Malayalam Novel 'Aaraachaar' {Submitted by, Devika C S (5060) }

Aarachaar.

Aarachaar (Executioner)  is an award winning malayalam novel which is  written by K. R. Meera  Originally serialised in Madhyamam Weekly in continuous 53 volumes, the novel was published by DC Books in 2012. Later it was translated by J. Devika into English under the title Hangwoman: Everyone Loves a Good Hanging 

It is based on the Indian culture of caste and religion, which sets in Bengal, it tells the story of a family of executioners with a long lineage, beginning in the fourth century BC. The protagonist of the novel, Chetna, is a strong, bold and tenacious woman who struggles to inherit this profession.

According to noted literary critic M. Leelavathy, Aarachaar is one of the best literary works produced in Malayalam and follows the legacy of O. V. Vijayan's classic work Khasakkinte Itihasam. The novel received the 2013 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. It was also awarded the prestigious Odakkuzhal Award in 2013 and Vayalar Award in 2014. 

22-year-old Chethna is from the Grddha Mullick clan, a family of ‘Aarachaar’ (hanging people, as per court order) who trace their professional lineage back to 400 BCE, and have been witness to historical incidents over the centuries. The pride they harbour about their profession borders on arrogance. When the next rare opportunity of hanging comes along, her 88-year-old father, a veteran of 451 hangings is considered too old.

Since her brother, whose limbs have been chopped off, cannot take over the profession, the mantle of aaraachaar is thrust upon Chethna’s shoulders.  Anyway Chethna has hanging in her blood – after all, she even came out of her mother’s womb tying a noose with her umbilical cord.

Chethna is hailed as a symbol of strength and self-respect for women, but in reality, she is just a cog in the machinations of the men around her. She is hurled into a whirlpool of media frenzy, amidst which she tries to make sense of her own awakening sexuality, questions her own ability to execute a condemned man, and watches as her family is hit by a series of tragedies.  She flounders at first, but then slowly extricates herself, and takes charge of her own life, which finally leads to a perfectly executed conclusion (pardon the pun.) 

The narration is eccentric and complex. Rich with legends and myths about the Grddha Mullick ancestors, these stories alternate with current events in the novel, and form a wonderfully layered narrative, thick with symbolism. Imagination at its best. The novel also deals with poverty, gender, society, media manipulation, and is a study of the place of a woman in today’s society.

The characters are hauntingly well-etched, and present-day Kolkata is also a tangible character in the story. Death looms in every page, leaving a dark trail through the novel. But even something gruesome and depressing as hanging, and death, and details of the dead – is dealt with elegantly. It shocks, but doesn’t disgust.

Chethana is an empowered woman, who is not loosening her hope for her life, she is highly dignified and one can make her as a model. There are lots of things to study from each character; the entire story has also have relevance in the contemporary society, though it has happened before years.

I sometimes felt I was reading the translation of a novel written by a Bengali author, that many efforts K R Meera has put behind her successive work, she had a deep knowledge on everything happening throughout this novel, and she is taking each one of us to very different realties. Undoubtfully it is best Malayalam novel which I ever read.  

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