"Booker Longlist a moment of Pride for Tamil": Author Perumal Murugan on 'Pyre' getting longlisted

For the first time, a Tamil novel in translation has made it to the prestigious International Booker Prize longlist for 2023. The novel 'Pyre' (Pookuzhi), by Perumal Murugan (56), deals with honor killing with a subtle positive ending. His 'Madhorupagan' (One Part Woman), was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award also for translation. “It is a moment of great pride for Tamil,” was his initial reaction to the Booker entry, writes ETV Bharat's MC Rajan.

Chennai:A riveting story on honour killing in the backward hinterland of Tamil Nadu has found its place to the longlist of the International Booker Prize for this year in the translation category. Rather than mourning and having a tragic end, the 2016 novel, 'Pyre' (Pookuzhi), concludes with a positive hint of the victim, the Dalit woman, escaping from being burnt alive.

“I was very happy when friends rang me up to inform me of this. It is an acknowledgment of my writing. Further, it is of great importance that a novel written in Tamil has made it to the longlist. As such, it is a moment of great pride for Tamil. Only when our works get translated into English and published in England or Ireland, this is possible. We have writers who are second to none in either literary quality or merit,” he said over the phone from Namakkal, about 389 km from Chennai.

Translated into English by Anirudhan Vasudevan, the novel was first serialised in the magazine 'Kalki' and later published by 'Kalachuvadu publications. Interestingly, Vasudevan is the one who translated 'Mathorupagan' as well. The Booker prize money of 50000 pounds is shared by the author and the translator.

'Pyre' is the story of a youth, Kumaresan, working in a soda manufacturing unit falling in love with a woman, Saroja, living next to the factory. Once, when he had gotten hurt, she provided him with food. As their love developed, they eventually eloped and got married. The couple then land at Kumaresan's native village, where the reception was hostile. Though Kumaresan hides his wife's caste identity, his mother, Marayi, curses them and the family suspects that Saroja is not of their caste. And when it gets revealed, the village ostracises the couple forcing Kumaresan to move to a nearby village in search of livelihood and starts running a small business of soda distribution.

A distant relative invites him to a function to mark his daughter attaining puberty. To avoid his relatives and family, he and his wife go to the temple with presents. But, he was insulted by his uncle.

When he was away for a couple of days in connection with business, Marayi conspires with her relatives to kill Saroja, who is pregnant. Saroja, who had gone to relieve, hides herself in a bush to escape Marayi's fury. But, they sight her in the bush and set fire to it on all sides and the narrative ends with Kumaresan's arrival ringing the bicycle bell. “It is suggestive of Sarajo being rescued,” Perumal Murugan reasons.

When Sahitya Akademi announced the award for 'One Part Woman', there were protests baying for his blood in Namakkal and other towns of the Kongu region – western Tamil Nadu, with the dominant OBC Goundar community outfits claiming that the novel insulted the women of their community. Copies of the novel were burnt. Following threats to his life, he even declared that 'Perumal Murugan the author' is dead and that he is silencing his pen. Litigation followed. And, in a landmark judgment, Madras High Court upheld the book and said, “Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write,” which brought him back to writing.

The novel revolves around a couple who remain issueless and the wife getting pregnant during the annual temple festival at the Arthanareeswarar temple in Tiruchengode, a practice prevalent in the past.

A Tamil professor, he has taken voluntary retirement and stays in Namakkal, and is engaged in writing and guiding researchers.