Murugan decides to ‘get up’, write again after court ruling

CHENNAI: Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, who was forced to symbolically declare in 2014 that he had died after protests over his novel, on Wednesday said that he will “get up” after the Madras high court dismissed a criminal case filed against him two years ago and called for the author’s “resurrection.”

“My mind wishes to spend a little time in the joy of this moment,” he added, indicating his “resurrection” as an author would take a little longer.

Residents of Tiruchengode and the Kongu Nadu belt — areas where Murugan lived and wrote about in his novels — claimed that ‘Madhorubagan’ offended their religious sentiments only after it was translated into English in 2014. The Tamil version was published in 2011.

The book is about a childless couple from rural Tamil Nadu which is forced by their families to participate in an ancient chariot festival at Ardhanareeshvara temple — a composite androgynous form of Shiva and Parvati.

According to the book, any man was permitted to sleep with any woman and vice-versa during the night of the festival.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, argued that the charges that ‘Madhorubagan’ — translated to ‘One Part Woman’ in English — allegedly offended religious sentiments of a community were unfounded.

“All writings, unpalatable for one section of society, cannot be labelled as obscene, vulgar, depraving, prurient and immoral,” it said. It was Chief Justice Kaul, who as a member of the Delhi high court, delivered the historic judgement that exonerated legendary painter MF Husain of similar charges in 2008.