Raaman is a familiar figure at the Kannivaadi court of the Madurai Nayakas. As the royal barber, he is privy to Palace intrigues and state secrets; as the disciple of the reclusive Pandrimalai Siddha, he is a gifted and respected healer, with a finger on the people’s pulse. But in a time marked by political uncertainty, elite high-handedness, and growing popular resentment, can Raaman navigate the rigid Palace laws and secure a future for his son, Maadan—especially when one powerful man sees him as his sworn enemy?
Ambitious in scope and rich in historical detail, Torch Tree recreates a period of simmering tension and disquiet in the Madurai Nayaka kingdom of the seventeenth century. It tells the story of the subjugation of a land and its people, and of the stubborn flame of rebellion, symbolised by the burning sulunthu torch.
Era. Muthunagu’s layered, multi-generational narrative brings the rhythms of feudal Kannivaadi and the lush Pandrimalai hills into vivid focus through an array of people—villagers and townspeople, drummers and diviners, soldiers and spies, the nobility and outcasts, rebels, farmers, eunuchs, courtesans, midwives, washerfolk, traders, Rowthers, Christian missionaries, Saiva and Vaishnava priests, and more—and moving through them all, the ubiquitous barber. Of particular note are the detailed descriptions of Siddha medical practices, drawing from Muthunagu’s expertise as a practitioner. Kamakshi Balasubramanian’s luminous translation brings alive the cadences and panoramic vision of the Tamil text.
What emerges is a sensitive portrayal of the systematic erasure of local ways of life under Nayaka rule, and growing discontent in the face of repressive laws and caste prohibitions. This unputdownable novel is a treasure for lovers of historical fiction and suspense.
Era. Muthunagu is a writer based in Tamil Nadu. His debut novel Sulunthee (2018), which ran into multiple reprints soon after its initial release, is widely recognised as a landmark work of historical fiction in Tamil. Muthunagu’s writings reflect a deep-rooted familiarity with the history of Madurai, and its peoples and landscapes—a familiarity nurtured through years of research and travel across the region. He worked for several years as a journalist at Ananda Vikatan, a reputed and long-running Tamil magazine. He is also an experienced practitioner of Siddha medicine, and has published a book on the ingredients, herbs, and the preparation of remedies.
Kamakshi Balasubramanian is an avid reader, educator, writer, and translator. She holds a PhD in Russian Literature. She has written stories for young readers; undertaken translations of short stories, essays, and monographs from Russian into English and into Tamil, as well as from Tamil into English; and worked as a simultaneous interpreter (Russian-English-Russian) at international conferences in India and abroad.
Nakkeeran is a poet, writer, environmentalist, children’s litterateur, orator, and activist. He has published seventeen books, including the novel Kaadodi, which uses his experience in a logging company in the forest of Borneo to discuss deforestation, Neer Ezhathu, which chronicles two thousand years of water history of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Oru Choozhayil Mozhi, a comparative perspective on Tamil language and ecology, and Choolalum Saathiyam, a text on cultural ecology. He has won several awards for his writing and environmental work.
Foreword by Nakkeeran Acknowledgements Translator’s Introduction
Prologue
Torch Tree, Chapters1–30