The Abyss
Pothivelu Pandaram is known as a successful, God-fearing man about town: he has a loyal wife, three daughters, and money to pay for their dowries. However, it’s an open secret that his success is fueled by a trade that is as profitable as it is cruel: he owns—and breeds—a group of physically deformed beggars and places them outside temples to collect money.

There is Mangandi Samy, with just one arm, no legs, and “a little head on top,” who only speaks in divine songs he himself invents; Ahmedkutty, an intellectual whose testicles hang to the floor “like two great pumpkins”; Muthammai, mother to eighteen children. To Pandaram, they are only “items,” to be bought and sold like cattle. But when he makes an impulsive trade, his luck turns. 

Written with an unflinching eye and suffused with a deep existential longing, The Abyss is an extraordinary novel—for its terrain, its fundamental questions about humanity, and its depiction of human suffering and liberation.

Jeyamohan’s body of work has shaped modern Tamil literature: raw, tender, and darkly comic, The Abyss is widely considered his masterpiece.

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The Abyss
Pothivelu Pandaram is known as a successful, God-fearing man about town: he has a loyal wife, three daughters, and money to pay for their dowries. However, it’s an open secret that his success is fueled by a trade that is as profitable as it is cruel: he owns—and breeds—a group of physically deformed beggars and places them outside temples to collect money.

There is Mangandi Samy, with just one arm, no legs, and “a little head on top,” who only speaks in divine songs he himself invents; Ahmedkutty, an intellectual whose testicles hang to the floor “like two great pumpkins”; Muthammai, mother to eighteen children. To Pandaram, they are only “items,” to be bought and sold like cattle. But when he makes an impulsive trade, his luck turns. 

Written with an unflinching eye and suffused with a deep existential longing, The Abyss is an extraordinary novel—for its terrain, its fundamental questions about humanity, and its depiction of human suffering and liberation.

Jeyamohan’s body of work has shaped modern Tamil literature: raw, tender, and darkly comic, The Abyss is widely considered his masterpiece.

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The Abyss

The Abyss

Overview

Pothivelu Pandaram is known as a successful, God-fearing man about town: he has a loyal wife, three daughters, and money to pay for their dowries. However, it’s an open secret that his success is fueled by a trade that is as profitable as it is cruel: he owns—and breeds—a group of physically deformed beggars and places them outside temples to collect money.

There is Mangandi Samy, with just one arm, no legs, and “a little head on top,” who only speaks in divine songs he himself invents; Ahmedkutty, an intellectual whose testicles hang to the floor “like two great pumpkins”; Muthammai, mother to eighteen children. To Pandaram, they are only “items,” to be bought and sold like cattle. But when he makes an impulsive trade, his luck turns. 

Written with an unflinching eye and suffused with a deep existential longing, The Abyss is an extraordinary novel—for its terrain, its fundamental questions about humanity, and its depiction of human suffering and liberation.

Jeyamohan’s body of work has shaped modern Tamil literature: raw, tender, and darkly comic, The Abyss is widely considered his masterpiece.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798893380040
Publisher: Transit Books
Publication date: 07/14/2026
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeyamohan is a pre-eminent writer in modern Tamil literature. His works of fiction examine fundamental human questions while being rooted in the spiritual, cultural and literary traditions of India. Venmurasu, his reimagination of the epic Mahabharata over a novel-series of 26 parts, is considered one of the longest literary works in the world. His other major works include the novels Vishnupuram, Kottravai, Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural, Kaadu and Ezhaam Ulagam (The Abyss). He is the founder of several important cultural initiatives in Tamil, including a literary organization called the Vishnupuram Literary Circle, an encyclopedia of Tamil culture called Tamil Wiki, and an institute that offers courses in philosophy, cultural and religious studies called Nityavanam. The Abyss is his second work to be available in English, following his short story collection Stories of the True that was a finalist for the National Translation Award in 2023. Jeyamohan lives in Nagercoil, India.

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