Imayam (writer)

Imayam () (pen name of V. Annamalai) is a prominent and a well known Indian novelist in Tamil. He wrote five novels, five short story collections and a novella. He is closely connected with the Dravidian Movement and its politics. His novels 'Koveru Kazhudhaigal' (The Mules) and 'Arumugam', have won accalim within Tamil literature and have been translated into English and French respectively.

Early Life

Imayam was born in 1964. The family lived in Meladanur, but later shifted to Vriddhachalam. He finished his higher studies in Periyar E.V.R. College, Tiruchirappalli. During his college days, he got books from some Sri Lankan Tamils on the ethnic crisis in their country and also attended the exhibitions and photo displays that they put up. In addition, he bought and read Russian Literature in translation. Imayam's first piece was written for a competition in St Joseph's college in Trichy around 1984-1985. For Imayam, it was S. Albert, a professor from Trichy, who 'opened the door to the world'. He went on to attend a thirty-day writer's workshop organized by the All India Catholic Universities Federation. This set Imayam thinking seriously about his own writing and its themes.

Works

About his works

His first novel Koveru Kazhudhaigal created heated debates on issues like the role of a Dalit writer in the context of oppression seen in Dalit community. This novel is now included in the digitalisation project of the University of Chicago and Columbia University, the first Tamil novel to be made available via the Internet, at least at that address. This novel is considered as one of the classic of modern Tamil literature specially in Dalit writing. It is the realistic chronicle of a family of launderers who wash the clothes of other untouchables, receiving grain and other food in return. The novel is constructed between two journeys: a pilgrimage of hope at the beginning; a routine trip to the washing pool in drudgery and despair in the end. Imayam invents for Arokkyam a particular spoken style, which is not quite formal lament, but is very similar, often depending on a string of related exclamations. He presents an ebullient mix of the past, present and future in his works. About his novel Koveru Kazhudaigal the writer Sundara Ramasamy wrote "There is no novel that equals this one in the last 100 years of Tamil writing." However Dalit intellectuals like Raj Gauthaman have criticized the novel for focusing only on shortcomings of Dalits and being the kind of novel that "upper"-castes praised.^[1]. 'Koveru Kazhudhaigal' won many awards including Agni Aksara Award, award from TamilNadu Progressive Writers' Forum (1994), Amudhan Adigal Ilakkiya Award for Literature (1998) and honored with a state award. The English translation of this novel appeared as 'Beasts of Burden' in 2001 and the second one appeared in 2006 and also translated into Malayalam. Imayam's second novel, 'Arumugam', appeared in 1999, and translated into French, won him accolades from doyens of Tamil literature. 'Manbaram', a collection of stories was published in 2002. 'Sedal', another novel, published in 2006, deals with a dalit community whose women are designated as oracles. These women, appointed during droughts, fix the date for village festivals, perform koothu, participate in death rituals, and are not allowed a marital relationship. The novel tracts the life of Sedal, given over to the temple during the 1945-46 drought in Tamilnadu, whose family leaves her behind and migrates to Sri Lanka. This novel is also translated into English. His novella 'Pethavan' was first published in September 2012 in Uyirmai (Tamil literary Magazine). November 2012 saw its appearance as a little book through Oviya Publications TVS, Villupuram, which reprinted it five times in three months. Bharati Publications published the novella in February 2013 and, has since, sold more than 1,00,000 copies, reprinting ten times.

This novella is set against the back of rural Tamil Nadu, and is the story of a father who is faced with the brutal realities of caste and communal prejudice as he is ordered by the panchayat to murder his daughter for being firm in her resolve to marry a Dalit boy. The narrative is an unflinching account of the stress and ugliness that await those who dare to transcend caste borders. When Bhakkiyam falls in love with a Dalit sub-inspector, death is the only punishment that will satisfy her village panchayat. Pazhani, her father, is ordered to kill her. But how can a father murder his own daughter? Imayam's tale eerily preceded an actual event that occurred two months later in the year 2012 in Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. The animals in the story stand apart from humans who seem to exist with no humanity. The bullock licks Pazhani's face and calms him down. He allows his face to be licked by the bullock, and slowly, his trembling stops. His dog hovers around, concerned and unwilling to leave him in this trying moment. About 'Pethavan', Ambai wrote "I have cried when the father feeds his daughter, places her head on his chest, and hugs her. His language is abusive and abrasive throughout, but his words, when he bids Bhakkiyam goodbye and tells her to go live with her life, make not only his daughter and his future son in lay, who speaks to him on the mobile, cry, but also the readers. When a story rises above the public image of the writer, it has truly succeeded in having an existence of its own that goes beyond the writer." This novella is translated into Malayalam, Telugu

Awards

• Agni Akshara Award (1994)
• Amudhan Adigal Literature Award (1998)
• Junior Fellowship – Department of Cultural, Govt. of India, New Delhi (2002)
• Thamizh Thendral Thiru.V.Ka. Award, Govt. of Tamil Nadu (2010)
• Puthiya Thalaimurai (Nambikkai Natchathiram) Award (2015)
• Tamil Peravai Award - SRM (2016)
• Anantha Vikatan Award (2016)
• Award for Contemporary Tamil Literature - The Hindu (Tamil) - (2018)

References

Further reading

• Satyanarayana, K & Tharu, Susie (2011) No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South Asia, Dossier 1: Tamil and Malayalam, New Delhi: Penguin Books.
• Satyanarayana, K & Tharu, Susie (2013) From those Stubs Steel Nibs are Sprouting: New Dalit Writing from South Asia, Dossier 2: Kannada and Telugu, New Delhi: HarperCollins India.
• http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/tamil-writer-imayam-s-bestseller-pethavan-now-in-english-115061000356_1.html

External links

• Official website