One Part Woman

The idea for writing the novel came to Murugan on witnessing couples around him suffer due to the inability to have a child. The novel is set in the Tiruchengode town in Tamil Nadu, from which Murugan hails, and its main characters in the book belong to the Kongu Vellalar Gounder caste, which he himself belongs to.{{cite web |last=Singh |first=Bhasha |date=9 February 2015 |title=One Part Dead |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/one-part-dead/293261 |access-date=12 January 2020 |website=Outlook}} The original name of the novel comes from the word Madhorubaagan, the Tamil name for the androgynous form of Lord Shiva in Hindu mythology. In 2005, Murugan was awarded a grant by the India Foundation for the Arts to do the background research for the novel.{{cite web | last=Baskaran | first=S. Theodore | title=Rage over a custom | website=Frontline | date=7 January 2015 | url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/rage-over-a-custom/article6756685.ece | access-date=12 January 2020}} In the course of his research, he came across a societal practice that existed in the past to deal with childlessness, which he decided to include in the book.{{cite news |last1=Kannadesan |first1=Akhila |title=Of desire, despair and hope |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/namakkalbased-author-perumal-murugan-talks-about-his-novel-madhorubhagan/article6748836.ece |work=The Hindu |date=2 January 2015 |access-date=5 January 2020}} The existence of such a practice has been a subject of dispute.{{cite web | last=Yamunan | first=Sruthisagar | title=In defence of the opposition to 'Madhorubhagan' | website=The Hindu | date=10 July 2016 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/In-defence-of-the-opposition-to-%E2%80%98Madhorubhagan%E2%80%99/article14483321.ece | access-date=14 January 2020}} Murugan stated in an interview with The Hindu that there was no documentary evidence relating to the custom and that details about it were passed on orally.{{cite news |last1=Kolappan |first1=B. |title=People are looking to settle scores with me: Perumal Murugan |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/people-are-looking-to-settle-scores-with-me-perumal-murugan/article6778030.ece |work=The Hindu|date=11 January 2015 |access-date=5 January 2020}}

Kali and Ponna are a couple living in Tamil Nadu. Despite having been married for 12 years, they are unable to conceive a child. Their childlessness becomes a source of constant taunts from family members and fellow villagers, who variously attribute it to family curses, God's wrath, or their ancestors' ill behavior. Desperate, the couple try several remedies, prayers and offerings but to no avail. Kali is often encouraged to have a second wife, an idea he considers but ultimately rejects. As a last resort, their families put forward the suggestion that Ponna go to the chariot festival of the androgynous god Ardhanarishvara, where on the 18th day, societal taboo relating to extramarital sex is relaxed and consenting men and women may sleep together. Kali is repulsed by the idea but brings up the subject with Ponna, who responds by saying she would go if he wished so. Kali feels betrayed by her reaction and eventually grows colder to her. The following year, Ponnu's family takes matters into their own hands by luring Kali out of the house, while convincing her that he has given his consent for her to go to the festival. She does so and finds a man she considers "a god" to impregnate her. Meanwhile, Kali returns home to find Ponna gone, leading him to breakdown and curse Ponna.

One Part Woman deals with the themes of ritual and tradition, and the power these elements have in societies, relationships and individuals.{{cite web |last1=Heath |first1=Will |title=Review: One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan |date=5 September 2019 |url=https://booksandbao.com/2019/09/05/review-one-part-woman/ |publisher=Books & Bao |access-date=3 January 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Sehgal |first1=Parul |title=A Novel That Roiled India Is Now Translated Into English |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/books/review-one-part-woman-perumal-murugan.html |date=16 October 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 August 2020}} The novel explores how a community's pathological obsession estranges a loving couple and breaks up their happy marriage.{{cite journal |last1=Paulraj |first1=Selvarani |title=SINGLE ISSUE, MULTITUDE SUFFERING-TRAUMA AND PAIN - REFERENCE TO PERUMAL MURUGAN'S ONE PART WOMAN |journal=Pune Research |date=August 2017 |volume=2 |issue=2 |url=http://puneresearch.com/media/data/issues/59340519f217b.pdf |access-date=13 January 2020}} It also depicts life in pre-Independence rural India, focusing in particular on the rigid social hierarchy set by the caste system. In the mostly agrarian Gounder caste to which Kali and Ponna belong, the status of the landowner is directly proportional to the number of sons he has.{{cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Nazir |title=THE HUMAN AND THE NON-HUMAN IN PERUMAL MURUGAN'S ONE PART WOMAN |journal=Research Journal of English Language and Literature |date=Apr–Jun 2016 |volume=4 |issue=2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/26302859 |access-date=14 January 2020}} Ponna is pressurized to conceive to improve her husband's social standing and to stop people from bringing up the lack of inheritance for her family's property.{{cite journal|last1=Saleh Alyahya|first1=Rimah|date=5 March 2019|title=ARTICULATION OF WOMEN THROUGH THE LENS OF INTERSECTIONALITY AND ITS DIMENSIONS IN 'ONE PART WOMAN' AND 'SINGAREVVA AND THE PALACE'|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/688a/545c2d7417d6513ad654198481d0bd90da2b.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113160335/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/688a/545c2d7417d6513ad654198481d0bd90da2b.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 January 2020|journal=Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews|volume=7|issue=2|access-date=13 January 2020}} Thus, a major portion of the couple's woes come not from their own desire to have a child, but their community's stigmatization towards those who do not have any. The novel also highlights the stratification of Indian society along caste lines, which is brought out through the concept of untouchability. Part of Kali's distress over Ponna attending the festival stems from the thought that his wife might have intercourse with an untouchable.{{cite web | last=Bala | first=Priya | title=Writer Perumal Murugan is back from the dead | website=Hindustan Times | date=18 November 2017 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/write-perumal-murugan-is-back-from-the-dead/story-3n5Ez3Mh3ZrxxVFourbGKL.html | access-date=12 January 2020}}

The novel also examines how patriarchal customs in India turn women into victims of gender essentialism. Women are expected to conform to a fixed female identity, and Ponna's failure to do so results in the repression of her individual self.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} In connection to this, the novel explores the condition of marriage and gender roles within it. When the couple remains childless for years, Kali is recommended for a second marriage, almost naturally placing the blame on the woman. Murugan has pointed out that marriage in India "is not a democratic institution [...] The man always has and continues to have a wider space in which to function, [while] the woman is constantly constrained." The novel also describes how patriarchy leads to the oppression of female sexuality, by viewing it solely as means to motherhood and the benefit of her husband and progeny alone.

The novel has garnered critical acclaim. Meena Kandasamy of The Guardian praised Murugan's "unsurpassed ability to capture Tamil speech, [which] lays bare the complex organism of the society he adeptly portrays" as well as Vasudevan's translation for "preserving the mood of the original".{{cite web | last=Kandasamy | first=Meena | title=One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan review – a skilful Tamil tale | website=the Guardian | date=25 July 2019 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/25/one-part-woman-perumal-murugan-review | access-date=14 January 2020}} The New Yorker called it "a subtly subversive novel [that] considers the constraints of tradition [...] In simple yet lyrical prose, Murugan shows how their standing in the world depends on their offspring."{{cite magazine |title=Briefly Noted |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/all-you-can-ever-know-hiking-with-nietzsche-one-part-woman-and-desirable-bodyhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/all-you-can-ever-know-hiking-with-nietzsche-one-part-woman-and-desirable-body |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=31 December 2019}} Lucy Scholes of The National summed it up as a "moving, quietly magnificent portrait of a tender, loving marriage that’s buckling under the impossible strain of meddling busybodies and the weight of conventional societal expectations." She opined that the translation was "competent" even though "occasional phrase[s] [that] strike as a little too modern does sneak through."{{cite web |last1=Scholes |first1=Lucy |title=Review: Perumal Murugan's latest novel challenges India's expectations of marriage |date=15 July 2019 |url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/review-perumal-murugan-s-latest-novel-challenges-india-s-expectations-of-marriage-1.886617 |publisher=The National |access-date=31 December 2019}} Kirkus Reviews concurred, writing: "Poignant and sweet, the novel suffers only from a certain roughness in the prose; something, it seems, has been lost in translation."{{cite web |title=ONE PART WOMAN |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/perumal-murugan/one-part-woman/ |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=31 December 2019}}

The original Tamil novel was awarded the ILF Samanvay Bhasha Samman in 2015.{{cite web | title=Tamil Writer Perumal Murugan wins ILF Samanvay Bhasha award | website=The Hindu | date=5 October 2015 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/tamil-writer-perumal-murugan-wins-ilf-samanvay-bhasha-award/article7726521.ece | access-date=14 January 2020}} The English version was awarded The Tamil Literary Garden Award for Translation in 2014, and longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Translated Literature.{{cite web |title=Perumal Murugan's 'One Part Woman' on the translated books longlist for the US National Book Awards |url=https://shop.scroll.in/book/894234/perumal-murugans-one-part-woman-on-the-translated-books-longlist-for-the-us-national-book-awards |publisher=scroll.in |access-date=31 December 2019}} It was also announced as the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize awardee in 2018, but the High Court of Madras passed a stay order on it after agitators filed a plea against it. Vasudevan consequently declined the award, citing an unwillingness to pursue a legal battle for the same.{{cite web | title=Translator of Perumal Murugan's 'One Part Woman' declines Sahitya Akademi Award | website=The News Minute | date=31 January 2018 | url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/perumal-murugan-s-translator-and-sahitya-akademi-award-winner-aniruddhan-vasudevan-declines | access-date=14 January 2020|last1=Rao |first1=Manasa}} In the wake of these events, Sahitya Akademi jury member Githa Hariharan filed a counter-affidavit contending that issues within the purview of litterateurs could not be subjected to judicial review.{{cite news |title='Sahitya Akademi award not subject to judicial review' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/sahitya-akademi-award-not-subject-to-judicial-review/article22683456.ece |work=The Hindu|date=7 February 2018 |access-date=31 December 2019}}

{{quote box

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| quote = "Author Perumal Murugan has died. He is no god, so he is not going to resurrect himself. Nor does he believe in reincarnation. From now on, Perumal Murugan will survive merely as a teacher, as he has been. [...] Please leave him alone. Thanks to everyone."

| author = - Perumal Murugan

| source = in a Facebook post published in January 2015.{{cite web | title='Author Perumal Murugan has died': Tamil writer withdraws all published work following protests | website=Scroll.in | date=13 January 2015 | url=https://scroll.in/article/700217/author-perumal-murugan-has-died-tamil-writer-withdraws-all-published-work-following-protests | access-date=12 January 2020}}

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In December 2014, the novel attracted the attention of various caste-based factions in Tamil Nadu,{{cite web | last=Saravanan | first=S.P. | title=Hounded by caste outfits | website=The Hindu | date=14 January 2015 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/hounded-by-caste-outfits/article6787062.ece | access-date=12 January 2020}} who claimed that the novel's depiction of extramarital sex during the Ardhanarishvara festival insulted their deity and the women of their caste. Nearly 10,000 copies of the controversial portions of the novel were distributed by the protesters in houses and among women to mobilize people against the book.{{cite web | last=Lal | first=Amrith | title=Tamil author Perumal Murugan announces his 'death' on Facebook over lack of freedom of speech | website=The Indian Express| date=15 October 2019 | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/forced-to-withdraw-novel-tamil-author-announces-his-death/ | access-date=12 January 2020}} Protests broke out in Tiruchengode, where copies of the book were burned and an official complaint, demanding a ban against the book and the arrest of the publisher and author, was lodged.{{cite web | last=Janardhanan | first=Arun | title=Saffron outfits burn copies of Tamil novel, seek ban | website=The Indian Express | date=28 December 2014 | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/saffron-outfits-burn-copies-of-tamil-novel-seek-ban/ | access-date=12 January 2020}} After a district-wide strike was declared, Murugan issued a clarification that he would remove all references to the place where events in the novel take place. As protests continued, he attended a peace meeting presided over by local administrators, where he was forced to render an unconditional apology and agreed to withdraw the book itself.{{cite web | last=Hindu | first=The | title='Perumal Murugan was asked to exile himself by police' | website=The Hindu | date=15 January 2015 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/perumal-murugan-was-asked-to-exile-himself-by-police/article6792161.ece | access-date=12 January 2020}}{{cite web | last=Nianias | first=Helen | title=Freedom of expression row as author Perumal Murugan begs fans to burn books | website=The Independent | date=16 January 2015 | url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/perumal-murugan-the-author-whos-begging-fans-to-burn-his-books-after-sex-censorship-row-9983754.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/perumal-murugan-the-author-whos-begging-fans-to-burn-his-books-after-sex-censorship-row-9983754.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | access-date=12 January 2020}} In the aftermath of these events, he posted what has been called a "literary suicide" note on his Facebook page, withdrawing all his written work and declaring a self-imposed end to his career as a writer.{{cite magazine | first=Amitava| last=Kumar| title=How Perumal Murugan Was Resurrected Through Writing | magazine=The New Yorker | date=12 December 2019| url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-perumal-murugan-was-resurrected-through-writing | access-date=12 January 2020}}{{cite web | last=Vijayan | first=Suchitra | title=The death of the author | website=The Hindu | date=17 January 2015 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-death-of-the-author/article6794468.ece | access-date=12 January 2020}}

In 2016, a petition was filed with the Madras High Court to nullify the settlement against publication of the book. Concurrently, multiple criminal complaints were filed against Murugan on the grounds of obscenity, blasphemy, and defamation. The High Court ultimately ruled in favor of the author, invalidating the settlement and dismissing the criminal complaints.{{cite web | last=Bhatia | first=Gautam | title=Perumal Murugan book controversy: The fault in our speech | website=The Hindu | date=7 July 2016 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/perumal-murugan-book-controversy-and-madras-high-court/article14476037.ece | access-date=12 January 2020}} In the verdict delivered in July 2015, Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul held:

{{Cquote|The choice to read is always with the reader. If you do not like a book, throw it away. All writings, unpalatable for one section of the society, cannot be labelled as obscene, vulgar, depraving, prurient and immoral. The author and artistes like him cannot be under a constant apprehension that if he deviates from the oft-treaded path, he will face adverse consequences. Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write.

|source= Excerpts from the Madras High Court ruling, July 2016{{cite court |court=Madras High Court, India |date=5 July 2016 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/02921/Perumal_Murugan_ca_2921087a.pdf |accessdate= 12 Jan 2020 |quote=}}}}

The judgment was hailed in the press as a landmark victory for free speech in India.{{cite web | title=Opinion - In India, a Spirited Defense of Writers | website=The New York Times | date=10 July 2016 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/opinion/in-india-a-spirited-defense-of-writers.html | access-date=12 January 2020}}{{cite web | first= Subhashini| last=Ali| title=Opinion: The Landmark Verdict In Favour Of Tamil Writer Murugan | website=NDTV | date=14 July 2016 | url=https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/the-landmark-verdict-in-favour-of-tamil-writer-murugan-1431475 | access-date=12 January 2020}}

In 2014, Murugan wrote two books, அர்த்தநாரி ({{IPA|ta|ərt̪t̪ənɑːɾɪˑ|pron}}){{cite web |title=அர்த்தநாரி [Arthanaari] |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24562131-arthanaari |website=Goodreads |access-date=5 January 2020}} and ஆலவாயன் ({{IPA|ta|ɑːləʋɑːjən |pron}}){{cite web |title=ஆலவாயன் [Aalavaayan] by Perumal Murugan, பெருமாள் முருகன் |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24562165-aalavaayan |website=Goodreads |access-date=5 January 2020}} as "dual sequels" to One Part Woman, both picking up from the end of the original novel but each following different storylines. However, the protests against the original broke out in the time leading up to the printing and release of the books, thus curtailing its publication. Subsequent to the High Court ruling on the matter, the books were translated into English by the original translator, Aniruddhan Vasudevan, as A Lonely Harvest and Trial by Silence respectively, and were released in December 2018 by Penguin Random House.{{cite web |last1=Najib |first1=Rihan |title=Between the word and the margins |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/between-the-word-and-the-margins/article26278694.ece# |work=The Hindu |date=15 February 2019 |access-date=5 January 2020}}{{cite web |title=Writer Perumal Murugan launches two sequels to controversial novel 'One Part Woman' |date=5 December 2018 |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/writer-perumal-murugan-launches-two-sequels-controversial-novel-one-part-woman-92808 |publisher=The News Minute |access-date=5 January 2020}} The books were well received by critics, who praised the novels' indigenous writing style, strong characters and the themes they dealt with.{{cite web |last1=Manish |first1=Sheeba |title=Perumal Murugan's brilliant sequels to 'One Part Woman' give us two alternate endings |date=17 December 2018 |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/perumal-murugans-brilliant-sequels-one-part-woman-give-us-two-alternate-endings-93496 |publisher=The News Minute |access-date=5 January 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Ghosal |first1=Somak |title=Two endings and a funeral |date=11 January 2019 |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/H415Wey4HDngwG1mBkXxDO/Two-endings-and-a-funeral.html |publisher=Mint |access-date=5 January 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Manivannan |first1=Sharanya |title=Perumal Murugan's double sequels to 'One Part Woman' explore what comes after a transgression |date=13 January 2019 |url=https://scroll.in/article/908833/perumal-murugans-double-sequels-to-one-part-woman-explore-what-comes-after-a-transgression |publisher=Scroll.in |access-date=5 January 2020}} The two books were jointly shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2019.{{cite web |last1=Bahuguna |first1=Urvashi |title=What each of the novels on the JCB Prize for Literature 2019 shortlist is worth reading for |date=12 October 2019 |url=https://scroll.in/article/940128/what-each-of-the-novels-on-the-jcb-prize-for-literature-2019-shortlist-is-worth-reading-for |publisher=Scroll.in |access-date=5 January 2020}}

{{reflist}}

Category:2010 Indian novels

Category:Novels set in Tamil Nadu

Category:Tamil-language literature

Category:Penguin Books books

Category:LGBTQ literature in India

Category:2010s LGBTQ novels

Category:Novels set in British India

Category:Books about the caste system in India

Category:Dalit literature