''Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal'' () is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language novel by

Jayakanthan D. Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he join ...

. It is an expanded version of his 1968 short story ''Agnipravesam'' () with a different ending. The novel, serialised in 1970 in '' Dinamani Kathir'', won the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1972. A sequel, ''Gangai Enge Pogiral'', was published in 1978. The novel was translated into

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

as ''Chila Samayangalil Chila Manushyar'' by C. A. Balan. It was adapted into a Tamil feature film by the same name (1977), and a Malayalam television series ''Chila Nerangalil Chila Manushyar'' (2011).

Plot

Overview

''Agnipravesam'', a short story written by

, was published in the magazine ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' in 1968. The ending of the story, where a chaste woman purifies her daughter (by pouring a bucket of water on her) for having sex with a stranger, forgives her and asks her to move on, gained significant attention for deviating from cultural norms, and many readers suggested alternate ways to end the story in an "acceptable" manner. Responding to those suggestions, Jayakanthan expanded the short story into a full-fledged novel ''Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal'' with a different ending. He also took inspiration from his personal experiences.

Accolades

''Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal'' won the

in 1972.

Adaptations

''Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal'' was adapted into a Tamil feature film by the same name in 1977, again written by Jayakanthan. In 2011, the novel was adapted into a

television series ''Chila Nerangalil Chila Manushyar''.

References

{{Reflist 1970 novels Indian novels adapted into films Indian romance novels Novels first published in serial form Novels set in Tamil Nadu Tamil novels