CHENNAI: Have you ever imagined how Thiruvalluvar would have written the Thirukkural in the fifth century. No definite work desk that is filled with markers, pens, papers, notepads, laptop with internet connection, and tools like chatGPT. Sitting at the foot of the hills with his profound knowledge, and inspired by nature, he inscribed the words on a palm leaf using a metal stylus.
It was as if the wind carried the words and put them in his mind, which was then transfered into a manuscript. I wonder the number of days, months or perhaps, years he would have taken to write the 1,330 couplets which resonate even today. Centuries later, when people are attempting creative representations of the couplets, it is easier to calculate the time taken to present their works.
It took precisely three years, seven months and 22 days for Sowmya Ramalingam, a self-taught artist and an assistant professor of visual communication at DG Vaishnav College, to present the kurals visually. From January 1, 2020, Sowmya took a kural a day to understand the meaning and message, and paint it. “For Valluvar, it was his diary, and for me, it was passion and the fear of losing the literature to this generation,” says Sowmya, adding, “I was born in the late 80s and my generation, we use more English words than Tamil in our everyday conversations.
When we do not speak the language, then what about its literature? What are we passing on to the next generations?” The fear of losing touch with such wo.