THE SLAVE’S LOVE

Elihu Yale—a name that reminds us of an Ivy League University in the US. A man who came to Madras as vice-president of the East India Company, Yale was the one who established the Corporation of Madras. But there was a dark side to Yale, the so-called philanthropist. He profited from the slave trade in Madras. He passed a rule that at least ten slaves should be on board every ship that set sail for Europe from Madras. Whipping, branding, families being torn apart, slaves being shipped off to foreign countries—people in South India were subjected to all the horrors of the slave trade, with Madras being the hub of the trade.

Ra.Ki. Rangarajan’s Adimaiyin Kaadal is about the life of a slave girl. She is the heroine of Ra Ki’s historical. Rescued by a daring hero, she runs from her former owner. But who is she? What is the mystery in her background? What is her connection with the little kingdom of Singavaram in Tamil Nadu? Ra Ki takes the reader on a racy and exciting journey through Tamil Nadu’s little principalities, even as romance blossoms between the slave and her rescuer. Do they marry? Is the mystery in her life resolved?

"Ra. Ki. Rangarajan, who was with Tamil magazine Kumudam for forty years, left a mark on almost every genre of Tamil literature. He even wrote on the occult. He was perhaps the author with the most pseudonyms-as many as ten! He also tried his hand at translations, Tamil reading public. His translation of Henri Charriere's Papillon was serialised in Kumudam and was a huge hit. Ra. Ki's short stories with a surprise twist in the end were compiled under the title Twist Kadaigal: A Twist in the Tale. Ra. Ki.'s magnum opus was Naan Krishnadevarayan.

Suganthy Krishnamachari is a Chennai-based journalist, and has written articles on history, temple architecture, Sanskrit, mathematics, literature and music. She has written a series of books for schoolchildren on mathematics and English grammar. One of her short stories, published in a leading newspaper, is being used by an educational publishing company that is bringing out twoEnglish Language Teaching (ELT) series for school students. Another story was translated into Tamilsome years ago, and published by an educationist in a magazine she edits."