Chennai-based illustrator's reforming version of Thirukkural

CHENNAI: A classic text consisting of 1,330 couplets, with each couplet comprising seven words, Thirukkural is one of the ancient texts of Tamil. The three concepts Aram, Porul and Kaamam deal with different areas of life. As an experiment, an artist has brought the kurals from the books to canvas and painted her version of the literature.

When she was a child, Sowmya didn’t know her art skills. Over the years, she practised the same portrait until she perfected it. Then she took art as her career and now Sowmya is an assistant professor handling Visual Communication. “From the beginning, my motto is to give a visual form to the texts from Tamil literature. This will help us take these to the next generation in a renewed form,” starts Sowmya, whose pen name is Iyal.

Her Thirukkural illustration journey started on the New Year's day of 2020, and was completed in the August of 2023. “I was excited to delve deep into Thirukkural and share the insights and process with others. With each day passing, it was more than just learning and can be applied to our lives as well. It talks about human psychology, behavioural problems, governance, personal growth, relationships and more. Not only that, it also gives apt solutions. Women’s power was portrayed beautifully. It is not just literature, something deep and therapeutic,” says the freelance illustrator, who has more than a decade of experience in the artistic field.

Sowmya was confident enough about how to use artistic elements to convey the moral lesson. “Only when I connect with the couplets on a deeper level, I can bring the essence to the canvas. There was a point when I was unable to digest the idea or opinion of a few kurals. The ones about liquor consumption were dark and scary. Another extremely agonising concept was about sex workers. It was directed only towards women. The kurals were cursing them for stepping into sex work and how sinful it is to see them,” she shares with deep pain.

However, Sowmya had a difference of opinion in this context. “Why the men who pushed women into this situation were not questioned. I was furious with the patriarchal foundation of the society. Women were treated as a mere eye candy and the rules were formulated according to that. Thirukkural was written more than 2,000 years ago. So, I worked on my version of this in the visual medium,” remarks the 38-year-old. Her works mocked the men who go to sex workers to satisfy their pleasure.

Apart from the dark ones, Sowmya has a few favourites from the section of love. “The two kurals are Kuzhalinithu Yaazhinithu and Malarinum Melinathu Kaamam. Kaamam is not just love. It is boundless love. The couplets deal with how love should be handled like flowers with utmost care and affection,” she states.

With growing addiction towards gadgets, children are moving away from books. A new method of learning and teaching is the need of the hour to take these literatures to the next generation. “As the children stay distracted, their potential stays hidden. Visual media like artworks, films and photographs will attract their attention and can help them go in depth. I want to do a workshop with schools to make students understand each kural through art. After the learning process, I would want them to express what they have learnt through art, which will help them to remember the learning forever,” she believes.

Sowmya is illustrating the works of women poets. “I always had the guilt that we are not that aware of our rich language, history and literature. The history is connected with our current life as well,” she adds.

This weekend on September 29, Sowmya is conducting a Thirukkural artwork exhibition and workshop, where the participants will get hands-on experience in making a miniature art of kurals. The event is taking place at Backyard, Adyar, from 3 pm to 6 pm.