such as Nalini, Leela, Karuna, Chandaalabhikshuki, Chinthaavishtayaaya Seetha, and Duravastha are some of his other major works.{{Cite web |url=http://books.sayahna.org/ml/pdf/nalini.pdf |title=Kumaran Asan - A Biography |date=2019-03-03 |website=sayahna.org |access-date=2019-03-03}} Besides, he wrote two epics, Buddha Charitha in 5 volumes and Balaramayanam, a three-volume work.{{Cite web |url=http://kanic.kerala.gov.in/index.php/books |title=Books and Works |date=2019-03-03 |website=kanic.kerala.gov.in |access-date=2019-03-03}}
Honours
In 1958, when Joseph Mundassery was the Minister of Education, the Government of Kerala acquired Asan's house in Thonnakkal and established the Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture (Kanic), as a memorial for the poet,{{Cite web |url=http://kanic.kerala.gov.in/ |title=Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture |date=2019-03-03 |website=kanic.kerala.gov.in |access-date=2019-03-03}} the first instance in Kerala history when the government took over a poet's property to convert it into a memorial.{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralaculture.org/ |title=The Memorial of Asan |date=2019-03-03 |website=www.keralaculture.org |language=en |access-date=2019-03-03}} It houses an archives, a museum and a publications division. Asan Memorial Association, a Chennai-based organization, has built a memorial at Kayikkara, the birthplace of the poet.{{Cite web |url=http://www.keralaculture.org/ |title=Asan Memorial, Kayikkara |date=2019-03-03 |website=www.keralaculture.org |language=en |access-date=2019-03-03}} They have also instituted an annual award, Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram, for recognising excellence in Malayalam poetry.{{Cite web |url=http://asaneducation.com/asan_association/awards.html |title=Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram |date=2019-03-03 |website=asaneducation.com |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413145952/http://asaneducation.com/asan_association/awards.html |url-status=dead }} The award carries a cash prize of {{INR}}30,000 and Sugathakumari, O. N. V. Kurup, K. Ayyappa Panicker and K. Satchidanandan are some of the recipients of the award.{{Cite web |url=http://asaneducation.com/asan_association/awards.html#list |title=List of Awardees |date=2019-03-03 |website=asaneducation.com |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=13 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413145952/http://asaneducation.com/asan_association/awards.html#list |url-status=dead }} Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School is a CBSE affiliated higher secondary school run by Asan Memorial Association.{{Cite web |url=http://asancbse.com/our-school.php |title=ASAN Memorial Senior Secondary School |date=2019-03-03 |website=asancbse.com |access-date=2019-03-03}} The India Post issued a commemorative postage stamp depicting Asan's portrait in 1973, in connection with his birth centenary.{{Cite web |url=http://www.amrutphilately.com/gallery/index.php?yer=1973 |title=Amrut Philately Gallery - 1973 |date=2019-03-03 |website=amrutphilately.com |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=14 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214071346/http://www.amrutphilately.com/gallery/index.php?yer=1973 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://postagestamps.gov.in/Stamps_List.aspx |title=Commemorative and definitive stamps |date=2019-03-03 |website=postagestamps.gov.in |access-date=2019-03-03 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121210123/http://postagestamps.gov.in/Stamps_List.aspx |url-status=dead }}{{Refn|group=note|Please check year 1973}}
Works
= Major works =
= Other works =
Kumaran Asan also wrote many other poems. Some of these poems are listed in the book Asante Padyakrthikal under the name "Mattu Krthikal" (Other Works):
- Sadaachaarasathakam
- Sariyaaya Parishkaranam
- Bhaashaaposhinisabhayodu
- Saamaanyadharmangal
- Subrahmanyapanchakam
- Mrthyanjayam
- Pravaasakaalaththu Naattile Ormakal
:This is another collection of poems that come from various letters Kumaran Asan wrote over the course of several years. None of the poems were longer than thirty-two lines.
- Koottu Kavitha
The other poems are lesser known. Only a few of them have names:
- Kavikalkkupadesam
- Mangalam
- Oru Kathth
:This is another one of Asan's letter-poems.
- Randu Aasamsaapadyangal
poems or stories which are written by kritikal
1. Leela
2. veenpuv
3. nlene
4. kruna
4. parodnam
= Prose =
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=258439&query_desc=au%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Brahmasri Sri Narayana Guruvinte Jeevacharithra Samgraham |last=Kumaran Asan |first=N. |date=1991 |publisher=Kumaran Asan Memorial Committee |edition= 3rd.|location=Thonnakkal}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=272568&query_desc=au%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Kumaran Asante Gadyalekhanangal v.1 |last=Kumaran Asasn |first=N. ed |date=1984 |publisher=Kumaran Asan Memorial Committee |location=Thonnakkal, Trivandrum |quote=3 volumes}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=105679&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Aasante kathukal |last1=Kumaranasan |last2=Shaji |first2=S. |date=2010 |publisher=Sahitya Pravarthaka Co-operative Society |location=Kottayam}}
= Translations =
- {{Cite book |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/12087858 |title=The Tragic plight |last1=Asan |first1=Kumaran |last2=Gangadharan |first2=P. C |date=1978 |publisher=Thonnakkal : Kumaran Asan Memorial Committee; [Madras : distributed by Macmillan] |edition= 1st |language=en}}
Works on Asan
- {{Cite book |url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/br/2002/09/24/stories/2002092400030303.htm |title=Suryathejas — Studies on Asan Poetry |publisher=Asan Memorial Association |year=2002 |editor-last=E. K. Purushothaman}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=194721&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Poetry and Renaissance: Kumaran Asan birth centenary volume |date=1974 |publisher=Sameeksha |editor-last=M. Govindan |location=Madras}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=110690&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Evolution of the poetic life of Kumaran Asan: A psychu-philosiphical enquiry |last=Pavitran P. |date=1994}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=83411&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Kumaranasan |last=Nithyachaithanya Yathi |date=1994 |publisher=Author}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=71136&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Asan vimarsanathinte aadya rasmikal |last1=Kumaran |first1=Murkoth |last2=Madhavan K. G |date=1966 |publisher=Vidhyarthimithram |location=Kottayam}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=34566&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Kumaran Asan: Profile of a poets vision |last=Sreenivasan |first=K. |date=1981 |publisher=Jayasree Pubs |location=Thiruvananthapuram}}
- {{Cite book |url=https://catalog.uoc.ac.in/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=16979&query_desc=kw%252Cwrdl%253A%2520Kumaran%2520Asan |title=Kumaran Asan |last=George |first=K. M. |date=1972 |publisher=Sahitya Academi |location=New Delhi}}
- {{cite book|author=Sukumar Azhikode|title=Asante Seethakavyam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7UrQAAACAAJ|publisher=Lipi Publications|isbn=978-81-88011-74-2}}
See also
{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
- Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram
- Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University
- Vallathol Narayana Menon
- Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer
- Pandalam Kerala Varma
{{div col end}}
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Kumaran Asan}}
- {{Cite web |url=http://www.keralasahityaakademi.org/sp/Writers/PROFILES/Kumaranasan/Html/Kumaranasanpage.htm |title=Portrait commissioned by Kerala Sahitya Akademi |date=2019-03-02 |website=Kerala Sahitya Akademi |access-date=2019-03-02}}
- {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSKEXQ4zpY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/LDSKEXQ4zpY |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Kumaranasan - (കുമാരനാശാന്) - Kerala Renaissance |last=YesLearners Kerala |date=2017-04-18 |website=YouTube |access-date=2019-03-04}}{{cbignore}}
- {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSPhsc27uOk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/wSPhsc27uOk |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Kumaran Asan - A Lecture |last=Audiopedia |date=2014-08-26 |website=YouTube |access-date=2019-03-04}}{{cbignore}}
- {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0abtWwwke-E |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/0abtWwwke-E |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Kumaran Asan's tomb at Alappuzha |last=binbrainvideos |date=2010-04-05 |website=YouTube |access-date=2019-03-04}}{{cbignore}}
{{Triumvirates of Malayalam poetry}}
{{Malayalam Literature |state=collapsed}}
{{Narayana Guru}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asan, Kumaran}}
Category:Activists from Kerala
Category:Indian Sanskrit scholars
Category:Writers from Thiruvananthapuram
Category:The Sanskrit College and University alumni
Category:University of Calcutta alumni
Category:Deaths by drowning in India
Category:Deaths due to shipwreck
Category:Indian social reformers
Category:20th-century Indian poets
Category:19th-century Indian poets
Category:19th-century Indian male writers
Category:Scholars from Thiruvananthapuram