Vaadivaasal: The Arena

CS Chellappa

Aug 2025 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Vaadivaasal, a novella published in 1949, is considered as a modern literary classic in Tamil. It describes the events of an afternoon in Periyapatti, a village in southern Tamil Nadu, where a jallikattu contest, involving the traditional sport of bull taming, is underway. The novella opens with the arrival of bulls in the village from near and far, excitement and anticipation from the crowd of onlookers and tales of past heroics being exchanged among the villagers. Through the afternoon, Picchi, a young man from distant Usilanoor, displays his prowess at bull-taming, triumphing against several bulls. The highlight of the day is his encounter with the Kari bull, the prize animal fielded by the Periyapatti zamindar, which he defeats in a show of great ingenuity and courage.

It is gradually revealed that the Kari bull had killed Picchi's father, a legendary bull-tamer, in a jallikattu held many years ago. Picchi had come to Periyapatti with the express intention of avenging his father's death. The contest in a jallikattu is always between the bull tamer and a man of power, who is represented by the bull.

Vaadivaasal is a masterful account not only of a traditional sport and the people who engaged in it, but also of the relations of power and how they played out in a bygone era.

About the author

CS Chellappa (1912-1998) was a versatile literary personality, contributing widely to the novel, short story, poetry, literary criticism, and translation forms. His singular achievement was Ezhuthu, a literary magazine he founded that was a seminal force in Tamil literature. He was posthumously awarded the Sahitya Akademi award.

N. Kalyan Raman is a translator of contemporary Tamil fiction and poetry into English. Over the past twenty-five years, he has published translations of fifteen works of Tamil fiction by important writers such as Ashokamitran, Poomani, Devibharathi, Perumal Murugan, Vaasanthi and Salma. His translations of contemporary Tamil poets have been published widely in journals and anthologies in India and abroad. Kalyan Raman also writes on cinema, politics and literature for leading journals and magazines in India. His translation of Perumal Murugan’s Poonachi was shortlisted for the inaugural JCB Prize (2018), longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature (2020) and awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Translation Prize—English (2022). He received the prestigious Pudumaipithan Award in 2017 for his contribution to the cause of Tamil literature through his translations and the A. Muttulingam award in 2025 in recognition of his work as a translator over the years. He lives and works in Chennai.