There is something arrestingly mystifying about Peichi. The novel written by Malaysian Tamil writer M. Navin was banned in December 2020 by the Malaysian government under section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, because it ‘might be detrimental to public order, morals and public interest’, as an official statement had then said. But Peichi is a spectacular exploration of Tamil life in Malaysia — a territory largely unexplored in the Tamil literary landscape.
The novel follows Kopperan, a traditional medical practitioner and priest of Pechi temple, to Malaysia. He is driven by his fear of the goddess he so devotedly worships; she protects as Pechi but also annihilates as Peichi (pei means ghost). Kopperan believes that the loss of his five newborns on the sixteenth day of their birth to mysterious illnesses is the handiwork of Pechi, probably as an act of revenge for a wrong done to a woman generations ago. Desperate to save the sixth male child, Kopperan deserts his wife (who he thinks is a reincarnation of Pechi) and walks from village to village holding the child till someone finally offers him a job in Malaysia. From here on, the novel goes on to lay bare the various facets of Malaysian Tamil life — colourful and dark, deep and layered. “For those outside of Malaysia, Tamils here are largely from rubber plantations. But I have been here all my life and I know there are fishermen who are Tamils, who work in tea estates. They live in entirely different environments. There are Tamils who also live in very urban environment. The Malaysian Tamil landscape is very expansive, but it is disappointing that Tamil literature has hardly documented these varied landscapes in the last 50 years,” rues 38-year-old Navin, born and brought up in Malaysia. “For that matter, there is no literary documentation of the life of labourers who have come from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, or those of Chinese origin. There is absolutely nothing about the ethnic tribes here.” Troubled by the lack of proper representation of Malaysian Tamil life, Navin made it his priority when he stepped into serious literature. “I saw writers like Cheran, Shoba Sakthi and A. Muttulingam writing on Sri Lankan Tamil life and issues even if they had migrated elsewhere. Malaysian Tamil life lacked this identity in the Tamil literary space. It was represented by a few who were financially well-off, had close connections. We never had an alternative magazine tradition here. In 2005, Navin, supported by a friend, began to edit an alternative Tamil magazine, Kaadhal, in which he interviewed 15 writers ‘he thought were important in Malaysia’. “This was my way of telling people that look, we have this kind of Tamil writers too in Malaysia. It helped create a discussion around their works. The magazine wound up after 10 issues due to financial problems.” In 2007, he started Vallinam to continue the job, which wound up after eight issues but continues online. Vallinam has also published 39 books in Tamil.Frontlist | Navin’s Peichi explores various facets of Malaysian Tamil life
Frontlist | Navin’s Peichi explores various facets of Malaysian Tamil lifeon Mar 05, 2021
M. Navin’s banned novel Peichi holds a mirror to Tamil life in Malaysia
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