Gopalla gramma (கோபல்ல கிராமம்) -K.Rajanarayanan (கி.ரா)

Gopalla gramam(கோபல்ல கிராமம்)

 I never heard of this author before but after reading this book i  think i should read all his works.Come back to this book "Gopalla gramam", it tells the story of Telugu people who moved to TamilNadu to escape from atrocities of Muslim kings.I consider this book as more or less this book is like a Chronicle of Telugu people and their habits and customs.
The story revolves around Kottaiyar family. Mangathaayaru ammal grandmother of all tells the story of thier ancestors and their escape with her own story intermingled.
The story juggles between the two different time periods, one their escape which happened long time back and the other the current.Goppallapuram was built by these people who escaped from the horror of Muslim kings.The reason behind the departure from their homeland was told beautifully in a folkfore by the grandmother.Chenna Devi, the cousin of grandmother was so beautiful that the king want to keep her as a concubine but the entire family was against this, so the planned to escape on marriage day.As they planned they escaped and walked far off and they reached this place, which was not yet named.The journey cost them lots of lives including Chenna Devi's.They burnt the certain section of the forest to be used for farming and started to their life as a community,they shared everything.The food was divided according to the number of people in the family.As the time goes, they started to do indiviual food production.

Their history is full of myths and legends.The grandmother in her own unique way explained their history to them.Now they have a place to live and land to farm and have their own customs and habits.Coming back to current story time, there was a murder of a girl by a robber,the robber was caught red handed by one of the nayakkar brothers.The whole village has gathered to witness the the sentencing and the punishment.The author's discription of the elders who were  present in this meeting is simply amazing.He narrates the history of this community as he introduces them. K. Raja Narayanan(Kira)'s writing style is very simple and elegent, he brings the soul of the village setup alive.This is my first book of Kira as i used to say i found another wonderful author with whom i can enjoy my reading.Many words are new to me specially the farming terms but still it was very good read.It's a "folk novella" as mentioned by Proffesor N.Vaanamalai in the foreword.

As im reading this book, i related certain characters to my village people, very interesting.I was able to find many people with their unique talents and  nickname.The author seems to be a very good observer of people, his pinpoint potrayal of each character is wonderful.The author is able to bring the myths and legends wherever we, the reader, get logical doubt,as the rule certain things we can not ask questions but i like these mythological and legend stories.This story also tells how the British conquered villages like Goppala puram.They accepts the whiteman's offer to appoint Govindanayakkar as head(their representative), as they never heard any stories of 'white's" wrong behavior towards women.The story ends with the announcement that Queen Victoria had taken over the British empire and the people believed that she will do good like Queen Mangamma.

Characters:
Chenna Devi               : Beautiful girl whom the muslim king wanted to marry
Mangathaayary Ammal : Grandmother
Govindappa Nayakkar : Head of the family, first son, village head
Krishnappa Nayakkar : Agriculture, second son
Kovappa Nayakkar    : Cattles, third son
Raamappa Nayakkar   : Goats & calves,fourth son
Thaasappa Nayakkar  : Visiting relatives, fifth son
Sundarappa Nayakkar : Buffaloes breeding & feeding, sixth son
Kannappa Nayakkar   : Hand crafts, seventh and last son

The way the author structures the Kottayiar family is unique, each member of the family have to do particular task and they excelled in that.Almost all the families in Gopplapuram have like this structure.
Other characters :
Akkaiya : Govinda Nayakkar's cousin, who takes care of all the activities in Kottaiyar house and he is very intelligent.

Overall a great book, not to be missed.Everyone should read this book to learn how much we are missing in life in terms of customs and behaviors.

About the author
In English
In Tamil

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