Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan (born 1966 ) is an Indian writer, scholar and literary chronicler who writes in Tamil.

He has written twelve novels, six collections of short stories, six anthologies of poetry and many of the non-fiction books.

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.

Murugan began writing from his early age, and some of his early lyrics of children's songs were featured on programmes broadcast by All India Radio.

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.

degree from Madras University in Tamil studies, and followed by a Ph.D. His doctoral thesis focused on the works of author R. Shanmugasundaram.

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.

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.

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."

Murugan taught as professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Namakkal.

but was forced to leave Namakkal following assaults and protests by right-wing Hindu and caste groups, and worked Head of the department of Tamil literature at a government college in Attur, Tamil Nadu.

In between, he briefly taught at the Presidency College in Chennai.

He Worked as a Principal of Govt.

Arts College, Namakkal.

Murugan is the author of twelve novels, and six collections each of short stories and poems, as well as thirteen books of non-fiction relating to language and literature, in addition to editing several fiction and non-fiction anthologies.

Several of his novels have been translated into English, including Seasons of the Palm and Current Show.

Murugan began his writing career by publishing several short stories in the Tamil journal Manavosai between 1988 and 1991.

His first novel, Eru Veyyil ('Rising Heat') was published in 1991, and dealt with the problems that a family faced when their land was acquired for the construction of a housing colony, engaging with themes of family, greed, and corruption.

His second novel, Nizhal Mutram (1993), translated into English by V Geetha as Current Show (Tara Books, 2004), drew from his personal experience of helping his father run a soda stall in a cinema theatre.

These stories were later collected and published in a book titled Thiruchengodu (1994).

Murugan's third novel, described by the translator and critic N. Kalyan Raman as a 'tour de force' was titled Koolamadari (2000), and was translated by V Geetha as Seasons of the Palm (Tara Books, 2004).

The book dealt with the life and travails of its protagonist, Koolaiyan, a young goatherd of the Chakkili (Dalit) caste, who was bonded to work in a Gounder caste family to repay his father's debts.

The book dealt with themes of childhood, autonomy, and freedom.

Ten of his novels have been translated into English: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Current Show, One Part Woman, A Lonely Harvest, Trail by Silence, Poonachi or the Story of a Goat, Resolve, Estuary, Rising Heat, and Pyre He was a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Salem Attur and Namakkal.

His next novel, Kanganam (Resolve, 2008) dealt with the consequences of sex-selective abortions and female foeticide that caused a skewed sex ratio in the Kongunadu region.

It focuses on the protagonist, Marimuthu, unmarried because of the scarcity of women within his caste and society.

His novel, Madhurobhagan (2010) translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan as One Part Woman (Penguin, 2013) dealt with a young childless couple struggling within their marriage, drawing specifically from the community and culture of the Kongunadu region.

One Part Woman is a novel based on a possible ancient cultural practice among people living around Tiruchengode, written by Perumal Murugan.

According to historian Romila Thapar, it is the story of a childless couple with a strong desire of having a child, "depicted with admirable sensitivity, anguish and gentleness".

Published by Penguin Books, the novel was originally written in Tamil under the name Madhorubagan and then later translated in English by Aniruddhan Vasudevan as One Part Woman.

He has also written a memoir, Nizhal Mutrattu Ninaivugal (2013).

Aniruddhan Vasudevan was awarded Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize (2016) for this book.

His next novel, Poonachi (The Story Of A Black Goat, 2017) dealt with the life of a special female goat in the Kongunadu region, focusing on the tragic life of the goat in the hands of a poor old couple.

Recently, his novel Pookkuzhi (Pyre) has been translated to English by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, as well.

In 2017, an anthology of Perumal Murugan's poems, Mayanathil Nitkum Maram (A Tree that Stands in the Crematorium) was published, containing his four previous collections of poetry: Nigazh Uravu, Gomuki Nadhikarai Koozhaangal, Neer Midakkum Kanngal and Velli Shani Bhudhan Nyayaru Vzhyayan Chevvai.

The book was also included in the longlist for the 2018 National Book Award in the "Translated Literature" category.