Symbol of service: The hospital is so famous that it has found a mention in Pasitha Maanidam, a novel by Karichan Kunju; Mul, an autobiographical novel by Muthumeenal; and Mazhaikan, a short story by Senthil Jagannathan. | Photo Credit: M. MOORTHY
On Karaikal Road in the temple town of Kumbakonam stands the 109-year old Society of the Sacred Heart Leprosy Centre, immortalised by Pasitha Maanidam, a novel by Karichan Kunju, a writer of the Manikodi magazine. The hero, Ganesan, is treated at the centre, but chooses to leave as he could not control his “wretched libidinous cravings”. Sr. Carolene, a German member of Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (SMMI), launched the centre in a thatched shed in 1916, with the support of Bishop Marie Augustin Chapuis. Its goal was to eradicate leprosy and render treatment to leprosy patients and rehabilitate them. Sr. Carolene herself was afflicted with leprosy, and by that time, the centre had emerged as a major hospital.
Better treatment
“Even today, we treat 10 old patients daily and receive 60 fresh cases every year. Many come here because the treatment is better and they can get their deformities corrected through surgery and physiotherapy. Though we run a full-fledged hospital, treating all diseases, more patients come here for the treatment of skin diseases,” says Fr. T. Devadoss, director, Sacred Heart Leprosy Centre-cum-Hospital.
“The hospital was led by a missionary order whose members had devoted their lives to serving others, overcoming the pleasures of the flesh. The doctors and nurses who worked there followed a strict regimen of meditation, prayer, and penance. Many locals also worked at the institution, though it was predominantly led by Europeans. The nuns who interviewed Ganesan were Swedish. They were visiting India for a short period, as part of their service to those afflicted with leprosy,” Karichan Kunju writes in the novel which has been translated into English as Hungry Humans by Sudha G. Tilak. The hospital is so famous that it has also found a mention in Mul, an autobiographical novel by Muthumeenal, who was successfully treated at the hospital, and Mazhaikan, a short story by Senthil Jagannathan.
“Karmavyathi, a short story by Parangusam, also deals with the disease. But it is not clear whether the author had kept in mind the Kumbakonam hospital,” says Rani Thilak, who has compiled short stories by Kumbakonam-based writers. Karichan Kunju, whose original name was R. Narayanaswami, was a Sanskrit scholar and writer. He has powerfully captured the activities of the hospital. “As he was led into the hospital, Ganesan noted that both the nuns, in their pristine white habits that covered them from head to toe, had youthful faces that overflowed with kindness. The wisps of golden hair that slipped out of the wimples, their striking blue eyes, their straight noses and red lips made Ganesan think that they were angels who had floated down from heaven to envelop him. He looked at their golden hands and coral-tipped fingers that clasped his wrists. ‘I must be in heaven’, he told himself,” he writes.
Ganesan quickly established a bond with the nuns and other staff. The treatment was so effective that the spread of the disease was controlled. As the body and mind recuperate, “his days of hedonism and decadence in the past” re-emerged at night “like the demon king Ravana’s new head, which would spring up even if one was cut off.” “The next morning, he found himself working alongside the sisters who were oblivious to the looks of desire Ganesan threw their way. Carnal ghouls danced in his head as the sisters touched him while applying medicines. At night, lascivious thoughts returned to torment him,” reads the novel. When Ganesan realised that the “feverishness of his lust would cost him his soul”, he “realised that the hospital was certainly not a place to debase himself. He decided to leave”.
Coming out to write
Muthumeenal ignored the social stigma and came forward to write about the treatment she underwent at the hospital. “As we alighted from the bus, I noticed a placard that bore the name, Sacred Heart Hospital. I felt reassured,” she writes in the novel, which was translated as Thorn by Subashree Desikan. While she was studying in the school on the hospital campus, a European couple wanted to adopt her, but she refused to leave her parents. Mazhaikan starts with the narrator’s entry into the hospital with his mother. “There are different types of patients. Some had half-deformed fingers; skins breaking like dandruff, staunching the blood oozing from the wounds with a cotton, deformed noses. Amma, frightened at their sight, rolled the end of her sari like a ball and put it into her mouth,” writes Senthil Jagannathan. The story deals with how the plan of a family to grow cotton to make profit goes awry after the mother falls victim to leprosy. The treatment begins, but the doctors insist that she wear only cotton saris.
Published – January 17, 2025 04:11 am IST
