In January, an Indian author announced his own death in a Facebook post. “Author Perumal Murugan is dead,” it said. “He is no God. Hence, he will not resurrect. Hereafter, only P Murugan, a teacher, will live.” He then withdrew his books from circulation, and disappeared into anonymity.
The decision was the author’s own choice, but the circumstances that led to it reveal an increasingly bleak situation for free expression in India. For Murugan, his self-censorship began following the publication of his book, “One Part Woman,” in 2010.
The novel, set over a century ago, follows a childless upper-caste couple in rural South India and their struggle to conceive. In an ancient temple ritual, the woman sleeps with another man from a lower caste and becomes pregnant.
