Tamil Nadu | Writer-critic B. Jeyamohan draws on his experiences living as a beggar in his 20s in new book The Abyss

Tamil writer B. Jeyamohan wrote his acclaimed novel Ezhaam Ulagam, about a begging cartel, in just 7 days. The novel was published within four days of submission and made its way to a book exhibition the same week. In 2009, Ezhaam Ulagam, praised by some for its unapologetic rawness and criticised by others for an “exaggerated” depiction of violence, was adapted for the screen as Naan Kadavul. The film went on to win two National Film Awards. The novel has now been translated to English by Suchitra Ramachandran as The Abyss. Jeyamohan says he has based the book on his experiences living as a beggar in Kashi, Tiruvannamalai and Palani. The novel explores the dark underbelly of society, with Jeyamohan weaving in empathy, tenderness and humour in the narrative. Jeyamohan is also writer/ screenplay writer for Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, the second part of which releases on April 28, 2023. The newly released Viduthalai Part 1 by director Vetri Maaran is also based on his short story Thunaivan.

In 2003, writer B. Jeyamohan was travelling by bus when he suddenly remembered Thimmappan. The memory of a dear friend afflicted with leprosy, and of a troubling past that he had consciously repressed, overwhelmed him.

Jeyamohan got off the bus, went home and began typing feverishly. In just seven days, he completed  Ezhaam Ulagam, a 287-page gut-wrenching story about a begging cartel. 

The novel was published within four days of submission and made its way to a book exhibition the same week. In 2009,  Ezhaam Ulagam — praised by some for its unapologetic rawness and criticised by others for an “exaggerated” depiction of violence — was adapted for the screen as  Naan Kadavul. The film went on to win two National Film Awards.

Twenty years after that bus journey, and hours before last month’s trailer release of Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus  Ponniyin Selvan – 2, for which he is a screenplay writer, Jeyamohan, 61, makes the startling admission in an interview with the  Magazine that he has never read  Ezhaam Ulagam. Nor has he read  The Abyss, its deft English translation by Suchitra Ramachandran, due for release on April 10. The memories of the years that inspired the book are too painful, he says. Writing about them was an act of catharsis.

When he was 19, Jeyamohan ran away from home. “All writers have a restlessness from a young age,” he says in a measured tone that belies any sign of a restive mind. “I had that. I left home four to five times. Once, I left because I was devastated by the suicide of a friend. And I lived as a beggar in Kashi, Tiruvannamalai and Palani.”

The Abyss is based on his experiences in Palani. There are seven underworlds according to Hindu mythology. The seventh world, or  ezhaam ulagam, is inhabited by disabled beggars and characterised by egregious exploitation and cruelty. In Jeyamohan’s work, the beggars seek out the joys of life even as they endure great suffering. It is a deeply intense book that requires, of all things, courage to read.

The protagonist, Pothivelu Pandaram, is a temple worker who trades in physically deformed beggars or “items”. Even though Pandaram treats them as wretched beings and inflicts unimaginable violence upon them, such as forcing them to give birth to deformed babies or stuffing them into vans meant for transporting human waste, he is a protective father at home, desperate to fulfil the wishes of his three daughters.