‘Sati Kamale’ translated into English

Mangaluru: A century old, first Tulu novel Sati Kamale written by S.U. Paniyady in 1921 and published in 1936 has been translated into English by two former professors of Mangalore University.

This is the fifth Tulu work translated into English by B. Surendra Rao, a former professor of History and a critic, and K. Chinnappa Gowda, a former professor of Kannada and former Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka Folklore University.

In the novel, late Paniyady seeks to capture the nationalist mood which prevailed during the tumultuous days of the Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi Movement in the early decade of the 20th century. It was also the period when revolutionary movement took deeper roots in the country, drawing many young men and women to selective violence and heroic self-sacrifice, explained the translators.

The novel belonged to the first phase of modern literary cultivation in Tulu, which includes novels and novelettes and the reformist agenda of widow re-marriage also prominently figures in the novel, they said.

The novel is a tribute to the timeless virtue of wifely devotion to her husband, dead or alive.