Jnanaratham

SUBRAMANIA BHARATHI's Jnanaratham is a unique, creative and enchanting excursion into a world of fancy, metaphysics and mystic symbolism. It is written in engaging prose and the translation of it into English is a rewarding adventure.

Prof. P. Mahadevan, who was a distinguished professor of English and who was the Principal of the Madurai College at Madurai, several decades ago, serialized his translation of Jnanaratham in a weekly called 'The Sunday Times', which has since become defunct. Most of the Press Cuttings from 'The Sunday Times' have been preserved by Thiru P. N. Appusami, our grand-old man of letters and have been graciously handed over by him to our Expert Committee with a request to publish the same under this scheme. Some portions of the translations of Prof. P. Mahadevan were, however, missing and could not be traced in spite of our best efforts, with the result that at the instance of the Expert Committee for Translation of Classics, I have had to make a good the deficiency by myself translating the relevant passages into English. Care has been taken to indicate the passages translated by me lest the infirmities therein should be attribute to Prof. P. Mahadevan.

Tmt. Rajammal Mahadevan, the wife, and Tmt. Sakunthala Padmanabhan, Tmt. Mythily Krishnaswami, Tmt. Teji Viswam and Miss. Tikku Mahadevan, the other heirs of the late Prof. P. Mahadevan hold the copy-right in the transla tion effected by Prof. P. Mahadevan. At my request, they have been kind enough to permit the Government of Tamil Nadu to publish the English translation of Prof. P. Mahadevan without receiving any remuneration therefor, their only request being that each of them be granted a complimentary copy of the published translation. The Expert Committee for Translation of Classics records, on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu, its appreciation of the generous gesture of the heirs of Prof. P. Mahadevan. I thank my colleagues of the Expert Committee for their unstinting co-operation in choosing the right books for translation, assigning the translations to the right type of translators and in the work of scrutinizing and making them ready for publication. The Expert Committee's thanks are due to Thiru R. Kulandaivelu, Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Text-book Society and to his colleagues for the promptness with which they have completed the printing of this book.

**Contents and Sample Pages**