The Tamarind Tree

Sundara Ramaswamy’s modern classic, translated from Tamil, is a simply stunning reflection about shared histories, loss, an affinity for nature, and a near-mythic center of life in a village in India.

While it lived, the tamarind tree stood at the crossroads of a small village in Southern India. For more than fifty years it was a benevolent observer, offering shade without discrimination. It bore witness to laughter and tears, to tragedy and simple pleasures, and to the history of the village itself as it transformed from the old ways of bullock-led carts to a bustling community of social, political, economic, and ecological change. And for Damodara Asan, an enigmatic philosopher, memory keeper, and master storyteller, the tamarind tree—and everything it inspired—was an endless source of tales that enthralled generations.

Unfolding through the bittersweet remembrances of an unnamed narrator who was once beguiled by Asan, The Tamarind Tree is a beautiful and universal story about transition, the compromises of progress, and a long-gone though undying symbol of indestructible dignity, culture, and life.

Sundara Ramaswamy was one of the most versatile and innovative of Tamil writers. A modernist and dazzling stylist, he wrote in many genres, including poetry, fiction, theater, essays, and literary criticism. In addition to his path-breaking novels, Sundara also edited and published the magazine Kalachuvadu, which was a notable forum for new writing and literary debate.

Aniruddhan Vasudevan is an award-winning translator, performer, writer, and anthropologist. He is currently a Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton Society of Fellows, Princeton University. Among his translations are works of fiction by such celebrated Tamil authors as Ambai, and Perumal Murugan.