இயேசு காவியம் [Yesu Kaaviyam]

by Kannadasan

This is the last published work by the Tamil poet Kannadasan. This is a retelling of the Good News Story of Jesus Christ in traditional Tamil epic style. It is a Tamil verse epic on the life of Jesus Christ.

Genres: Literature

415 pages, Paperback

Published January 16, 1982

About the author

Kannadasan (24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was a Tamil poet and lyricist, heralded as one of the greatest and most important writers in the Tamil language. Frequently called Kaviarasu (English: King of Poets), Kannadasan was most familiar for his song lyrics in Tamil films and contributed around 5000 lyrics apart from 6000 poems and 232 books,[1] including novels, epics, plays, essays, his most popular being the 10-part religious essay on Hinduism, captioned Arthamulla Indhumatham (English: Meaningful Hindu Religion). He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Cheraman Kadali in the year 1980 and was the first to receive the National Film Award for Best Lyrics, given in 1969 for the film Kuzhanthaikkaga.

Reviews

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Lovely Book.

It is actually a Tamil rendering of the life story of Jesus (Gospel). The specialty is: The Good News Story is given in Tamil poetic form. It is in this sense an inculturated translation. It is called as KAAVIYAM (epic). It is not a great epic in the line of Silappathikaaram. It is one of the minor epics that emerged in the late 20th century. It was written by a Hindu poet of great esteem. He was asked by some Catholic priests to present the entire life story of Jesus in a verse form. And he obliged to their request. The result is this fantastic work of great merit.

It also closely follows the canonical Gospel passages. Except for the poetic expressions, it is in fact a 'faithful translation'.

Some of the events are even described as lyrics that could be easily fit into musical compositions. Kannadasan was more a lyricist than a poet. He was popular among the local masses because of his film lyrics.

Let me give you a sample and end this review:

This is about Jesus curing a deaf man (Mark 7: 31 - 37)

திறக்கப்படு

ஊமையும் செவிடு மான
ஒருவனைக் கொண்டு வந்தார்!
மாமகன் இயேசு அந்த
மனிதனின் செவியி லேதம்
ஓர்மலர்க் கையை வைத்து
உமிழ்நீரால் நாவைத் தொட்டார்!
ஊமையும் செவிடும் நீங்கி
உன்னத மொழிகள் சொன்னான்!

[Maria Dasam]

It is a wonderful book. Poet Kannadasan read all the four testaments of the bible and consolidated all the testaments into one and written as a poetry. I completed reading the entire book in a single night. That night i did not sleep. It made lasting impact on me. I used to quote from this poetry very often. For example: vyum vairum asail vizhunthal vazhkkai palaivanam". If your mouth and stomach fall in desire, your life will be a desert. So many such quotes are quoted by me from Yesu Kaviyam.

[Anto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Heard Nice Books

[Ilkia Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book true abt the Lord Jesus Christ and his history not an story

[Prasathsri]

I8

[Selva Kumar]

இயேசு காவியம் [Yesu Kaaviyam] by கண்ணதாசன் [Kannadasan]








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