An intimate sage. That’s how litterateur K Satchidanandan sums up the poet and writer in his foreword to Ayyappa Paniker Forever, a collection of 42 memoirs of the guru – glimpses of his personal life and philosophy -- brought out by his students here early this month, 13 years after he passed away.
A great teacher never bids farewell. He continues to inspire his disciples. And the bond is in keeping with the guru-shishya relationship of India’s unique tradition: guide, well-wisher, friend…
Anecdotes
Peppered with anecdotes, mostly drawn from their classroom experience, the disciples lend greater insights into his personal life and philosophy. And how he changed the course of their destinies.
Modernism
To the outside world, Ayyappa Paniker is the forerunner of Modernism in Malayalam poetry. The poet who penned such great works as Kurukshetram, Gopika Dandakam, and Gothrayanam. But the memoirs portray the guru more as a good human being, affectionate, compassionate, and considerate. Always radiating the rustic charm and innocence of Kuttanad.
He had the practice of inviting his students, especially research scholars and those doing MPhil, to his home. And they attest to the guru’s large-heartedness, more than a poet or teacher of genius, in such encounters. And the humane education of literary study.
Scheme of teaching
As a teacher extraordinaire, his students remember, he held his books closer to his heart in every sense. And how he made ‘‘the dry as dust history of... Old English, Middle English and Modern English eminently palatable’’. Some of them explain how they picked up the right priorities for a teacher from the guru. His scheme of teaching comes in for praise more often in the memoirs.
‘‘He was unconventionally unique in helping his students find their way out of the academic labyrinth... helping them reach independent shores.’’ A man who believed that he and his students were in the same class.
Irony was the hallmark of his poems. ‘‘How did he become a man of irony? It was his disposition towards life, born out of his experiences,’’' writes Priyadas G. Mangalath, secretary, Ayyappa Paniker Foundation. Some of the memoirs concur that his irony was a valiant attempt to overcome the agony of living. A sort of catharsis? His black humour and poetic works were a sublimation of the wailing of a wounded heart, they seem to ponder.
Man of many talents
Ayyappa Paniker was many things to different people. And his disciples compliment his little-known wide canvas. His deep-rooted knowledge in the theoretical framework of Indian literature, drama and the arts in general, his Socratic love for knowledge, his support for little magazines…. A man of many parts.
