Imayam (writer)

His first novel Koveru Kazhudhaigal created heated debates on issues like the role of a Dalit writer in the context of oppression seen in the Dalit community. This novel is considered as one of the classics of modern Tamil literature, especially in Dalit writing. It is the realistic chronicle of a family of launderers who wash the clothes of other untouchables, receiving grain and other food in return. The novel is constructed between two journeys: a pilgrimage of hope at the beginning; a routine trip to the washing pool in drudgery and despair in the end. Imayam invents for the protagonist Arokkyam a particular spoken style; often relying on a string of related exclamations, it is very similar to a formal lament. He presents an ebullient mix of the past, present and future in his works. About his novel Koveru Kazhudaigal the writer Sundara Ramasamy wrote "There is no novel that equals this one in the last 100 years of Tamil writing." 'Koveru Kazhudhaigal' won many awards including the Agni Aksara Award, award from Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers' Forum (1994), Amudhan Adigal Ilakkiya Award for Literature (1998) and honored with a state award. The English translation of this novel appeared as 'Beasts of Burden' in 2001, was translated into English again in 2006, and was also translated into Malayalam. In an introduction to Beasts of Burden, Imayam writes that "The world is an ocean, in which concepts and theories are like ships which appear and disappear. My works were not composed with the comfort offered by these ships, but written from within the sea and by looking at its vastness." The result is that this story, rooted in specificities of a certain experience, has a resounding universality: it is simply about how life goes on.[1]

Imayam's second novel, 'Arumugam', appeared in 1999 and was translated into French, winning him dozens of Tamil literary accolades. 'Manbaram', a collection of stories, was published in 2002. 'Sedal', another novel, published in 2006, deals with a Dalit community whose women are designated as oracles. These women, appointed during droughts, fix the date for village festivals, perform koothu, participate in death rituals, and are not allowed a marital relationship. The novel tracts the life of Sedal, given over to the temple during the 1945-46 drought in Tamil Nadu, whose family leaves her behind and migrates to Sri Lanka. This novel is also translated into English. His novella 'Pethavan' was first published in September 2012 in Uyirmai (Tamil literary Magazine). November 2012 saw its appearance as a little book through Oviya Publications TVS, Villupuram, which reprinted it five times in three months. Bharati Publications published the novella in February 2013 and has since sold more than 1,00,000 copies, reprinting it ten times.[2] This novella is set against the back of rural Tamil Nadu, and is the story of a father who is faced with the brutal realities of caste and communal prejudice as he is ordered by the panchayat to murder his daughter for being firm in her resolve to marry a Dalit boy. The narrative is an unflinching account of the stress and ugliness that await those who dare to transcend caste borders. When Bhakkiyam falls in love with a Dalit sub-inspector, death is the only punishment that will satisfy her village panchayat. Pazhani, her father, is ordered to kill her. But how can a father murder his own daughter? Imayam's tale eerily preceded an actual event that occurred two months later in the year 2012 in Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. The animals in the story stand apart from humans who seem to exist with no humanity. The bullock licks Pazhani's face and calms him down. He allows his face to be licked by the bullock, and slowly, his trembling stops. His dog hovers around, concerned and unwilling to leave him in this trying moment. About 'Pethavan', Ambai wrote "I have cried when the father feeds his daughter, places her head on his chest, and hugs her. His language is abusive and abrasive throughout, but his words, when he bids Bhakkiyam goodbye and tells her to go live with her life, make not only his daughter and his future son in law, who speaks to him on the mobile, cry, but also the readers. When a story rises above the public image of the writer, it has truly succeeded in having an existence of its own that goes beyond the writer." This novella has been translated into Malayalam and Telugu.

• கீழடியும் சித்தர் மரபும்
• நீங்கள் எழுதினால் இலக்கியம் நான் எழுதினால் மட்டும் தலித் இலக்கியமா?
• கதை வந்த கதை
• காப்பியடிப்பவர் எல்லாம் கவிஞரா? Writer Imayam Speech
• "நான் செய்வது சமூகப் பணி; இலக்கிய பணி அல்ல"

• Satyanarayana, K & Tharu, Susie (2011) No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South Asia, Dossier 1: Tamil and Malayalam, New Delhi: Penguin Books.
• Satyanarayana, K & Tharu, Susie (2013) From those Stubs Steel Nibs are Sprouting: New Dalit Writing from South Asia, Dossier 2: Kannada and Telugu, New Delhi: HarperCollins India.

• Official website