Come, Savour the Many Indian Books

About fifty years back “Gone with the Wind”, "Jane Eyre" and Anna Karenina” were three books that all young women were advised – Nay! Exhorted to read!. Very few such wise and sensible ideas are given to the younger generation nowadays. More is the pity! Books (to repeat a well-known adage are the best friends a man, woman or child can have. Books provide company, offer consolation and serve as confidantes! They do not get offended, they need not go away and yet they continue to delight one in whatever mood one may be in, without encroaching! The earliest books were developed by the Egyptians, who stuck together individual papyrus sheets to form a long scroll, with rollers attached on either end so that one could furl one roller while unfurling the other. In China, India and other oriental countries, narrow strips of wood or leaf were tied together with cords to create ‘books’.

In Assyria sheets of wax dyed yellow, framed in wood or ivory and inscribed with a bone or bronze stylus were hinged on one side to make a fan-folded book. The Romans used to parchment paper and later most of ancient Europe began to create books with parchment or vellum(made from animal hide) with a backing of leather. The discovery of paper in 105A.D is ascribed to a Chinese courtier named Ts’ai Lun. Production of book was still a laborious process since it had to be done painstakingly by hand. Books were rare and not everyone could possess one. The discovery and development of the printing technique by Guttenberg took the tedium out of bookmaking and books became available for all and sundry. Indians were lucky because they have the best of both the Worlds – English Literature, the legacy of the British and the books of their forefathers. Ramacharitmanas (Hindi), Silappadikkaram(Tamil), Kanyasulkam(Telugu), Chemmeen (Malayalam) are a few gems that come to one’s mind but by no means is this list representative or exhaustive. The list of inspiring and scintillating books in the Indian languages is unending. It would be a worthwhile exercise to acquire at least a reading knowledge of one’s mother tongue(obligatory) and as many other Indian languages as possible in order to taste the nectar that is at hand but not difficult to get at because one has not made the effort.

 “Reading a book is only the first step in the relationship. The contents of someone’s bookcase are a part of his /her history like an ancestral portrait.”-  Anatole Bryand

Do make the effort to enrich your history!