The DMK government’s proposed move to construct a ‘Pen monument’ in honour of the late M Karunanidhi’s literary contributions to Tamil language has caused a stir. The monument, which is expected to be taller than the Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari, has garnered attention for its design and location – a giant pen standing in the waters of the Bay of Bengal. However, beyond the controversies and politics surrounding the Rs 81-crore project, the story behind the ‘pen’ deserves attention.
The monument was conceived to represent the many facets of Karunanidhi’s literary work. Karunanidhi, who passed away in August 2018, belonged to a rarefied group of scholar-politicians. Most importantly, Karunanidhi’s scholarship came from outside the formal education system. Yet, he managed to find his feet and establish himself in both scholarship and politics.
The late M G Ramachandran, or MGR, a former chief minister and matinee idol who founded the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), is often compared to Karunanidhi in the context of politics. Though MGR was never considered an orator or writer, he was able to use his success in the film industry to build a clean image in politics. Karunanidhi, on the other hand, took a different tack, choosing to project the image of a literary scholar and politician who stayed by the written word throughout his life.
When compared to many of his contemporaries, Karunanidhi stood out as a remarkable orator because of his firm grasp on political and cultural history. His skill as a writer came from his contributions to three foundational dialects of the Tamil language — Iyal (poetry and literature), Isai (music), and Naadagam (theatre).
Karunanidhi’s image as a scholar-administrator was shaped largely due to his mentor and DMK founder C N Annadurai, who, unlike Karunanidhi, had formal education. In Karunanidhi’s early days, and even after Annadurai’s death, political circles in the state were abuzz with the striking similarities between the two. Karunanidhi strove to copy his mentor in all possible ways while projecting himself as Annadurai’s legitimate heir – from the way he shifted his shawl from one shoulder to another, to the way he looked left to right during speeches, and the art of speech modulation that saw him generating a voice that was throaty and uneven (“Kara Kara”, in Tamil), yet clear and audible.
While he gained his mentor’s mannerisms and scholarship, Karunanidhi did not follow Annadurai’s simple life or the latter’s high standards in keeping his family out of politics.
Though Karunanidhi never matched Annadurai’s fluency in English, he admired his mentor as a scholar and communicator, with the pen being a major artefact in his life.
Karunanidhi never used typewriters though they were popular when he was at the height of his film career. He preferred writing and is known to have bought his ink pens from a certain shop in Chennai.
He was an avid writer, someone who is remembered for the 7,000-odd letters he wrote. His used these letters, which appeared in the DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, to reach out to his followers, just the way Annadurai did through ‘Dravida Nadu’ publications. He is known to have worked hard on these letters – each rich in data and facts and steeped in anecdotes and poetry – while making the job of his private secretaries difficult.
Karunanidhi was known to be a haphazard writer, someone who wrote largely at home, sitting up in his bed, a pillow kept near his chest that propped up his notebook. Those who have known him say he used to sweat considerably when writing, “even when the air conditioners were turned on”. He would be so engrossed in his writing that he often failed to notice the pages that slipped off his writing pad.
“When he writes, there is a pin-drop silence, so much so that one can hear the noise of the nib scraping the page. He was the quintessential writer,” a close aide of Karunanidhi recounted to The Indian Express after his death.
Not only were his literary works and speeches considered political art, so were his file notings that were often flowery and poetic. A colleague recalls how as Chief Minister, when a file on raising the retirement age of government personnel came to him, he wrote: “Puthiya Pookkal Malarattum (Let new flowers bloom)”.
When there was a commotion in the state Assembly over the birth of Kanimozhi, his child from his third wife, with someone pointing out that a child with the name ‘Kanimozhi’ was born in a Madras hospital and cornering Karunanidhi over who Rajathi Ammal, the child’s mother, was, his response was: “she is my Kanimozhi’s mother.”
In 2007, an intelligence officer called on Karunanidhi in the Assembly and handed him a note written in Tamil to inform him about the attack on the Dinakaran office in Madurai. “He read it and started editing the note, pointing out grammatical errors, before returning it,” the officer recalled.
Karunanidhi’s plays were mostly political, his novels were about regional history, and his poems were passionate, theatrical and strong. Following Annadurai’s death, he wrote a long and emotional poem, which was published in the Murasoli. The poem, a powerful tribute to his leader, was widely used in DMK meetings after Annadurai’s death. The poem, which ended up being a vehicle for Karunanidhi to emerge as a successor to Annadurai and become CM, is an example of how Karunanidhi made use of his literary skills to climb the political ladder.
Ponnar Sankar, Sanga Thamizh, Thirukkural Urai, Thenpandi Singam, his autobiography Nenjukku Neethi, Iniyavai Irubathu, Kuraloviam, Romapuri Pandian and Vellikizhamai were among the many poems, essays, scripts, and publications he produced.
Ponnar Sankar, a story set in Kongu Nadu, or western Tamil Nadu, was based on local heroes. His screenplay for Poompuhar (1964), based on Silappathikaram, was likewise well-received. His screenplay and dialogues for Raja Rani (1956) are unforgettable, particularly a scene in which Sivaji Ganesan delivers a powerful monologue for about five minutes, in a single take.
Karunanidhi, along with V R Nedunchezhiyan and K Anbazhagan, are personalities whose names are often cited as examples for how Annadurai inspired his followers. Did Karunanidhi similarly inspire his followers? Except for a handful who imitated his oratory skills, after Karunanidhi, there were few who emerged as a scholar-politician like him.
