Divergent faiths, ideologies find common ground at Chennai Book Fair

CHENNAI: This edition of Chennai Book Fair has become a melting pot of divergent religious, social and political ideologies. At some stalls books on Ambedkar, Alwars, Periyar, Hinduism, Islam share space.

Of the 900-odd stalls, at least 10% have been occupied by publishers exclusively selling religious books, be it about Hinduism or Islam or Buddhism. Another 10% stalls cater to Ambedkarites and Periyarists. Lenin and Karl Marx too find place in many stalls. And they all do decent business.

Jai Bhim is the name of a stall where an Ambedkar cutout welcomes visitors. It has already received more than a thousand bookings for a yet-to-be-released collection of Ambedkar's speeches and writings in 50 volumes. Lifco Publishers, which has its stall diagonally opposite, has a cutout of Chhota Bheem to direct visitors to a book titled Sri Raman Kanda Ayodhya.

Another stall -- Periyar Books.Com -- has all books published on Dravidian leader Periyar E V Ramasamy. Universal Publishing stall has coffee table books on various temples with captivating images with detailed footnotes. The stall in-charge says people buy their coffee table books in sets.

Book stalls of Iskcon, Chinmaya Mission, Yogada Sathsang Society, Osho, Isha Foundation, Ramakrishna Math, Infiniteism and Krishnamurti Foundation too get footfalls of their followers.

Khateeb Asrar Oomeri, manager of Goodword Books, says Quran is their best selling books. "We have Quran in 40 languages. After English and Tamil versions, Quran in Hindi and Telugu are also in demand," he says. Abuthahir of Rahmath Pathippagam says non-Muslims' inquiries largely surround books on basics of Islam and the Prophet. However, the sales are not as good as pre-Covid times.

Tamil Nadu government's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has an official stall doing brisk business. Sporting a temple-like facade, its temple guides for different districts and all 12 volumes of Thevaram sell like hotcakes.

Kavitha Chokkalingam, president of Bapasi, says the book fair has a place for all ideologies. "This is a place where readers with specific interests -- be it science or spirituality -- find books of their choice."

After a rain-holiday on Monday, the book fair picked up pace on Tuesday.