https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.095
Stability and Fecundity in the New Maayapuram of Maayapuraanam
ASWATHY S
Assistant Professor of English
Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha
Affiliated to University of Kerala
Abstract: P. Surendran’s Maayapuraanam (1997) can be read as a case study of the stable bioregional organic farming community of Maayapuram, whose secure, self-sufficient, and serene ecological life stands in contrast to the failed interventions of neo-global imperial multinational corporations represented through the character of Sadasivan. Snehalatha’s longing for motherhood is symbolically expressed through her recurring vision of thousands of male infants—little Krishnas—resting on the leaves of a vast pipal tree, suggesting an interior landscape shaped by the idea of a bio-continuum. Puraanic elements function as forms of resistance for the inhabitants of Maayapuram and later for Snehalatha herself against imperial intrusion into the ecological integrity of the region. The cucumber rituals and their association with fertility and childbirth further validate the ecological worldview of the community and symbolically resist destructive developmental interventions.
Snehalatha’s unfulfilled desire for motherhood is displaced into magical and Puraanic visions associated with an uncanny tree within the agrarian ecotopia of Maayapuram—the term puram, lexically meaning town or city, here signifying a rustic ecological settlement. The narrative thus becomes a puraanam of ecological balance and sustainability. The natural fertility of the native soil parallels the regeneration of fecundity within Snehalatha herself. The text ultimately suggests that if the farmers of Maayapuram had accepted toxic fertilizers, pesticides, and terminator seeds, not only the soil but also the reproductive vitality of women in the community would have been threatened, thereby linking ecological degradation with bodily and cultural dispossession.
Keywords: Maayapuram, Malayalam Literature, Ecological Imperialism, Bioregionalism, Organic Farming, Multinational Corporations
Read Full Manuscript PDF