Poonachi

Poonachi or The Story of a Black Goat – is an allegorical novel by acclaimed Indian author Perumal Murugan that uses the life of an orphaned female goat to explore themes of caste, gender, poverty, and state oppression in rural India. The story begins when a mysterious, “giant-like” stranger gives a sickly, day-old black female goat kid to an old, lower-caste farmer and his wife in a drought-stricken village in the Kongu region of Tamil Nadu. The couple, who are poor but kind, name her Poonachi and raise her with great care, treating her almost like a child.