One Part Woman: Can this be true?

This is a beautiful but tragic story of a young married couple deeply in love with each other, living in a village in the interior of Tamil Nadu, south India. As childless couple, belonging to the caste Gounder, they were exposed to extreme ostracism and jibes, which society, friends and family around imposed on them mercilessly, as common in such traditional societies. Motherhood was sacred and without that blessing a woman was nothing. She was barren. The husband was also exposed to ridicule as someone not up to the mark.

Perumal Murugan, the author had written the story in Tamil with all nuances and sensitivity (published in Tamil in 2010 and in English in 2014), and I read the translation which is equally beautiful. In Tamil it is called Maadhorubaagan, which literally means someone having a woman as a part of his body. This is applied to the Hindu god Ardhanareeshwara, who has part woman and part male, both Shiva and Shakti in his body. The story is woven around this god, who has one part of his body as woman. Hence the title “One Part Woman.” A few years back I remember Murugan was castigated and his life threatened for having written this novel, by the Hindu extremist groups who were extremely sensitive about Tamil and Indian culture, calling the work blasphemous. Disgusted with such horrid behavior, the dejected Murugan had vowed never to write again. But this controversial novel won him Sahitya Akademi’s Translation Prize in 2016. Fortunately, the author did not stop writing!   

Being deeply in love with his wife Ponna, the husband, Kali, refused to remarry to get a child, though he was under tremendous pressure. When the teasing and ridiculing became intolerable, Kali started to stay at home, going out only to attend to his farming duties in the field. Ponna had a sharp tongue and harangued the women who jibed at her barren status. Both were deeply hurt and to redeem their status in society hungered for a child. It becomes an obsession for them, not just for them, but for their close relatives as well. Ponnu’s mother and brother brought pressure on Ponnu to follow the traditional ritual practiced in Tiruchengode hill in Tamil Nadu a century back. In the annual chariot festival in the temple of Ardhanareeswara in this place, childless women will come alone to the temple, and take any interested male partner, who is considered ‘god’ for that time and the task, and has relationship with him. The child born of such a union is called ‘god-given child (Sami Pillai).’ The child is considered a gift from god and is accepted by the family and the husband also.

Ponnu was pressurized to follow this tradition by her mother, but the Kali would hear nothing of that. He was quite happy to live without a child rather than go through this ordeal. But one year, Ponnu’s brother lied to Ponnu that her husband Kali had consented to it and while her mother took her to the festival, the brother takes Kali away to a field to booze and sleep. Ponnu finds a young man and goes with him and yield herself to him. Kali wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to the house only to see the house locked and the people including his wife gone to the festival. He understands what has happened and goes mad with anger and despondency that his wife has cheated him. He calls her a whore and contemplates suicide. The story ends with that agonizing groan.

In 21^st century where ‘renting the womb’ and selecting from semen bank without even knowing the male partner, this ritual and tradition would seem hardly anything. But imagine some fifty or seventy years back! And the ridicule the husband would face till his death! And what the child would face from his peers! Hundred years back it would have been alright as society accepted the practice. But times have changed. It would have been difficult for Kali to accept it and live with it. 

The other question that arises is, whether such a tradition could really have existed, even hundred years back! Morality of Hindu society, would it have allowed such random unions? In a book written in 19th century (1848, to be precise), "Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies," the author, Abbe J.A. Dubois, a French missionary, but who took lot of interest in the development of Sanskrit language, has also written about the existing social and religious customs in the country. He had witnessed sati, the old custom of burning of wives on the funeral pyre of the dead husband. He also writes of a similar custom as in this story prevalent during his time in south India. In Tirupathi, childless women flock to obtain children from the god Venkateshwara (pg.593-594). The priests ask them to spend the night in the temple where they promise god himself will come, have relationship with them and give them a child. You can guess who goes in the night to have their desires fulfilled! In some temples in isolated places, during festival seasons of the deity, in January, women are promised children and they offer themselves to any person or persons to be fruitful. In a temple in Junginagatta on the banks of Cauvery, such a practice had prevailed (pg.596). So then, this practice seems to have existed quite widely! So much for morality.   

Well, India has progressed much beyond these horrid deceitful and hypocritical customs, mainly under the influence of Christianity, which they do not want to acknowledge today!