Indian Analysis of Shakespeare's Authorship

What about the Indian perspective of the Shakespeare authorship conspiracy theory?

Transcript

Elangova: I come from a remote part of India, and the first book I ever read (at the age of 13) was Shakespeare in old spelling. I have loved Shakespeare all my life, and I remember always wanting to visit his birthplace. Therefore, I do not understand where this conspiracy theory comes from. Genius can come from humble origins. Ben Jonson’s father was a brick-layer.

Many of our Indian writers came from poor backgrounds—perhaps with a humble heart their inspiration was greater. Subramania Bharethi was from a poor family, but was able to impress the king with his poetry. He knew fourteen languages, including French and English. He was inspired by Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron, and Keats. In India we are aware of all these conspiracy theories, but we do not support them ever. We have a high respect for our two-thousand year old written history. 

Shakespeare’s contemporaries did not doubt his authorship or the great minds for 300 years. I am concerned that today’s younger generation should not be misled by this insubstantial, inconsequential and ridiculous theory. We all love Shakespeare from Stratford.

K.S. Vijay Elangova

K. S. Vijay Elanqova is a journalist for The Hindu, a writer and a poet.