Analysis of the Short Story Turumpu Mullaaniyude Hridayam by Shihabudheen Poythumkadavu Part-2

Click here to read a summary of the short story Turumpu Mullaaniyude Hridayam part-1

Turumpu Mullaaniyude Hridayam as a Marginalised Narrative

The short story titled Turumpu Mullaniyude Hridayam is based on the events in the life of a mukri and it presents the conflict between religion and art, homogeneity promoted by science and difference, and individual and society. The author has selected a character (mukri) from a socially marginalised community and within it a marginalised group of people and has effectively employed the linguistic and cultural resources of the community to narrate a story in which the crisis faced by the protagonist is both regional and universal.

i) Selection of Character

    The protagonist of the story is a mukri. The word ‘mukri’ refers to people who are employed in mosques to recite religious texts, call for prayer (adan) five times a day and general housekeeping. Mukris depend on the meagre income they get from the mosque committee for survival. Though mukris get gifts from believers for participating in various religious rituals, they are the lowest paid people employed in the mosque and they struggle to get both ends meet. An usthad (teacher) in the religious school is a slightly better position, though their salaries are disbursed from the offerings of the believers.

    Malayalam literature and film often present mukri/mollaka (used synonymously for mukri) as epitomes of orthodoxic religious practices among muslims of Kerala due to their presence in the social life of muslims. The lower positions of mukri are often unknown to outsiders as a result they are often misrepresented. For example, in Khasakkinte Ithihasam, Allapicha Mollakka is polygamous, illiterate and a stalwart of orthodoxic religious values. Shihabudheen Poythumkadavu’s story has brought out the real position of a mukri in the religious organisation as the writer has an insider's view of the community’s socio-cultural life. He compassionately portrays Mammu Mukri’s struggles and his helplessness to defend himself. This theme is effectively suggested in the title by referring to the mukri as ‘turumpu mullaani’ ( rusty stack). This selection of characters makes the story a narrative of the marginalised.

ii) Selection of language and cultural context

    The author has selected the linguistic variation (dialect) used by the muslims in their everyday life and the cultural conflict of the community is empathetically portrayed. This should be contrasted to the stereotypical presentation of muslims and their dialect in film and literature. The author is sensitive to the cultural nuances of the community as a result, his narrative offers a fresh perspective to understand the life of the community. The narrative also offers insights into the working of the community, its value systems and cultural differences. Thus, the story presents the lives of people of the margins whose stories are often untold or misrepresented in mainstream Malayalam literature.

iii) Victim of the Conflict between Religion and Arts/ Individual and Society.

    The story dramatises the conflict between religion and aesthetics as the mukri’s natural urge to draw pictures of living creatures is against the Islamic concept of arts. Though the head Usthad (Khateeb) treats arts as a creation of Jinn and Valiya Thangal understands the artist mukri’s predicament and consoles him by saying that he is ahead of his times, Mammu Mukri is a victim of this conflict and he loses his job and sanity. The author is on the one hand empathetic to the ethos of the community and on the other hand problematizes this conflict. The life of the mukri is made miserable not only by the religious instructions alone but also by the social practice of religion. It seems that the author is confident of God's acceptance of the artist as the quotation from The Quran testifies.


iv) Victim of the Conflict between Modern Medicine and Human Nature

    The narrator recounts instances of visiting the mukri in his cell in the mental hospital. Unemployed and hospitalised for madness, the mukri relieves himself by drawing pictures on the walls of the cell and the warden permits him to do so. Later, all the drawings on the wall are washed off and the doctor subjects him to take shock treatment. The narrator explains the reason behind the violent behaviour of the mukri as the denial of permission to draw pictures, but the doctor does not listen to his words and continues the treatment. The narrator realises that the heterogeneity of his usthad is not acceptable to the mental hospital as well. The narrator feels empathy for the inmates of the hospital as they are victims of society as well as the homogeneity imposed by science.