Fiji Maa: Mother of a Thousand
AGREAT Fijian Hindi epic novel has been launched this month.
It is without doubt a landmark literary event not only for South Pacific literature but also for world literature in the vernacular language: the publication of Professor Ramen Subramani’s magnum opus Fiji Maa: Mother of a Thousand, has been released by the University of the South Pacific Press
this month.
The fact that it is a novel of 1026 pages that took over 14 years to complete, supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, and that it is about an uncharted subject, women of Fiji, and written in one of the mother tongues of Fiji make the book indeed a unique achievement for Fijian literature.
Before its publication the manuscript received plaudits from reviewers, from the Fijian scholar and acclaimed literary critic Vijay Mishra, Prof of English at Murdoch University in Australia, who called it a “heroic composition” that, is both “sociology of culture and complex work of art that pushes the boundaries of postcolonial experience”.
Others have praised it for depicting the innermost emotions of female characters. The novel has a multitude cast of female characters; the focus, however, is on three women — a Fijian of Indian descendant, a iTaukei and a young woman from the Fijian diaspora — whose relationship brings out, from the perspective of women, commentary on the most pressing issues of our time — the place of truth in a world of deception and lies, political tribalism, belonging and separation, structure of happiness, and liberty and emancipation.
What is new in all this, moreover, is the perception and insights of women in their own language.
Once again Prof Subramani prolifically captures and produces an epic story in Fiji Hindi.
He has taken this book “Fiji Maa” beyond the literary heights of his first book “Dauka Puraan”.
A creative writing depicting the life of the main character (based on a post- colonial setting) as she passes from innocent childhood to face the realities of the changing socio-political realities of Fiji.
Years from now when Fiji Hindi ceases from the tongue, scholars, and academics will look back at Prof Subramani’s creative works in Fiji literature and its cultural expression.
■ Vinesh Maharaj works for USP Book Centre. The views expressed are those of the author of this article and not of the USP or this newspaper.