Murugan's controversial novel 'One Part Woman' now translated into English

For months, Perumal Murugan had been hounded by right-wing Hindu groups that had latched onto an old novel of his, 'One Part Woman' (2010)

In 2015, the Tamil writer Perumal Murugan committed literary suicide. “Perumal Murugan the writer is dead,” he posted on his Facebook page. “Leave him alone.” He instructed his publishers to stop selling his work and readers to burn his books.

For months, he had been hounded by right-wing Hindu groups that had latched onto an old novel of his, “One Part Woman” (2010), about a religious festival in which childless women were permitted to sleep with men other than their husbands, in the hope of becoming pregnant. There would be no stigma; for one night, all men were to be considered