Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan was born in 1966 to a family of farmers who had small land holdings near Thiruchengodu, a town in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu. His father, a farmer, supplemented the family's income by running a soda shop in a cinema theatre in Thiruchengode.[4] Murugan began writing from an early age, and some of his early lyrics for children's songs were featured on programmes broadcast by the All India Radio.[4]

Murugan initially studied Tamil literature both as an undergraduate, in Erode and as a postgraduate in Coimbatore. He went on to obtain an M. Phil. from Madras University in Tamil studies, and followed by a Ph.D.[4] His doctoral thesis focused on the works of author R. Shanmugasundaram.[4]

As a professor of Tamil literature, Murugan has made several contributions to research and academic study of Tamil literature specific to the Kongunadu region, including building a lexicon of words, idioms and phrases special to Kongunadu.[4] He has also extensively researched and documented Kongu folklore, especially the ballads on Annamar Sami, a pair of folk deities. In addition, Murugan has worked on publishing authoritative editions of classical Tamil texts.[4] He has also republished works of literature relating to the Kongu region. One commentator notes that "In sum, his over 35 books provide a veritable cultural map of the Kongu region."[5] Murugan taught as professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Namakkal.[3] but was forced to leave Namakkal following assaults and protests by right-wing Hindu and caste groups,[6] and now heads the department of Tamil literature at a government college in Attur, Tamil Nadu.[7] In between, he briefly taught at the Presidency College in Chennai.[8]

Murugan's fifth novel Madhorubhagan (translated as 'One Part Woman') was set in his native town of Thiruchengode, and dealt with a couple, Kali and Ponna, who were the subject of social stigma and humiliation for their inability to have a child. The novel portrays their eventual participation in a chariot festival to honour the god Ardhanareeshwara, during which, for one night every year, the local community in the novel relaxed taboos and allowed free relations between men and women.[14] The novel was published in 2010 and was well-received, but began to attract controversy in 2014 after local caste-based and religious Hindu groups objected to the fictional portrayal of traditions at the Ardhanareeswarar Temple in Tiruchengode, where the eponymous presiding deity is part-Shiva and part-Parvati in one idol. They objected to the ficticious theme as it was presented as an actual historical novel by the author initially. He had further received grants from the controversial Tata Foundation and India Foundation for the Arts headed by Anmol Vellani, both seen as affiliates of Ford Foundation. The foundation was blacklisted at the same time for nefarious activities by the Indian government. Due to the efforts of G.R.Swaminathan, a BJP/RSS Hindu Munnani[15] affiliate, who later went to become a high court judge, Murugan was saved from the fury of the protesting locals. The Tamil title of the book, Madhorubagan, is a translation of the name of the deity (Ardha-naree-eswarar), just as the English title, One Part Woman, is an allusion to the deity's form. The protest by some outfits were continued by the local units even after they lost momentum at the state level.[16]

Protests were eventually called off after the local police summoned the protesters and Murugan for a 'peace talk' and compelled him to sign an “unconditional apology” and withdraw all copies of the novel.[14] Murugan in January 2015 announced that he was giving up writing, and said on his Facebook page that "Perumal Murugan the writer is dead. As he is no God, he is not going to resurrect himself. He also has no faith in rebirth. An ordinary teacher, he will live as P. Murugan. Leave him alone."[16]

A series of litigation and suits concerning One Part Woman were instituted before the Madras High Court, and on 5 July 2016 the Madras High Court dismissed the case under citing Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, ruled that there was no binding force or obligation in the previous state intervention that forced him to apologise and withdraw the books. The court further directed the state to provide appropriate protection when artistic or literary people come under attack, and to form an expert body to help guide the police and local administration to develop sensitivity to the issues involved.[17] Following this judgment, Murugan returned to his literary career with a collection of poetry.