THE SLAVE’S LOVE BY RA. KI. RANGARAJAN

by Translated by Suganthy Krishnamachari

Category Literature & Fiction
Format Paperback
Imprint Rupa
Price 395

ISBN: 978-93-5702-810-3
Pages: 296 pages
Date: 5th December 2023

ABOUT THIS BOOK

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?

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

About The Author
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.

About The Translator
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 two
English Language Teaching (ELT) series for school students. Another story was translated into Tamil
some years ago, and published by an educationist in a magazine she edits.