Kayar

Kayar (English: Coir) is a 1978 Malayalam epic novel written by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Widely considered as one of the most seminal works in Malayalam literature,Kayar received many major literary awards including the Jnanpith, India's highest literary honour.

Plot summary

Set in Kuttanad, the novel traces the evolution of the central Travancore society from the early 19th century to the mid-twentieth century. It covers more than two centuries of Kerala life, encompassing six generations of characters. The historic transformation of man's relationship with land, as also between man and man, men and women and even man and God, forms the staple theme of Kayar.

Background

The idea of a novel which contains the vignettes of social life in Kerala stayed in the author's mind for many years. "Two hundred and fifty years of Kerala life flowed past my mind's eye. But I needed a form. I could find no help from the Western classics," Thakazhi reminisces. For years he carried the "germ" inside his head. One night, as he lay sleepless in bed, the Mahabharata epic with its episodic structure drifted into his mind as a possibility. The next day he started work on Kayar. It took him three years to complete the book.