MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |1

MAHADEVA SWAMY N N

17HEPH06

PhD ENGLISH

HCU, HYDERABAD.

13/09/2019

TITLE : “Studying Subalterns: Caste, Community and Gender in the novels of

Perumal Murugan” (Tentative Title)

Studying Subalterns: Caste, Community and Gender in the novels of Perumal

Murugan

Introduction and Contexts:

Subaltern studies have gained prominence in contemporary postcolonial society. Oxford

Learner’s Dictionary defines the word ‘Subaltern’ as a noun, means ‘1any officer in the British

army who is lower in rank than a captain.’ Its adjectival form as Oxford English Dictionary

denotes is that ‘2of a person or group of people: subordinate, inferior (to another); of a lower

rank.’ But the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci used it outside the non-military sense. In Latin

‘sub’ means ‘under’ and ‘alter’ means ‘other’. So literally it denotes to any person or group of

inferiors. Gramcsi used the term ‘Subaltern’ for working class people/ proletariat who were

exploited by their capitalist owners in Italy. Later, the word has been borrowed by various

academic disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, psychology and literature. Ranajit

Guha, who is a well-known Indian historian and editor of Subaltern Studies, interpreted the word

‘Subaltern’ as “3a name for the general attribute of subordination in South Asian Society whether

this is expressed in terms of class, caste, age, gender and office or in any other” (Guha v).

Therefore, the word Subaltern has been used to identify any person or community which is

victim of any caste, class, gender, ethnicity and etc. In the Indian context, Dalits, women, Tribals,

religious minorities and sexual minorities can be considered as ‘Subaltern’.

It must be noted that post independence/ post colonial India has witnessed dramatic changes in

its socio, political and cultural milieu. Needless to say that expansion of education to oppressed
1
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/subaltern?q=subaltern
2
https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/192439?rskey=kIeED2&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid
3
Guha, Ranajit. Subaltern Studies 1 : Writings on South Asian History and Society. 1 st ed., Oxford, 1999.
 MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |3

people (subalterns) has made significant change in the Indian literary landscape. Marginalized

sections of India, who have been victims of caste, gender and religion discrimination since time

immemorial, started articulating their lived experiences through writing. These narratives which

mainly deal with oppressed/ marginalized communities are called ‘Subaltern Literature/s’. India

has a substantial amount of ‘Subaltern Literature/s which has been written by different

marginalized communities. Even though some of the subaltern themes such as caste and gender

discrimination were dealt with by prominent Indian English writers – Mulk Raj Anand, R K

Narayan, Arundathi Roy, Rohinton Mistry and other upper caste progressive writers - it was only

after the 1970’s that the regional/vernacular literatures written by Dalit and women writers

occupied a prominent place in India. In postcolonial Indian society the literatures of subalterns

have brought noticeable changes in India academia; hence, issues pertaining to caste, gender,

culture and religion are open for discussion frequently.

In contemporary Indian society, regional writers’ voices are powerful as they have been

addressing the key issues that are prevalent in India, particularly in rural India and these writers

have depicted the lived experiences of common people who live in rural villages. One of the

contemporary prolific and important regional writers is Perumal Murugan who is a Tamil writer

and a Tamil professor by profession. He has written many novels, stories, and poems in Tamil.

Some of his works have been translated into English. His works are set in rural Kongunadu

(Kongu Region) which comprises the Western part of Tamilnadu. Even though his writings are

set in Kongunadu, his writings can be considered as microcosms which represent the entire

India’s socio, political and cultural issues. The writings of Murugan predominantly explore social

evils that are prevalent in rural India. He belongs to Kongu Vellalar community which is socially

and economically dominant and comes under OBC community (intermediate caste) in
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Tamilnadu. Though he belongs to dominant Kongu Gounder caste, he is basically from a small

village and a son of a poor farmer who worked as a soda bottle seller in a cinema theatre. His

writings mainly explore the relationship and interaction between different communities where

one community dominates one another in social and cultural day to day life. The intersection of

these communities are mainly determined and dominated by caste, class and gender relations.

His novels have also highlighted on intersection between traditional institutions like clan and

caste, etc and modern institutions like schools, cinema theatres, governments etc. Perumal

Murugan’s widely read novels are Current Show(2017), Season of the Palm(2017), Pyre(2016),

One Part Woman(2013), Poonachi(2018), Trial by Silence(2018) and A Lonely Harvest(2018).

Perumal Murugan’s writings revolve around caste, gender and cultural issues particularly on

issues of caste. He opined that 4‘in my experience, I feel caste is like god. There is no difference

in villages, cities, mountains or among the educated or uneducated – god is everywhere; so is

caste. Is there a day when god is not remembered? Similarly, caste is also remembered every day

(Murugan,177). Like Bama, P. Sivakami, etc who are Dalit writers of Tamilnadu, Perumal

Murugan has also portrayed caste issues and Dalit conditions in his writings. As far as Tamil

Dalit literature is concerned, it came into existence rather late in 1990s unlike in Marathi and

Kannada Dalit literature. The writings of prominent Dalit writers such as Bama, P. Sivakami

have challenged the traditional mainstream writers’ narratives and paved new ways in history of

Tamil/ Dalit literature. Dalit writers in Tamil have used day-to-day ordinary language, their

cultural specificity, myths and folklore in their narratives which became new narratives of Dalits

4
Murugan, Perumal. Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell. Translated by C.S. Lakshmi, Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd,

2018.
 MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |5

in Tamil literature. Many researchers have worked on the works of Bama and P. Sivakami which

mainly focused on narrative techniques, double-triple exploitation of Dalit women by upper caste

and lower caste men, women’s empowerment and education, religion etc.

Perumal Murugan’s works have received critical acclamation across India. One of his novels

One Part Woman was criticized because people thought he had portrayed women in a bad light.

This controversy brought him popularity and made him famous at the national level. In addition

to this, Murugan is accused to have represented Dalit characters in negative light without giving

socially respected names to those characters even though Dalit characters are main protagonists

in few of his novels. Moreover, Murugan himself wrote in his non-fiction book that he was an

active member of Marxist-Leninist movement while he was studying undergraduation in

Tamilnadu. In his writings Marx influence can be identified. Since his writings encompass

different literary elements, his writings are rich in description and narration. Hence, he has been

called one of the important regional writers who has brought some of the contemporary burning

issues into the forefront in his fictional writings.

Rationale:

Seven of Perumal Murugan’s novels have been translated into English until now and he is one of

the dominant Tamil voices in contemporary Tamil literature. Even though he is a well-known

post-independence Tamil writer whose works are now available in English there are not any

significant researches in English on the works of Perumal Murugan unlike in Tamil literature

departments where a few doctoral researches have been written on the works of Murugan.
 MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |6

The current research project chooses to study representation of Subalterns in Perumal Murugan’s

works. It aims to study how subaltern themes and caste related issues have been represented by

Murugan who belongs to intermediate caste called Kongu Velalar in Tamilnadu. The research

aims at studying socio, economic and political condition of different communities that have been

depicted by the novelist. The research particularly focuses on how caste, gender and relationships

between different communities have been depicted in the novels - Current Show(2017), Season

of the Palm(2017), Pyre(2016), One Part Woman(2013), Poonachi(2018), Trial by Silence(2018)

and A Lonely Harvest(2018).

Perumal Murugan’s writings are significant contributions to Indian literature. Being a regional

language writer he made a huge contribution to Indian literature, particularly to Indian subaltern

literature. As discussed earlier Perumal Murugan’s writings have held a special place in Indian

marginalized literature. Since he is a contemporary writer who is addressing social evils that are

prevalent in contemporary Indian society, I strongly believe that it is worth researching on

Perumal Murugan’s writings which spread light on some of the contemporary issues such as

“honour” killing, inter-caste marriage, sex ratio, social exclusion and caste and gender inequality.

Primary Texts:

Although Perumal Murugan has written novels, short stories, poems and essays, only his novels

such as Current Show(2017), Season of the Palm(2017), Pyre(2016), One Part Woman(2013),

Poonachi(2018), Trial by Silence(2018) and A Lonely Harvest(2018) have been considered for

this present research because only few of his poems and short stories are available in English

which are insufficient to conduct a doctoral level study. However, Murugan’s poems, short
 MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |7

stories and non-literary texts would be studied to collect more information about the writer and

his works.

Objectives of the current study:

The current research’s main objective is to explore subaltern themes / issues in the regional

novels particularly in Perumal Murugan’s novels. Even though some of the Indian English

writers depicted subaltern themes in their fictional writings, they are accused to have not been

able to authentically portray some of the burning issues such as caste and sub-castes in rural

India and India’s socio, political and cultural condition. Hence, this research project aims at

studying representation of subaltern issues such as caste, class and gender in the regional novels.

The research project attempts to decipher important contribution of regional novels to Indian

literature and particularly to Indian Subaltern literatures.

Research Questions:

My doctoral thesis will analyze the translated novels of Perumal Murugan through the following

questions:

What kind of social, economical and political relationships exist between different communities?

How do traditional institutions and modern institutions interact with each other? Who are the

beneficiaries of modern institutions? Who are their victims?

What is caste? And What is class? What does the intersection between caste and class imply?

How do incidents unfold in the plot with the intersection of political, economical and social

factors/ institutions?
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How do social and modern institutions impinge on gender relations?

How ‘being’ has been perceived by different communities? And what is the relation between

human and non-human (animals) in the novels?

Literature Review:

There exists a small body of research on the work of Murugan, though most of these have been

done in departments of Tamil and written in the Tamil language. Although there are a few theses

in English, they are mostly comparative studies. His writings have been compared with some

important writers who have also written about the subaltern communities and issues such as

Jeannette Armstrong, Mulk Raj Anand, Anita Desai, Arundhathi Roy etc.

The PhD thesis titled “Decoding the Marginalized Psyche : A Comparative Study of the novels

of Perumal Murugan and Jeannette Armstrong” was submitted at Manonmaniam Sundaranar

University in 2010. The thesis has mainly focused on a. An Aesthetic of Primitivism, b, Societal

Conflicts and Schizoid Tendencies and c, From Fissured Consciousness to Awakening

Consciousness. The thesis is a comparative study between the novels of Perumal Murugan

(Indian novelist) and Jeannette Armstrong (Canadian novelist) which has mainly focused on

marginalized psyche and consciousness.

Another PhD thesis titled “A Critical Study of Marginalized Sections of Society in Select Novels

of Mulk Raj Anand, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Neela Padmanabhan, Perumal Murugan and

Yuma Vasuki” was submitted at Periyar EVR College, Tiruchirapally in 2011. The thesis is a

comparative study of the novels of select Indian novelists who have extensively written on

marginalized communities of India. The thesis has focused on a, Treatment of the Poor, b,
 MAHADEVA SWAMY N N |9

Treatment of Women in the Novels and c, Response of the Protagonists. It is a comparative study

of select novels of select Indian novelists.

Important articles on Murugan’s work include “Singe Issue, Multitude Suffering – Trauma and

Pain, Reference to Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman” by Selvarani Paulraj that highlights

Niyoga. This essay points out to Niyoga, which was a practice during ancient time by which

childless people used to beget a child. The writer has opined that “the ancient text of

Mahabharata had a mention of Niyoga which is a tradition that was practiced in the 18th century.

No recent references to the same have been found anywhere (Paulraj, 4).

Another article is “One Part Woman by Perumal Muruganand Aniruddhan Vasudevan (Tr) in

Comparison with the Mahabharath: A Critical Study” by K. Sunitha. The paper discusses the

controversy around the novel. The main focus in the novel is comparison of the novel One Part

Woman with Mahabharatha. Mahabharata’s women characters – Ganga and Satyavathi, wives of

Shanthanu have been discussed with regard to women’s issues. It is said that to protect the land

during ancient time begetting children to have heirs was as important as today as Satyavathi

made her son Vyasa to bless her deceased son’s wives with children to protect the clan of

Bharatha. Such initiative results in the birth of Drutharastra, father of the Kauravas, Panduraja,

father of the Pandavas, and Vidhura who is known for his extreme goodness and wisdom. So, the

clan and the kingdom of Bharata is saved from falling into the status of heirlessness. Had it not

happened so, the Mahabharata would not have taken place there in the first place, and it would

not have guided generations of Indians (Sunitha, 60). It has been said that women’s problems till

now remain same since then. The paper aims to argue that Murugan’s novel cannot be

condemned when we accept the Mahabharata as a good epic.

The article titled “One Part Woman : A Review” by Anuradha Nongmaithem has focused on the

condition of childless women in India. The plight of an Indian woman without a child is worse

than a dog. The love between Kali and Ponnayi is intense and they have a sexually satisfied life.

The surroundings intruded into their happy life. External forces and socially constructed norms

are the reasons that created conflict between the couple (Nongmaithem, 26).

The essay articled titled “Contouring Culture against a Controversial Backdrop - An Insight into

Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman by S. Remadevi has thrown light on the cultural aspect of

Kongu region and how cultures that have been preserved for ages have effects on individual lives

and society. In the novel Kali and Ponna are victims of the culture. It also discusses culture,

gender and sexuality of women (Remadevi).

The article titled “Representation of Ancient South-Indian Culture: A Study of Perumal

Murugan’s One Part Woman” written by Satyajit Pal has discussed the novel cultural point of

view. It highlights how Perumal Murugan has attempted to depict folklore and ancient culture in

South India in this novel which is an attempt of decolonizing India. It also discusses food habits,

customs and rituals of Tamilnadu (Pal).

The essay titled “Myth and Reality” has spread light on myth, reality and childlessness.

In our country, childlessness is seen as nothing less than a calamity. According to one of our

ancient scriptures, "the childless shall go to a special kind of hell." Agrarian societies, such as the

Kongu Vellalar community to which Kali and Ponna belong, have always stigmatized

childlessness (Myth, 187).

The essay titled “The Human and the Non-Human in Perumal Murugan’s One part Woman” by

M. Nazir Ali has focused on the themes of novel such as land, gods, and animals and human

(Ali).
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The article titled “Reading Perumal Murugan's One Part Woman within the Spectrum of

Translation, Worship and Censorship” by Priyanka Tripathi discusses censorship. It has focused

on how some politically motivated religious fundamentalists attempt to curb free speech /

writings in the name of dishonor and as against their culture (Tripathi). The article also focused

on the importance of regional literatures and their translation into English in country like India

where there is huge linguistic and cultural diversity.

The essay “Dalit Protagonists: Deconstructing Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable and Perumal

Murugan’s Seasons of The Palm” by Velarasan, K is a comparative study of Baka of the novel

Untouchable and Shorty of Seasons of the Palm. The paper mainly focuses on similarity and

differences in portraying the Dalit characters by non Dalit writers/novelist. The paper has

described Shorty of Season of the Palms as passive, submissive, innocent and ignorant.

(Velarasan, K, 107)

The essay titled “Seasons of the Palm by Perumal Murugan. Translated by V. Geetha” written by

Naveen John Panicker is a book review of the novel Season of the Palms which describes the

novel in detail. It points out to Murugan’s concern in representing marginalized people who are

victims of caste, religion and gender. The author also points out that even though he is a non-

Dalit writer like other writers such as U.R Anantha Murthy and Arundhathi Roy, Murugan has

given importance to marginalized characters and their quest for self-identity and human dignity

(Panicker).

The article “Hoping Against Hope: A Discourse on Perumal Murugan’s Koolla Madari (Seasons

of the Palm” written by Daisy discussed about translation of Seasons of the Palms which has

been translated brilliantly. It also highlights the importance of Perumal Murugan’s writing and

his contribution to Dalit Literature. Daisy has opined that this novel adds another important
 M A H A D E V A S W A M Y N N | 12

dimension to the concept of Dalit literature in that Dalit literature is not necessarily the

compendium of creative works by Dalit writers only. (Daisy, 12)

The available English theses have not considered all of his works, instead only one of his novels

was studied for its representation of the marginalized. Since few of Perumal Murugan’s novels

have only been recently translated into English; there are not many articles or reviews in English

on them. There is no significant body of scholarship about his works in English with regard to

the intersection between different communities, castes, classes and gender relationships.

Therefore, I strongly believe the current research is going to be a significant contribution to

present scholarship.

Methodology:

This is an analytical and critical study conducted through the close reading of primary and

secondary texts that are available in English. These texts will be studied via theories that are

related to representation and Subaltern Studies, caste, class and gender. I will also use select

works of Ambedkar to study social and economical disparity and to study caste and class

divisions in India. Since the research aims at studying caste and gender, the theories of

indigenous scholars such as Iyothee Thasser, Periyar EV Ramaswamy, V Geetha and Uma

Chakravarti be studied. To study representation of animals and human-non-human relation, few

well-known western philosophers such as Michael Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben

and Donna Haraway will be studied comprehensively to analyze the novels of Perumal Murugan.

Apart from the scholarly work mentioned in the literature review, I will also rely on news reports

and digital material on Murugan’s work. Finally, I will also interview Perumal Murugan to gain

better information for my research.

Chapterization:

I have chosen the following novels of Perumal Murugan – Current Show(2017), Seasons of the

Palms(2017), Pyre(2016), One Part Woman(2013), Poonachi(2018), Trial by Silence(2018) and

A Lonely Harvest(2018) as they all deal mainly issues pertaining to caste, class, gender and

intersection of different communities and conflict . I have divided these novels of Perumal

Murugan according to the themes and issues they highlight for writing chapters.

The first chapter is an introductory chapter which is concerned with Perumal Murugan and his

writings in general. It mainly focuses on themes in the novels. It is a brief survey of his novels. It

also highlights the importance of his writings and the contribution of Perumal Murugan to Indian

literature/ Indian regional literature. It will also contain a detailed literature review of scholarship

conducted on Murugan and the themes mentioned. The chapter also discusses the themes and

narrative styles of mainstream Indian writers and how Perumal Murugan’s works are different

from other writers.

The second chapter aims to study issues of caste and representation of Dalits in the novels. In

this current research, those lower caste people who were historically considered untouchables are

considered as Dalits. The chapter focuses on caste relations between different communities and

caste and class relations would be studied. While analyzing the novels Ambedkar’s perspectives

on caste and Dalit critics’ perspectives on caste issues would be considered.

The third chapter aims to study the intersection between different social and modern institutions,

how they interact and what effect they have had on different communities. In this chapter, the

institutions which have been brought into narratives would be closely studied with regard to what

roles these institutions play in the social and cultural life of different communities. The chapter
 M A H A D E V A S W A M Y N N | 14

also seeks to understand whether marginalized communities get benefited from these institutions

or not.

The fourth chapter aims to critically study how old and new modern institutions impinge on

gender relations and what changes these institutions have brought in social and economical life

of the communities. The chapter critically studies representation of women characters and the

role of women characters in social institutions and whether these institutions impinge on gender

relations or not and if yes then how?

The fifth chapter is aimed at studying the relation between ‘being’ and community. It focuses on

interaction between human beings and other living beings (for example, animals) and what kind

of relationship is there between these living beings (entities). Since Perumal Murugan’s novels

explore rural life where domestic animals play an important role the chapter aims to study

representation of animals and their importance in cultural life. The chapter specifically deals

upon how the existence of these domestic animals has been perceived by different communities.

There has been a debate in Western academia whether to consider animals as subaltern on not

given the reason that they are non-human. This chapter studies human and non human (animals)

relationship and while studying this, it critically look into the subaltern issues and attempts to

theorize whether animals can be considered as subaltern or not. The reason to have chosen

animals for the study in the chapter is that Perumal Murugan has extensively dealt on both

human problems and animals problems in his novels. In rural society, animals play a vital role in

socio and cultural life but they are exploited by their human/owners for their own benefits.

Hence this chapter deals with both human and animals problems/relations since the current

research aims at studying subaltern issues.

The sixth and final chapter will be analysis of research findings chapter wise. It concludes with

the outcomes of the research.

Outcome of Research / Contribution of Research:

As Perumal Murugan is a contemporary regional writer whose voice is dominant with regard to

subaltern issues, this thesis on his writings will be a significant contribution for Indian literature,

particularly for Indian subaltern literature. Since the thesis is mainly focusing on interaction

between different communities, caste, gender issues which are current issues that have surfaced

in Indian academia for discussion, this research project aims to spread light on these issues. Even

though there are theories and writings from both and Westerners and Indian mainstream writers,

they have not focused much on Indian regional issues/ specificities; hence, regional writings like

Perumal Murugan’s writings are very important to study issues pertaining to caste, gender, socio-

political and cultural relationships.

Bibliography

Primary Sources:
 M A H A D E V A S W A M Y N N | 16

Murugan, Perumal. A Lonely Harvest. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Penguin Books,

2018.

Murugan, Perumal. Current Show. Translated by V. Geetha, Penguin Books, 2017.

Murugan, Perumal. One Part Woman. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Penguin Books,

2013.

Murugan, Perumal. Poonachi or The Story of A Black Goat. Translated by N. Kalyan Raman,

Context an Imprint of Westland Publications, 2018.

Murugan, Perumal. Pyre. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Penguin Books, 2016.

Murugan, Perumal. Seasons of the Palm. Translated by V. Geetha, Penguin Books, 2017.

Murugan, Perumal. Trail by Silence. Translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, Penguin Books,

2018.

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Agamben, Giorgio. The Witness and the Archive. Zone Books, 1999.

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