I found this http://sivagamiyin-sabadham.blogspot.com/ blogspot by chance. Looks like Pavithra Srinivasan has been translating this magnificent book called sivagamiyin sabadham which means Sivagmi ´s Vow.This book was written by the famous Tamil author R.Krishnamurthi pen named Kalki was written in 1944 and arguably one of the best historical novels written. But it is not just the exceptional one, there were great epics written before and great novels written after. Of those the best historical ones are by Sandiliyan. I feel iftheywere translated they would rival and could probably beat most of the top historical novels ever written like (Collen McClough´s Novels of the Roman Punic Wars and later). Also there alot of epics in Tamil from the very ages ago (Silapathikaram,Manimekalai). Tamil Literary history does not just contian these fictions, but a lot of other books also. The Tholkappiyam waswritten in 900BC but it is still taught in Tamil grammar classes for school students of age 15 or 16.
But all Tamil Literary Treasures have stayed within the Tamil group. Nobody outside this group know about any of these great works. Contrast this with the Bengalis,they had Tagore who wrote in great Bengali and in English also and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee and a small handful ones. They are well known outside the Benagli group. The Chinese also have their share of epics and anybody who goes into the Chinese culture immediately are aware of their epics likes Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber (all wonderful epics…if you get a hand on them just don´t let them go unread if you are a book lover).
Why have the Tamils not been able to “sell” this literary history to the world? Some may argue that Malaysia Singapore are places where Tamil sells a lot. But even here it is to Tamils only. Maybe one of the good Tamil movie makers should try to make a good movie based on oneof these Tamil stories in various languages and sell it across the world. Get it to win a Oscar or even a nomination. And at this time we have a lot of the works translated and put up on stall, it would generate of interest on the Tamil literature.
