செம்மீன் நாவலில் செம்படவர் பண்பாடு / Sempadavar Culture in the Novel Semmeen

Abstract

Today, it has become an important need to look back in search of the roots of our culture. One should accept the truth that what existed several years ago is being the need of today. If one looks backward then only one should know the existence, continuity and extension of our heritage. Moreover, it will be make ourself able to discern what we had lost and what we must try to preserve. The life of people has been registered via the creative works to depict the lives of the certain group of people. The life of the discriminated communities are not shopwh exactly at any instanmce. Some writers have taken the themes in hand and portrayed their lives through their novels. Semmeen is a novel written in Malayalam in the nineteenth century by thagazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It was translated into Tamil by Sundara Ramasamy. Fishermen belonging to the Sembadavar tribe lived on the coast of Kerala. The novel Semmeen explores the culture of the fishermen who lived in the slums of Sembadava with the family of Sembankunju as the central plot. The culture of the fishing community is diverse. By examining this novel, the customs, life rituals, beliefs and other cultural elements of the Sembadavar people can be known.

Keywords

• semmeen novel
• coastal people
• cultural elements.