Khasakkinte Itihasam

Khasakkinte Itihasam was inspired by the Ottupulackal family's stay at a village called Thasarak near Palakkad (in central Kerala) for a year.[9] O. V. Vijayan's sister was appointed as the teacher of a single-teacher government school in the village (1956).[10] Some of the characters in the novel were modeled after real-life characters whom Vijayan encountered in Thasarak.[3][8]

In an afterword to the English version of the novel Vijayan wrote:[9]

The njattupura in the compound of O. V. Vijayan Memorial at Thasarak, Palakkad

O. V. Vijayan Memorial by Kerala Government at Thasarak, Palakkad

The njattupura where protagonist Ravi ran the school was modeled on a real-life njattupura. This njattupura was a 'temporary shelter' for O. V. Vijayan during the late 1950s and 1960s.[3] Arabikkulam, a pond that finds mention in the novel, is also located in Thasarak.[3] An O. V. Vijayan memorial is present at Thasrak in Palakkad.[3]

Vijayan took twelve years (begun in 1956) to complete Khasakkinte Itihasam.[7][8] The character Appukkili was originally created by Vijayan for his short story "Appukkili" - a chapter in the finished book - which was published in October 1958 (Mathrubhumi Weekly).[2]

The protagonist, Ravi, a Malayali final year under-graduate student in Madras, is haunted by the guilt of an affair he had with his stepmother. He thus abandons the prospects of a bright academic career, deserts his girlfriend Padma and leaves on a long journey, which finally brings him to the remote (fictional) village of Khasak near Palakkad (central Kerala). At Khasak, he works in a single-teacher government primary school as part of the Malabar District Board's education initiative.

The story commences with Ravi's arrival at Khasak and the beginning of his encounters with its people and legends. He immerses himself in the 'bewitching sensuousness of the rustic, amoral world', only to emerge as an 'involved outsider'. He finds rational inquiry meaningless and begins a metaphorical journey inwards. The narrative strategy of the novel is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. The narration also makes sense of multiple separate realities (see magic realism).

At the end of a series of events, including the threat of suspension from the authorities, Ravi keeps his word to his ex-girlfriend Padma to leave Khasak. The novel ends with Ravi in the monsoon rain, waiting for his bus to leave the village, watching a snake that had struck him withdrawing into its hole.

• Ravi - the new school teacher in Khasak (Palakkad), originally from Pattambi.
• Ravi's father - a doctor in a coffee plantation in Ooty.
• Padma - Ravi's ex-girlfriend from Madras Christian College, Madras
• Suma and Rama - half-sisters of Ravi
• Bodhananda Swami - a holy man managing an ashrama
• Kelu Menon - the post-man to Khasak

• The novel was serialised in Mathrubhumi Weekly in 28 parts, between 28 January 1968 and 4 August 1968.
• It was published in a single edition (Malayalam) by Current Books in 1969.
• The first DC Books edition (Malayalam) was published in 1990.
• The English version was published in 1994 (Penguin Books).

The novel (Malayalam) has been reprinted more than fifty times.[3][8]

O.V. Vijayan rose to prominence in Kerala with his first novel Khasakkinte Itihasam.[5] The novel became an instant hit with the young Kerala people.[7] Such was the influence of the novel on the people of Kerala that the whole of modern Malayalam fiction came to be defined in terms of a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ in relation to it.[8]

At the time of publishing, the novel 'infuriated' some of the Kerala conservatives and the progressives alike (for different reasons).[7] It was criticised by both for its depiction of 'sexual anarchy'.[7] Orthodox readers charged it with 'obscurity', 'partly because of its new idiom and partly its play with space and time' (which contrasted with the familiar, chronological narration).[7]

O. V. Vijayan (1930–2005)

O. V. Vijayan published his English version of Khasakkinte Itihasam in 1994 (under the title 'The Legends of Khasak').[4] The English version has had a pan-Indian appeal.[7] This version differs substantially from the Malayalam original in its sensibility. Most readers prefer to read this as an independent novel by Vijayan rather than seeing it as a translation.[4] Authors like N. S. Madhavan have been openly critical of the 'freedoms Vijayan took with his own work' as well as his English style.[7]

The English version was published long after Vijayan experienced an 'epistemological break' after meeting the monk Swami Karunakara Guru.[11] The early O. V. Vijayan was marked by 'deep philosophical doubt and skepticism', but the later O. V. Vijayan 'upheld certitudes'.[4] The Legends of Khasak was written by 'the Vijayan of certitudes', which makes it a very different novel in its sensibility, in spite of being a 'translation'.[4]

One critic makes the following comparison between Khasakkinte Itihasam and The Legends of Khasak to prove this point.[4] A literal translation of an important passage in Khasakkinte Itihasam reads:

"What is his truth?" They asked one another.
They recalled the curse that the mollakka had sought to cast on Nizam Ali. It had no effect on him.
"The khazi's truth," they said, "is the sheikh's truth."
"What then of the mollakka's? Is he untrue?" They asked again.
"He too is the truth."
"How can that be so?"
"Because truths are many."

In The Legends of Khasak, O. V. Vijayan rendered this passage thus:

"What is the Khazi's truth?" The troubled elders asked one another.
They recalled the spell the mullah had tried to cast on Nizam Ali. They had seen the spell fail.
"The Khazi's truth," they told themselves, "is the Sheikh's truth."
"If that be so," the troubled minds were in search of certitude, "is Mollakka the untruth?"
"He is the truth too."
"How is it so?"
"Many truths make the big truth."