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IT
is an acknowledged fact that the Tamil Christian Church is sadly deficient
in vernacular literature of a really high-class order. Many of the works
at present in existence are mere translations, - and for the most part
very literal ones, - of popular English books. Moreover they are written
in a style which, while it is intelligible to the ordinary reader, possesses
no pretensions to literary merit and does not attract the attention of
the more thoughtful and intelligent section of the Tamil community. The
author of the book before us has, therefore, at the cost of much time
and pains, laboured to produce something which shall be really worthy,
from a literary point of view, of 'the glorious Gospel of the blessed
God.' The devout and intelligent reader must judge for himself as to the
measure of success which has been achieved.
A
few remarks are necessary, by way of introduction, in order to elucidate
the object and nature of the poem which is now, for the first time, placed
before the public.
1.
The author's object.
- As its title implies, this work in question
is based, as regards its general plan and structure, on John Bunyan's
immortal allegory, 'The Pilgrim's Progress'. The aim of the author has
been to adopt the plan of that inimitable story, but so to clothe it in
new and elegant attire as to present it to us in a really Tamil guise.
Those who are acquainted with Tamil poetical compositions and the laws
which govern them will be aware that there are certain features, in respect
of arrangement and illustration, which are considered indispensable. These
features will be found to have been faithfully preserved, except where
the observance of them would have been inconsistent with the higher laws
of Christian truth and purity. The result of our author's labours, spread
over a period of no less than 14 years, is a beautiful classic poem, comprised
in 5 books, which are divided into 47 sections or cantos and contain in
all about 4000 stanzas.
2.
Points of contrast with Hindu poems.
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While our author has followed, wherever possible,
the accepted laws relating to Tamil poems, it will readily be seen that
certain points of difference present themselves, arising, for the most
part, from the grand requirements of the Gospel. For example, those impure
metaphors and questionable similes which defile the pages of so many Hindu
books are conspicuous by their absence here. There is a like omission
of that tendency to gross exaggeration and of that puerile fondness for
the wonderful and the incredible which
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