Poetry Books
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 Feminism
& Modern Indian Women Writers
By Rati Saxena
At this period of time, when discussions on feminism are
considered old fashioned, when new theories of post feminism are
being formulated, a symposium on feminist writings is a bold
step, and can be taken as an opportunity to reread and
understand the subject in our own surroundings. I assume that
most of the aspects of this subject will be discussed and
reviewed--the new dimensions and new areas of women's issues.
While going through the subject given by the authorities I was
particularly caught up with the word - Indian women’s writing. I
am sure that the papers going to be presented here will cover
most of the topics related to this subject, and surely open up
active discussions regarding this issue that concerns world
society in general.
Though modern feminist theory developed in the European
countries and was later on discussed and adopted by thinkers of
other countries, it is absolutely necessary to reread it in the
context of the Indian society. There are number of issues which
need proper rereading and internalized understanding. I do not
want to discuss the definitions and various thoughts regarding
feminism as I assume that a number of scholars are going to
elaborate on those here in the symposium.
However, I would like to highlight the word Indian, and try to
reread our cultural history to give an Indian vision of
feminism. As Vikki Bell puts it, "feminism . . . is both
historical and future for the contemporary commitment. It is
both "historical" and futural, for the commitment is to a
continuity that operates against time, that battles with the
possibilities that these commitments may evaporate, and that
time will let them be forgotten" ( "Feminist Imagination" – Page
6 ). To understand the continuity of the issue, let us go back
to a period long ago, prior to the Vedas; we find two statues
belonging to the period of our renowned Indus valley
civilization -- the first statue is that of a man, who is
surrounded by animals, sitting on a stool, and the other is of a
woman wearing bangles and standing in a dancing pose. These two
statues denote a clear distinction between the two
personalities--the body, attitude, interest and the social
aspects of both sexes. Where a man surrounded by animals sitting
on the stool certainly shows the power, a woman with ornaments
standing in a dancing pose shows delicacy.
The Vedic literature, mainly Vedic Samhitas, give a glimpse into
man-woman relationship. The marriage hymns in the Rig Veda and
the Atharva Veda give an account of the position of the woman in
the family. There we find a clear-cut division of work for both
the sexes. There is no doubt that the woman enjoyed a better
position in the society during the Vedic age compared to later
periods. The marriage hymn shows the important position given to
women.
There is a very significant dialogue between Yama and Yami, in
which Yami is inviting her twin brother to marry her, but Yama
does not accept the proposal, telling that it is against Rita.
Yami gives her own interpretation about man-woman relationship.
The boldness of Yami is something highly unusual in Indian
society.
The hymns of Atharva Veda reveal a society where women
comparatively enjoyed freedom, where a woman could take her
husband to court, if he proved unfaithful to her.
अहं वदामि नेत् त्वं सभायाम् त्वम् वद। ममेदसत्तवं केवलो नान्यसां
कीर्तयाश्चन।। अवे. 7/38
There is even a hymn where a woman is threatening to make her
husband impotent, if he did not leave the woman for whom he had
abandoned her.
I would like to quote a Mantra from the Atharva Veda from a
marriage hymn, in which a husband is inviting the newly married
wife to lead a socially oriented life. He says:
I am he
You are she
I am song
You are verse
I am heaven
You are earth
We two shall
here together dwell
becoming parents
of children
This verse explains the difference between man and woman very
well. Vedic man accepts the individual identity of his wife. For
him the wife is as soft as a poem and he has to be as strong as
systematic verse. The wife has to look after the family as the
Earth does and he has to keep watch and support the wife just as
the Heaven looks after the Earth. In spite of being different
personalities, they have to go together and become the parents
of children for the sake of society.
The Upanishad period was not very different for women, our
social system talks proudly about Gargi and Maitreyi. When
Yajnavalkya was ready to depart for his Sanyas Ashram, he asked
his wives to go for proper division of the property. Maitreyi is
not impressed by this idea and asks her husband whether wealth
alone is sufficient to attain Moksha. This question is very
important in the context of women’s rights. Later on, the same
Yajnavalkya challenges the scholars of the king’s court and here
for the first time we find Gargi, the first woman who could
question Yajnavalkya. Though she was not treated with respect by
Yajnavalkya, who threatened her saying, ‘O Gargi, do not ask
such questions about the Supreme God, otherwise your head will
roll on the earth.’
सहोवाच
गार्गि मा चतोप्राक्षोर्मा ते मूर्धा व्युपप्तवनतिप्रश्न्या
वैदेवतामति पृच्छसि ...ततो ह गार्गी वाचन्व्युपरराम।।
बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद् – (3rd chepet,-4th brahmana, 8 karika)
At the end of the Vedic age, we find three streams of knowledge
which held their sway over Indian society for a long time The
first one was that of the Dharmshastras, which were later
developed as Smriti books, the second was Neeti shastra, and the
third was the Kamashastra--these three schools are almost
contemporary, but their treatment of women was quite different.
Dharmshastra assigns no freedom to women, whereas the Smriti
books introduced changes and created new classes in the society
through giving punishment to an erring woman. While explaining
marriage relations, the Oshana Smriti talks about the maximum
punishment for a woman belonging to the higher class. Most of
the subclasses, other than Kshatriya and Vaishya, came into
being on account of this punishment. For example, the son of a
Brahmin woman and a Kshatriya man would be called Suta, and
would not be permitted to read the Vedas or rule over the
kingdom. The son of a Brahmin woman and a Suta man would be
Venuka, but the son of a Kshatriya woman and a Suta man would be
a cobbler. If a Brahmin woman marries a Vaishya man, their
children would be Magadh ( charan- whose work is to praise
kings.)
The list is too big, but in short, all the working class or the
so called lower castes were created through the punishment given
to women belonging to higher castes. In this way, they put a
restraint on the freedom of choice of their women folk. This is
to be noted when we associate feminism with the class system.
The higher class women were greater sufferers. Though a Shudra
and a woman were kept in the same category, both were not
allowed to speak Sanskrit or read or even listen to the Vedas.
Chanakya did not have a very good opinion about women3, but he
did not hesitate to use women for political purposes, and thus
indirectly opened the way for women to enter politics. Anyway,
he knew very well that woman was not the weaker sex; in certain
ways, she was more powerful compared to a man. -
"Women have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold,
and lust eight-fold as compared to men".-(Neeti Shastra –Chapter
first -17)
It is possible that woman has the power to create fear in the
mind of a man and that is why the man tries to control her.
Kamashastra created a different world for woman where sometimes
she is superior and sometimes just bhogya or a useful thing. The
woman’s body also got importance during this period. Art and
sculpture followed the Kamashastra, most of the dance forms were
also derived from the Kamashastra. Vatsyayan emphasized 64 art
forms to be mastered by the women folk, so they can look after
themselves, if deserted by their husbands. The body and sex was
discussed so openly at this time, though these aspects were
already in the society in earlier times too, as we find a number
of hymns in the Atharva Veda, where having a good sexual life
was given importance.
Later literature like Mricchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) by
Shudraka and dramas of Kalidasa followed the Kamasutra theory in
their representations.
The strange thing is that we can find lesbian relationship also
represented in the sculptures of famous temples like Khajuraho
and Puri, where the art follows the guideline of Kamashastra.
Kamashastra gave proper instructions to a housewife on how to
please her husband and also created a picture of a free woman as
public woman--Nagar Vadhu or Ganika. Interestingly, Ganikas were
treated with respect in society according to the Kamsutra.4
Indian society followed all three views regarding the treatment
of woman, which is followed even today. The strange kind of
mixed culture of this land tends to treat woman in a different
way even in modern times.
The period of the epics was very much influenced by Smriti
literature, where the woman had to be the ideal- the role model
like Sita and Dropadi, these intelligent women were presented by
these books as dumb women, who could never say anything against
any type of suffering. It is notable that these two women became
the center point of feminist writing and were represented by a
number of writers. Puranic literature was very colorful, in
which the corrector Radha devolved, which is very much against
the traditional model. Not only Geet Govind but a number of
other songs also developed around this character. She could be
taken as a free woman, who left her husband and society for her
love and interestingly occupied an important position not only
in the mind of the common man, but also in literature and
temples.
The women of the Bhakti cult gave an interesting dimension to
womanhood. Women saints transferred the object of their devotion
and their duties as the "lovers" or "wives" of their Divine
Lover or Husband. Andal Thiruppavai (a 10th century Tamil
poetess), Akka Mahadevi (a 12th century Kannada poetess),
Janabai (a 13th century Marathi poetess), Meera Bai of the 16th
century in Hindi and Madhavi Dasi in the same century in Oriya
literature were some poetesses who wrote exquisite poetry that
has been passed on through bards and singers throughout India.
There are a few other poets, who were not called saint poets,
but become popular in folk, they were Habba Khatun and Roop
Bhavani of Kashmir, who sang for freedom of their love. Madhavi
Dasi was one of the few women disciples of Sri Chaitanya Dev and
remained in direct contact with the saint. Though she was a
saint poet, she became famous for her love for Haridas.
The modern writing in India under feminism can be read in four
categories.
In the first category are writers who wrote about freedom or
emotions of the woman without knowing anything about feminism as
a theory.
In category two, we find writings that came out of sufferings,
and they are bold, though unconsciously.
The third category comprises writers, who do not call themselves
feminists but are very bold or loud in their writings.
And in the fourth and last category are the writers who boldly
declare themselves as feminists.
A number of writers come in the first category, for example –
Balamaniyamma, (Malayalam) Mahadevi Varma (Hindi) Subhdra Kumari
Chowhan (Hindi) Annapoorna Devi (Bengali) etc.
Most of the time, writings of these writers were misinterpreted
or wrongly read, for example Balamaniyamma was called a poet of
motherhood, because she wrote a few poems about the relationship
between the mother and child-delegating the mother status to a
woman is very convenient for the male world. Her poems which
talk about the rights of a woman were never read in the right
way. Her poem ‘Valmiki’ talks directly about the pain and sorrow
of the Valmiki's wife, which questions the creation of Ramayanam,
In her poem 'Kubja' is represented a woman of the lower class,
who learned from Krishna to live a graceful life. Women’s voices
in her poems are strong but not bold, and she was not able to
write love poems except a poem called 'Oru Prema Katha.'
Balamaniyamma was one among the very few women writers, who
enjoyed the freedom to write, and had their own writing space.
A very strong poet of Hindi belonging to the early twentieth
century, Mahadevi, has written very strong love poems, and very
bold memories, but all her poems are attributed the quality of
spiritualism and she is hailed as the modern Meera. She was also
very bold in her own life, she did not accept her childhood
marriage. If we read her childhood memories, she was certainly a
courageous child, who was born to break the boundaries. The male
dominated world of Hindi literature could not accept her as she
was. Taking her as a spiritual poet was easy for them. There are
a number of writers, like Annapoorna Devi ( Bengali), Mannu
Bhandari in Hindi who keep on writing about woman and lived a
life of their own choice up to a certain limit. Until the
eighties it was easy for male critics to accept women writers
within the limitations made by them. They could not anyway avoid
these writers because of their bold writings. That may be the
reason why we do not find any good poet in Hindi for a long time
after Mahadevi, as such boldness was not possible for a number
of Indian women in the Hindi belt, or they might have been
suppressed by their own family members. A significant fact is
that most of these writers belong to a section of society, where
the ordinary sufferings of women were not directly affecting
their personal life that much.
In the second category, we have writers who expressed their own
sufferings in a very powerful manner, and these include some of
the very important writers like Indira Goswami ( Assam) , Indira
Goswami had expressed the widow’s deprivation of body, passion,
emotion, and woven it into a perceptive text. She admits that
her writings are her own experience: "I try to write from the
direct experiences of my life. I only mould these experiences
with my imagination."
Goswami spent two years amidst the Radhaswami sect widows in
Vrindavan, entering their fold as a compassionate member but
also as a researcher. Her novel, Neel Kanthi Braja (translated
by Prafulla Katoky as Shadow of Dark God, 1986), is an amazing
narrative combining fact and fiction, autobiography and
reflection. As Indira Goswami introduces the novel, "I have
tried to show how the mental and physical state of a young widow
takes a different shape and how this change affects her life
after her widowhood."
Her work provided insights into the many levels of isolation
women of her powerful orthodox community experienced. Krishna
Sobati (Hindi) is important from the point of view of language,
as her women characters speak very bold language. The journey of
these writers has not been easy as they had to face criticism
from the male dominated society. At times, pressure on the woman
writer is too intense to bear. We can take the case of
Rajalakshmi (1930-1965) who illustrated the persistence of the
suffocating domesticated woman. Rajalakshmi wrote about
father-daughter relationships and the choking effects
patriarchal figures could have upon women, particularly those
who were accomplished and imaginative. The serial publication of
her novel Uchaveyilum Ilam Nilavum (Midday Sun and Tender
Moonlight) was cancelled because of protest from readers who
found her attack on the hypocrisy of idealist men too close to
home. She found it impossible to continue her writing career and
took her life.
K. Saraswati Amma (1919-1975), the author of Purushanmarillatha
Lokam (A World without Men), did not take her life, but lived
single and isolated, her work applauded only after her death.
Her last book Cholamarangal was published in 1958, and she
virtually disappeared from the scene.
In the third category there were very few women writers until
some time ago, who were very bold in their writings, so bold
that they could not be affected by false rereading. Some
important names in this category are Amrita Pritam ( Punjabi) ,
Kamala Surayya English and Malayalam), and Shobha Dey (
English). We all know that these writers have very important
positions in Indian writing. These writers prepared the ground
for upcoming writers, who want to speak out their heart. These
writers were criticized for their writings as well as lifestyle,
but could live with pride. We must admit that the boldness we
see in contemporary Indian women writing has been largely
inspired by these writers.
We find a number of writers who can be considered as feminist
writers – like Sarojini Sahoo, Anita Desai, Sara Josaph,
Maitreyi Pushpa, Malathy Maithry, Kutty Revathi, Sugirtha Rani,
Salma ( Tamil) and many more.
Among these writers Sarojini Sahoo is following very strong
lines of feminism and has touched almost all issues of feminism
in her writings. Sarojini Sahoo (b. 1956) - Indian feminist
writer, is considered India's equivalent of Simone de Beauvoir.
The subject or issues before Indian feminism are slightly
different compared to the western world. The Indian woman had to
fight until very recently for freedom of education. Freedom of
love is still not accepted in our society. Economic freedom is
also a strong issue in front of Indian writers. That is why
feminism finds a rather different expression in Indian writings,
for example the “bra burning” movement was part of western
feminism, and a number of Indian writers have taken up this
issue in their writings; the fashion industry has taken
considerable advantage of this idea. Noodle straps and strapless
blouses have become common fashion now. However, in Kerala there
was a time when womenfolk had to fight for permission to cover
their breasts, and it was an important feminist movement. In
spite of the fact that Kerala is now known for its traditional
acceptance of women's equality, its matrilineal heritage, there
was a time, when women of certain classes were not allowed to
cover their breasts. For them securing the right to cover their
breasts was a huge and important movement.
Most of the dance forms for women in India are related to the
practice of Devadasi, or the bride of Deva (God). The struggle
to get rid of this practice was more important than the freedom
to learn dancing and singing. The freedom for education is the
right of a woman, but sometimes this freedom is seen limiting
her space for herself. Working women understand the pain of
double burden – family and work. Usha Priymavada's famous novel
Pachapan Khambe lal divaren talk about this problem from a
different angle, where an educated working girl is suffering
more because she has to forget her own emotions when looking
after her younger brother and sisters. The dowry problem is so
strong that nowadays girls are accepting it as their right,
minimizing clothes, cutting hair are no more problems, as these
are confusing subjects like cutting hair is freedom, or keeping
long hair is womens loves. It is said that European women
(Romans) loved their long hair very much, but they had to cut
them during war time to make strong ropes for their country’s
fighters. The fassoin of short hair is copies by other countries
women to show their freedom.
In the same way, living together is a sign of freedom for the
western woman, but limits the right of the Indian woman as she
loses economic benefit by not inheriting family property.
Women's writing in India has a different face as a number of
women writers do not accept themselves as feminists. Maybe
because this might limit their space in the world of writing
Indian women have.
If we talk about media and film, a number of experiments have
been done in this field. A few films were made about womanhood
and woman’s dignity, most of the films still represent women
struggling for the freedom of love and sex. There are a number
of good films like Aparna Sen’s film Sati (1995). In the film
Sati (The Virgin) developed after Kamal Kumar Majumdar's story,
we find a mute virgin girl is married to a tree following the
religio-social regulations. Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil
represented mostly the 'exploited Indian subaltern women' type
characters in films such as Sati, Mirch Masala, Paar, Chakra,
Akrosh etc.
But films or TV serials highlighting these issues are rare, if
none. Recently a Hindi serial which became very popular "Sas bhi
kabhi bahu thi" has completely changed the face of the social
system and presented an unhealthy massage. This soap opera was
directed by a woman Ekata Kapoor, but sadly enough, highlighted
the dark side of woman's nature. For unknown reasons, this
serial became extremely popular, and limited the place for
thought provoking stories, especially on the small screen.
While rethinking about Indian feminist writings, we must deal
with the problem carefully. Indian society is still quite
different from European or western society. We have certain
problems like dowry, women’s education and economic freedom,
which need to be handled with care. There is no meaning of
freedom for woman if we cannot get rid of the problem of dowry
or education. We have different layers of women’s issues, and
all these should be understood in detail and addressed
appropriately. I feel that instead of putting on the skin of
feminism, we need to understand India's multicultural and
multilayer system. We still need to fight a number of problems
at the root of our society, and until and unless we get rid of
the dowry system and ensure economic freedom for women, we
cannot ask for bodily freedom or freedom of love.
The way this problem was taken by a few activists, feminism has
lost its grip and importance. That may be a reason why a number
of good writers, who advocate women’s rights, do not like to be
called feminist writers. Indian writers have to make their own
space and search their own way to fight this issue, rather than
merely adopting it from the western world.
!-
AV.15.2.71, Translated by Remando Panikker.
2-"O Yajnavalkya, if everything is otaprota ( warp and woof)
with water, with what is water otaprota?" The reply comes: "Gargi,
with air." Then, with what is air otapr"a? "With antariksha."
With what is antariksha otaprota? "Gargi, with Gandharva loka."
With what is “With Aditya loka." Then, Aditya loka with Chandra
loka, Chandra loka with Indra loka, Indra loka by Prajapati,
Prajapati with Brahma loka. Then Gargi asks, "Where is Brahma
loka?" Then, Yajnavalkya gets angry.
3-Untruthfulness, rashness, guile, stupidity, avarice,
uncleanliness and cruelty are a women's seven natural flaws.
Chanakya Neeti shastra- chapter -2-1
4- A NagarVadhu, endowed with a good disposition, beauty and
other winning qualities, and also well versed in the above arts,
obtains the name of a Ganika, or public woman of high quality,
and receives a seat of honour in an assemblage of men. She is,
moreover, always respected by the king, and praised by learned
men, and her favour being sought by all, she becomes an object
of universal regard. The daughter of a king as well as the
daughter of a minister, being learned in the above arts, can
make their husbands favourable to them, even though these may
have thousands of other wives besides themselves. And in the
same manner, if a wife becomes separated from her husband, and
falls into distress, she can support herself easily, even in a
foreign country, by means of her knowledge of these arts. Even
the bare knowledge of them gives attractiveness to a woman,
though the practice of them may be only possible or otherwise
according to the circumstances of each case. A man who is well
versed in these arts, who is loquacious and acquainted with the
arts of gallantry, gains very soon the hearts of women, even
though he is only acquainted with them for a short time.
Kamsutra- Chapter -3
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