Perumal Murugan, the veteran writer, has created a masterpiece in the form of the book Pyre. Anirudh Vasudevan has aptly translated the original Tamil work.
Kumaresan and his wife Saroja, who belong to different castes, are abhorred by one and all, including Kumaresan’s mother, Marayi, back in Kumaresan’s village.
The author vividly describes the taunting notes the villagers pass on seeing the fair-skinned Saroja, accusing her of enchanting the boy from their village.
The new bride spends her day in agony in a small house over the rock, as her mother-in-law is not keen on keeping the couple with her. While Kumaresan offers all support to his wife, loneliness stings her while he is away, making arrangements to start a soda bottle shop of his own.
It was this job back in Saroja’s village that had sparked the love between the two. Fearing her father and brother’s wrath, Saroja pleads with Kumaresan to take her to his village but is tortured mentally and emotionally. She gets drained.
Every relative Kumaresan thinks will support him turns against him, including his maternal grandfather’s house members.
The village meets and decides to ostracize the family, including the mother. The mother wails at her misfortune, and hatred for Saroja grows in her heart.
She herself plots with some people to end Saroja’s life while Kumaresan has gone to set up his soda bottle shop. Pregnant Saroja has to go to the open to answer nature’s call when the men venture to have her killed. With prayers on her lips, in the darkness, Saroja dodges the angry men, who then set fire to the dry leaves grown so that she would be trapped in the fire and die.
The end in open, as at that very moment Saroja hears Kumaresan’s cycle bell.
Will Kumaresan be able to save her? Will the couple lead a happy life away from this village? These are questions left to the readers to answer.
It is an extremely well-written story, a must-read.