Festbeitrag von G. Karthikeyan,
Minister für kulturelle Angelegenheiten
Kerala,Südindien am 02.07.2002 in Calw
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Dear Friends
It is with a sense of great joy that I stand before you today, in this land of the Rhine, cradle of one of the greatest cultures of the world. As Minister of Culture in our tiny State of Kerala, part of the huge country, India, I find myself often "ministering" culture. Our land too is watered by great rivers- the Nila and the Mayyazhi Puzha nature Tellicheery and Mahe. These are districts that still thrill to the name of Dr. Herman Gundert for it was there he lived while in our state.
Whenever we, Keralites speak or think about Germany, we associate you with our culture, not only on account of Max Muller Bhavans but also because of Gundert's contribution to Malayalam literature, in the shape of our first dictionary. The two decades that he spent as a missionary in the German Basel Mission has gone a long way to make Kerala culture richer. Nostalgia binds us to Gundert. The association to Gundert makes his daughter Marie, who could speak and sing in Malayalam dearer. Let me first of all express my sincere homage to those dear friends of Kerala.
We, in Kerala, place a lot of important on family and tradition. Perhaps that is the reason why Malayalis look upon Hermann hesse with a sense of familiarity and appropriation. This works in two ways for just as we look up on Hesse as one who has understood us, so do we understand Hesse more than people in any other culture. Hesse's writings have always been governed by his perceptions of India. It would be no exaggeration to state that Hesse traced the Indian Psyche in Siddhartha in way that no Indian writer could hope to excel.
In an age when true spirituality is rapidly losing its way into dreary litanies or narrowing into fundamentalism. Hesse speaks of the individual "voyage in" – a quest that would recover the essence of the self. Like the historical Siddhartha, who is not the protagonist, but whose name serves as the erased text, the protagonist of Siddhartha, leaves on a west of the self. The endless quest to understand oneself is represented by Hesse in Siddhartha's inner struggles. The Indian reader is firmly ensconced in a philosophical way of thinking. The seemingly boundless quest of the self in the Upanishads which ends in the ultimate realization of " Ta Tvam Asi" ( That thou art) is echoed in Siddhartha's eventual realization of himself. From the perception of materialism and baser passion that color his relationships with humans, he shifts to a wider more vibrant plane that calls to a soul trained in both the acceptance and negation of life. Siddhartha appeals to both the Indian and the aestheitc in me. It has been translated into Malayalam thrice. Each translator has attempted to do justice to the reading possible. Unlike translations of other works, Siddhartha does not face the problem of cultural untranslatability for what Hesse writes is comprehensible to the Indian- reader. I was surprised to learn That Hesse visited Indian only once, in 1911. His vivid imagination and understanding of the Indian way of life had undoubtedly stood him in good stead while writing Siddhartha.
Nor can we forget his other works- for example, Demien, which plumbed Psycho analysis, The Glass Bead Game that is set in the future and "Der Steppenwolf" which is the most restrained of his works. His Remniscences, as the title suggests, is autobiographical.
Hermann Hesse's works did not get the attention it deserved in England and America probably because of Hesse's mysticism and philosophy. Though discussed widely in academic circles, his worked did not filter to the common man until the 1960's when he emerged as the cultural hero of a new generation who applauded Hesse's love of nature, his anti - intellectualism and his dislike of the bourgeoisie.
Awards have come Hesse's way in Plenty. He was the recipient of the Prestigious Nobel Prize and the Goethe Prize.
Hesse is the spokesman of both the world that have passed by, and the new world that has strange new values, where materialism, which palls, is the accepted way of life. Like the Magi of the East, like the prophet of a cult that promotes ancient wisdom, Hesse addresses the Juded, weary, twentieth century readers and revives them with infinite grace.
On the occasion of the 125th birthday celebration of Hermann Hesse, I pay my homage, as spokesman of all Keralites who love their language and appreciate the language of others, to one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.
© 2003 Stadt Calw - Impressum - HesseStadtCalw.de - Letzte Änderung: 15.08.2003