When T.D. Ramakrishnan’s novel Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki came out three years ago, it created quite a sensation. Written in Malayalam and based on the life of Rajani Thiranagama, the work narrated her struggle, the story of how she broke all language and religion barriers and became a human rights activist and her brutal assassination.

Finally translated into English, the book is all set to reach a wider audience now. HarperCollins will be releasing the English version of the book on July 25.

The book dwells on details of how Rajani, a staunch feminist and activist, boldly challenged the Sinhala chauvinism and the hypocritical nationalism of the LTTE.

Speaking about his book, Ramakrishnan said in an interaction with The Hindu, “Sri Lanka’s contemporary history is the background of my novel. I have taken a different approach in the novel with historical facts as a solid background for weaving fantasy.”

“It was Rajani’s assassination that forced me to look into the complexities of the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka. Inspired by her elder sister Nirmala, an LTTE member, Rajani also got involved with the ultra-nationalist group mainly by administering care to those wounded in action,’’ he added.

Further speaking on the subject, he said, “In 1983, Rajani traveled to England under a Commonwealth scholarship for postgraduate studies in anatomy at Liverpool Medical School. Even that shifting from the troubled nation to a far better living atmosphere had not deterred her from raising her voice against injustice.’’

Sharing what inspired him the most to narrate Rajani’s story, he said, “What really moved me was her return to war-torn Jaffna to rebuild the university and work there for her own people. I am not sure it was the LTTE who killed her. But it was her sincerity to the cause and boldness to say the truth that resulted in her murder and that had inspired my novel.”

Priya K. Nair, a teacher of English at St. Theresa’s College in Ernakulam is the one who has translated the work to English. She has also translated Ramakrishnan’s another works Alpha and Francis Itty Cora into English.

“Most of the fiction written in Malayalam is located in Kerala. Very rarely are narratives placed outside this space. But Mr. Ramakrishnan’s narrative spaces are never confined to the geographical terrain of Kerala. Sugandhi, though set in Sri Lanka, brings the world into its ambit. The author uses a large canvas to depict his fictional narratives and, in so doing, he often challenges cartography, implying that borders are abstract and cannot be reduced to mere lines that exist to exclude,” she shared.

“I felt that this novel is extremely relevant in contemporary times as it is a powerful articulation against authoritarian power structures. This novel should not be confined to the readers in Kerala, rather it is relevant to any culture that has experienced the horrors of war,” she added.

H/T: The Hindu