GENDER STUDIES
Many answers
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`This is an enterprise that looks at the various ways in which the images and self-images of Indian women are reflected in historical and oral traditions, and in literature, film and theatre... '
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IN Rituparno Ghosh's cinematic interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's novel Chokher Bali, the beautiful young widow Binodini (played by 21st Century Indian icon Aishwarya Rai) comes to visit at the house of young Mahendra, at the invitation of Mahendra's widowed mother, who has grown addicted to Binodini's smile and her habit of drinking tea in the afternoons. Binodini becomes a close friend and confidante of Mahendra's lovely, childlike wife Ashalata. Soon Mahendra and his bachelor friend Behari are also enthralled by Binodini, not only for her beauty but also for her spirit. Even as Behari's attraction to Binodini is gradually increasing, Mahendra and Binodini embark upon a passionate affair.
At the end of the film, after many turns in the story, what is interesting is that Binodini's sense of guilt is only on account of having betrayed her friend Ashalata. Ghosh's Binodini, in his 21st Century retelling of Tagore's novel, is a woman who evokes, not sympathy, but admiration. Among other things, "Chokher Bali" reminds us that there was a time when a widow would have to lock the door of her room even if she wanted to drink a cup of tea.
To understand how far Indian women have come since those days (or where they still remain) it is important not only to look back, but also to look more searchingly. "Women have more often been imaged against than imaging", says Vijaya Ramaswamy in "Re-searching Icons, Re-presenting Indian Women", the introductory essay of this volume. Re-searching Indian Women is an enterprise that looks at the various ways in which the images and self-images of Indian women are reflected in historical and oral traditions, and in literature, film and theatre, as well as in the context of women and work.
Not surprisingly, the figure of the lonely young widow standing at the door was a familiar one in Indian fiction of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Rajul Sogani, in her essay "Overstepping the Boundaries", looks at Sharatchandra's Shubhada, K.M. Munshi's Prithvivallabh, Usha Devi Mitra's Pia and M.K. Indira's Phaniyamma. Sogani points out how the widow, as transgressor, became a significant figure in the depiction of individuals striving towards fulfilment.
Other essays in this collection look at different aspects of the canvas. In the sphere of fiction, Patricia Uberoi examines the paths of courtship in Indian popular fiction; Uma Chakravarti writes about Dalit women in various narratives; and M. Vijayalakshmi demonstrates how Thoppil Mohammed Meeran remains a sympathetic patriarch in the depiction of women in his writing. Ramya Sreenivasan examines the Sufi and Rajput codes in Jayasi's Padmavat; Nandini Sinha writes about women in Rajput, Jain and Gujjar literary tradition; and Naresh Jain analyses the Kumaoni love legend of Rajula Malushahi. Prem Chowdhry looks at the ways in which, in the oral traditions of rural north India, men become the objects of women's desire. Ramaswamy shows us how indigenous, alternative narratives have gradually been tamed to fit into the patriarchal mould. M.V. Shobhana Warrier looks at women workers and images of militancy in Coimbatore mills; Janet Chawla tells us about the Dais and their powerful, evocative imagery of the female body. In a fascinating essay that looks at the early Buddhist tradition, Kumkum Roy looks at the many voices of the Therigatha, songs of liberation composed by Buddhist nuns, and how they are different in tone from the more masculine (and pedantic) voices of the Theras. Finally, in the matter of literally bringing women centre stage, Minoti Chatterjee and Sudhanva Deshpande look at 19th-Century actresses of the Bengali stage, and early 20th-Century depictions of women in Marathi theatre respectively.
There is of course the danger of looking too hard and contriving too many meanings. "`Fire' is a film, not a Ph.D. thesis," says film-maker Deepa Mehta bluntly in an interview about her controversial film that depicted two women, Radha and Sita, who are unhappily married to two brothers — and how they seek emotional and physical warmth from each other. Shohini Ghosh goes on to take a look at the film and the violent response it provoked in some quarters. Vidya Rao's is another Radha altogether. In a thought-provoking, lyrical and compelling piece "Seeing Radha/ Being Radha", the first essay in this volume and one that sets the tone for the entire collection, Rao tells us about the day she began to learn thumri. Her guru Naina Devi told her, "Sita, Lakshmi, Savitri... these are held up as role models for other women. But we are singers. We are different. To sing thumri you must understand Radha. You must become Radha."
Radha, said Naina Devi, broke all the rules in her love for Krishna. Rao goes on to tell of her own quest into Ashta Chaap poetry to understand Radha. Radha does not appear in the Mahabharata; appearing in scattered references in folklore and poetry from as far back as the Sixth Century A.D., it is only in Jayadeva's 12th Century poem "Gita Govinda" that she is finally brought centre stage. Every interpretation of Radha, even where she is not named, is unique in its own way. No wonder, then, that Rao's quest to understand Radha gives her "many, many answers", and she comprehends the leela that is both unseen and seen.
So also, the ongoing project of researching Indian women, and re-seeing them, yields many, many answers — historical, social, and some entirely personal. A fascinating effort, and may the project continue.
UMA MAHADEVAN-DASGUPTA
Re-searching Indian Women, edited by Vijaya Ramaswamy, Manohar Publishers, 2003, p.380, Rs. 750.
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