Contemporary poet and writer Perumal Murugan entered into a controversy when his Tamil book, Madhurobhagan (2010), translated into English as One Part Woman, was released in his home town, Namakkal, in Tamil Nadu. The fictional book portrays the sufferings of childless couple, particularly women, and it dealt with the lifestyle dating back to more than a century.
Murugan was attacked, harassed, and hounded in public for months by the Hindu Munnani, along with three other caste organisations. He also received several death threats, and so did his family. Things got so out of hand that, on 2 January 2015 night, on the advice of the police, he was forced to leave Kongu region with his family. The Hindu fundamentalists tagged the writer as “anti-Hindu” and accused him of insulting certain caste groups through his novel. They burned his books and demanded a public apology from the writer for his work. In response to the on-going controversy, Murugan took an evocative step by announcing his “death” on his Facebook page. The post read, “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.” He explained his stand later, saying, “When a writer has to apologies or retracts the words of creativity, that moment the writer dies.”
The issue was later taken to the Madras High Court by the Hindu fundamentalist groups demanding a ban on the book. The great literary chronicler was silenced from his writing for a long time. Finally, In July 2015, the Madras High Court gave a land mark judgment in favour of the author by saying “Let the author be resurrected to what he is best at. Write.”
Mudiyathu Thuyaril Naan is one of the 40 verses he wrote during this period of exile. In this song, the author pleads to Madhurubhagan or Ardhanareeshwara (Half Shiva and half Parvathy) to come and rescue him out of the torture that he’s being subjected to. In solidarity with the author and to celebrate the judgment, T M Krishna composes Murugan’s verses which he had handed over to the singer during their meeting.
