The passing away of Kannada author SL Byrappa, at the age of 95, is a significant loss and noticeable milestone in the history of Indian literature.
While the whole nation was taking pride in going leftist, eulogising wokeism even when the term had not been invented yet, when the entire literary circuit across all languages was communist slanting and left biased, Byrappa stood out as a beacon of light, the only glittering hope for the return of sanity into the literary arena.
Byrappa wrote historical fiction from a perspective that could have been more plausible and very different from the usual narrative of Nehruvian utopian socialist dreamland. He painted the facts in their raw nature. And that was refreshing and energising to a new wave of authors who began to look at the world from a correct perspective.
His book ‘Aavarana’, translated as ‘The Veil’ in English and ‘Thirai’ in Tamil , in my opinion, stands out as the epitome of historical fiction that sought to portray Bharat from the perspective of the natives of the land. The islamic invasions, their cruel actions, their current versions and how the leftist historians have sought to whitewash those horrors – these were the touch points of the novel.
Yet another recent one that sought to bring out the left dominated academic society was ‘Kavalu’, translated as ‘Pilavu’ in Tamil. Though raw at times, the book probably represents the left led, delirium infested society that we have become.
Byrappa’s early life aligned much with my late father’s – in terms of the ‘vaaraannam’ – ‘vaara saappaadu’ in Tamil, where a young boy would be fed by the society, with each member of the society taking turns to play host for a day of the week. This I have represented in my Tamil novel ‘Vandhavarkal’ as well.
Heartfelt condolences to the many thousands of Byrappa’s followers. Byrappa was the right version of an author that Tamil didn’t have, yet.
My reviews of two of his books that had moved me:
Amaruvi's Aphorisms 
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