BEGC-132 E Block-4

BEGC-132
Selections From Indian

Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Humanities Writing: Cultural
Diversity
Block
4
Womenspeak
UNIT 1
A Woman’s Retelling of the Rama-Tale: The Chandrabati 5
Ramayana
UNIT 2
Lakshmi Kannan and Indira Sant: Poems 17
UNIT 3
Naseem Shafaie: Poems 28
UNIT 4
‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The Redemption’) by 39
Pudhumaipithan
EXPERTS COMMITTEE
Dr. Anand Prakash Prof. Neera Singh
Dr. Hema Raghavan Director (SOH).
Dr. Vandita Gautam IGNOU FACULTY (ENGLISH)

Dr. Chinganbam Anupama Prof. Malati Mathur
Prof. Ameena Kazi Ansari Prof. Nandini Sahu
Mr. Ramesh Menon Prof. Pramod Kumar
Dr. Nupur Samuel Dr. Pema Eden Samdup
Dr. Ruchi Kaushik Ms. Mridula Rashmi Kindo

Dr. Malathy A.
Dr. Ipshita Hajra Sasmal
Dr. Cheryl R Jacob
Dr. Chhaya Sawhney
COURSE COORDINATOR
Prof. Malati Mathur
School of Humanities
IGNOU, New Delhi
BLOCK PREPARATON
Course Writers Block Editor
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School of Humanities, IGNOU
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November, 2019
Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2019
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BLOCK 4 WOMENSPEAK
This Block will take up writings which present a woman’s point of view. Through
their writing and the re telling of familiar stories, women strive to put forward
their unique perspective in the context of a patriarchal world that upholds rules
which are applied to and judge men and women differently. Whether it is being
denied the right to education, the freedom to choose what they want to be and
how or the moral standards that they are expected to live up to, women frequently
find themselves at a disadvantage when compared to their male counterparts.
The illustrative writings and the informed analysis with discussions will help
learners become aware of the circumstances in which women have existed in a
male-dominated society over the ages and how they respond to it. A woman’s
point of view need not always be articulated by a woman. And to bring home
this point, we have included in this Block, an extract from a story written by a
man.
Womenspeak
4
A Woman’s Retelling of the
UNIT 1 A WOMAN’S RETELLING OF THE Rama-Tale: The Chandrabati
Ramayana
RAMA-TALE: THE CHANDRABATI
RAMAYANA
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Chandrabati, the Writer
1.3 Excerpts from Essay by Nabaneeta Deb Sen
1.4 Analysis
1.5 Narrative Techniques
1.6 Insights
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Aids to Activities
1.9 Glossary
1.10 Unit End Questions
1.11 References and Suggested Reading
1.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit will help you to understand the Chandrabati Ramayana on the basis of
our reading of the essay by Nabaneeta Deb Sen. You will discover that the
Ramayana written by Valmiki and Tulsidas, which is generally considered the
standard version of Ramayana, has been written and re-interpreted by different
writers down the ages. As such, the story line and the characters are greatly
altered. Chandrabati Ramayana will help you appreciate the Ramayana from
Sita’s perspective. It is an imaginative and unique adaptation of Ramayana where
you will see that when women write, their style and focus is different from a
man’s, and also how personal relationships are more important for a woman
compared to war, politics and the public sphere. Reading some excerpts from the
essay by Nabaneeta Deb Sen on the Chandrabati Ramayana will enable you to
understand how patriarchy and patriarchal structures eventually take over
women’s writings because of which the original structure of the Chandrabati
Ramayana has been greatly altered.
Words in bold are explained in the Glossary
1.1 INTRODUCTION
It is difficult to separate religion from everyday life. Do you agree? All of us
follow an unwritten code of conduct that has been passed down to us from one
generation to another. Still, every community and each person has a different
and distinctive approach to religion, and feels differently about their gods and
goddesses. This is more so in a country like India which has a pluralistic society
and social structures that are absolutely dissimilar. You can think of some very
basic beliefs and religious practices/rituals which are alternatives to mainstream
5
Womenspeak approaches. The Ramlila is a socio-religious event in India where people from
various walks of life and religious communities come together to enact and re-
interpret incidents from Ramayana. It is through such enactments and gatherings
that religion continuously evolves and avoids becoming stagnant. In India, we
venerate and criticize religious icons whom we consider sacred as well as intimate
members of our family. Here “religion is not something separate and apart from
ordinary life. It is life… lived in the fuller awareness of its human quality and
spiritual significance.”
Activity 1
Does gender affect our reading and interpretation of texts?
1.2 CHANDRABATI, THE WRITER

Most of us are not familiar with Chandrabati and so, a good starting point would
be getting to know her. Chandrabati holds the honour of being the first ever
woman to re-write the Ramayana. She was born to Dij-Banshidas Bhattacharya
and Shulochona Das Bhattacharya in 1550 in the village of Patuyari, on the
banks of the Fulesshori River in Kishoreganj, East Bengal. Her father was a
prolific writer who composed the Manasa’s ballads.
Chandrabati wrote during an age when no one could even begin to imagine that
a woman could write and render religious texts in her own way and on her own
initiative. It was indeed revolutionary. Chandrabati’s life was quite extraordinary.
What brought her to writing was disillusionment in love: she immersed herself
in the written word which helped her survive her grief. She fell in love with her
childhood friend, Jayananda whom she dreamt of marrying. However, Jayananda
married someone else and this broke Chandrabati’s heart. She decided to never
marry, and devoted her life to serving Lord Shiva on the advice of her father. She
re-wrote the Ramayana from Sita’s point of view. However, Chandrabati’s
Ramayana could not be completed. In a dramatic twist of events, Jayananda
realised his folly and returned to Chandrabati who refused to accept him. Rejected
and repentant, Jayananda committed suicide by jumping into the River Fulesshori.
Chandrabati also ended her life by drowning in the same river. At the time of her
death in 1600, she was fifty years old. We are indebted to this lady who faced
odds in personal life and still gave us a rich legacy that continues to inspire
many.
It is rather sad that such an intellectual and progressive woman like Chandrabati
should be written off as a ballad writer, and her contribution as an outstanding
epic writer should not be recognised by critics. In patriarchy, critics found it
difficult to accommodate a woman-oriented adaptation of the Ramayana, which
was more secular than martial and jingoistic. Till recent times, Chandrabati
Ramayana remained a ‘silenced text’. It is rather stimulating to re-visit this ignored
text and see for ourselves how a woman thought that Sita felt, and how the social
and emotional world would be if a woman became its central subject.
Activity 2
Why do you think the Chandrabati Ramayana is referred to as a ‘silenced
text’?
6
1.3 EXCERPTS FROM ESSAY ‘A WOMAN’S Rama-Tale: The Chandrabati
Ramayana
RETELLING OF THE RAMA-TALE:
NARRATIVE STRATEGIES EMPLOYED IN
THE CHANDRABATI RAMAYANA’ BY
NABANEETA DEB SEN
The author of this essay, Nabaneeta Deb Sen, writer, critic and academic, was a
Professor at the Department of Comparative Literature in Jadavpur University.
She has many books to her credit in a variety of genres: short stories, essays,
travelogues, poetry, fiction, children’s literature and verse-plays. Even her most
scholarly essays are remarkable for their charming and humorous prose. She is
one of the most popular authors in Bengal today. Among several honours, she
has received the Padma Shree (2000), the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kabir
Samman, the Rabindra Puraskar and the Sanskriti Award. She is a Fellow of the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Vice President of the Indian National
Comparative Literature Association. She was the Radhakrishnan Memorial
Lecturer of Oxford in 1996-7.
Excerpt:
…(All) scholars agree that what is found as Chandrabati Ramayana is an
incomplete text, an incomplete Ramayana. All the collectors, the editors and the
historians of Bengal literature support the view that the whole of the Rama-tale
is not to be found in it. It is only a fragment.
…Chandrabati Ramayana… is the Rama-story retold by a Bengali Hindu village
woman, a woman who had known suffering, a woman who had the courage to
choose the lonely intellectual life of a poet, in sixteenth century rural East Bengal.
Sukumar Sen, when he mentions the life of Chandrabati in his history of
literature… says – after telling us about her unrequited love – ‘she remained a
virgin all her life. This is the sum total of the ballad.’ This is not the sum total of
the ballad. The ballad mentions that she wrote the Ramayana and worshipped
Shiva for the rest of her life.
Are we to note this as a silencing tactic? It is no wonder that this text had been
silenced by the urban literate male mediators in the role of literary historians…
In this unusual Ramayana, Rama himself is gently pushed back to a corner where
he is hardly visible except in relation to Sita. The narrative pattern clearly and
unmistakably follows the story line of Sita’s life and the tale as it stands is
unabashedly a Sita-tale under the traditional guise of a Rama-tale. The only
episodes of the Ramayana depicted here are the episodes of Sita’s life, beginning
with the supernatural birth of Sita, going through her tales of woe, ‘Sita’s
Baromasi’ (which mentions her childhood, her marriage, her life as an abducted
woman), describing her pregnancy, exile and her entry into mother earth. In a
Ramayana you would expect the ‘janmalila’ section to treat the birth of Rama…
The supernatural birth scene is supposed to tell us about Rama’s birth and the
purpose of his appearance on earth to destroy the evil Ravana… ‘According to
rule, Rama’s birth story should come first and Sita should come next.’
Chandrabati breaks the accepted pattern by beginning her epic with Sita’s birth
story… the first six long sections are devoted to describing the complex tale of
conception and birth of Sita. Sita is born out of a sorrow – the blood of tortured 7
Womenspeak ascetics and the death wish of a neglected Mandodari mingle to create a Sita and
she comes to destroy Ravana and his clan. The evil Ravana, strengthened by the
boon of Brahma, was tyrannizing all three worlds and collected the blood of the
ascetics, in a box as a poison to destroy the immortality of gods… Mandodari
felt neglected and heart broken. So she decided to take the poison that was strong
enough to kill the deathless tribe. She took the poison… Instead of dying she
gives birth. Sita is born in the form of an egg. Soothsayers in Lanka predict that
this egg would produce a dangerous daughter who would cause the total
destruction of the demon dynasty. Hearing that Ravana wants to destroy the
egg… She manages to make him throw the egg into the ocean, protected in a
golden casket. It flows across the Bay of Bengal and a very poor but honest
fisherman, Madhab Jalia finds it. He brings it home to his very poor but honest
wife, Sata, who has nothing to eat, nothing to wear and nothing to complain
about. She performs various auspicious rituals and receives the egg reverentially.
Hence, Laksmi, the goddess hiding in the egg as Sita, showers her with riches.
The poor fisherman becomes wealthy.
In the meantime, his wife Sata gets a dream message that Laksmi wants her to
deliver the egg to the wife of King Janak. She immediately follows the divine
instructions. The only reward she wants from the queen is that the daughter
when born, should be named Sita, after her own name Sata… So with the name
of a poor fishwife, Sita was born out of an egg in Chandrabati’s text, not found
by the king while tilling the soil as in the classical legend. King Janaka, in fact,
has no role to play here. It is his wife who takes care of the egg which produces
Sita. This is the supernatural birth of the heroine, to destroy evil. Sita is born to
bring about the total destruction of Ravana and his clan… Ravana desires Sita
without knowing she is Mandodari’s child (she is not Ravana’s child, only
Mandodari’s). The story also reminds us of Krishna and Kansa, and also of the
Prahlad legend… Call it intertextuality if you like.
Chandrabati devotes only two comparatively shorter, later sections to the birth
of Rama, his three brothers and one sister, the evil Kukuya who has the Bengali
(and Sanskrit) term for evil (ku) pronounced twice in her name.
In the next section, Book II, Sita herself is now the narrator. She sits in the inner
apartment of Rama’s palace, talking to her girlfriends, who ask her all kinds of
questions about her personal experiences. Having returned from Lanka, Sita is
now at ease and talks freely about her childhood, her marriage, her life with
Rama as a bride, and in the exile, and her life in Lanka as an abducted woman.
Rama’s achievements – the breaking of Haradhan and the entire epic battle are
only summarily referred to (not described) through Sita’s ‘Baromasi’ (the song
of twelve months, relating the incidents of one’s life to the seasonal changes).
The heroic code is thus gently broken. There are no gory battle scenes, no details
of heroic achievement given at all. Most of the epic actions are referred to through
the conceit of dream, as dream messages.
This section is most interesting because in an epic the epic battle is of central
importance. But in Chandrabati Ramayana, twice mediated through feminine
sensibility, once by Chandrabati’s as the composer, and once by Sita’s as the
narrator, the epic battle loses all its glory and gets only a few lines to itself.
Maximum colour and space are spent on the interludes of Sita and Rama in the
forest…
8
After her return from Lanka, there are four more important events in Sita’s life: A Woman’s Retelling of the
Rama-Tale: The Chandrabati
(1) pregnancy (2) betrayal and exile (3) childbirth and (4) voluntary death or Ramayana
entry into Mother Earth. All these experiences are described in great detail. Mother
Nature seems to appear in the form of Mother Earth to put an end to the human
injustice that Sita was being subjected to.
The Chandrabati Ramayana most logically ends here with the death of Sita, and
it is here that our third narrative begins. It is our story, yours and mine. The
reader’s story… We could… call it a heroic epic – if heroism is taken to signify
man’s superhuman ability to stand and overcome human suffering. Because this
is what Sita displays here. It is not an epic battle with visible special weapons,
but with weapons of moral values. And this is where we hear the clashing voices
of Chandrabati I and Chandrabati II. Her Sita wins the battle by fighting with the
traditional weapons of value supplied by the dominant ideology of Chandrabati’s
time, whereas Chandrabati herself, as the narrator-composer is challenging the
same values in the very structure of the narrative.
We have here a narrative about a woman, narrated by a woman (by two women,
in fact) meant for female audience. Yes, the text was originally intended for a
female audience as the recurring formula here is ‘shuno skhijana’ (listen
girlfriends), not ‘shuno sabhajana’ (listen, members of the court) nor ‘shunu
sarbajana’ (listen one and all) as the regular formulae go. Hence the producer of
the text is a woman, the product depicts a woman’s life and the intended consumers
are women.
In Book III the narrator changes once again. Chandrabati returns as the narrator
but a male character finds his way in too, Lakshmana. He strongly voices the
general patriarchal values, even… of Rama’s superhuman quality once (of which
there are no visible signs in the text – it is in that sense a secular Ramayana).
…In the first edition of the epic… this section is absent. But… in the second
version this portion is found. Clearly, the poem had become a property of the
bards of East Bengal long ago and was sung to a mixed audience… we also find
that the regular form of the earlier address ‘shuno sakhijana’ becomes ‘shuno
sabhajana’ or ‘shuno sarbajana’ from time to time. The intended audience remains
female in Sita’s own narrative about Rama where she is privately conversing
with her girlfriends… in her inner chambers.
The patriarchal voice is clearly audible in the last section of the second version,
where Lava, Kush and Hanuman interact heroically and the ascetics Vashistha
and Valmiki appear in their full Brahminical splendour.
Hence, we can read it today as a silenced text of yesterday.
Ramayana is a misnomer for our narrative. It should have been called ‘Sitayana’,
the route of Sita, Sita’s journey. Rama is not at the centre of the narrative…
Chandrabati often intrudes into the text and directly addresses the characters
herself.
The Chandrabati Ramayana does not tell us about the route of Rama, but it tells
us all about the life’s journey of a woman – a complete biological life-cycle – her
birth, her marriage, her pregnancy, childbirth, maturity and death. It is a woman’s
text, for the selection of episodes, for the highlighting and detailing of intimate
feminine experiences (like the pregnant woman’s craving for chewing burnt clay),
9
Womenspeak like pregnancy, childbirth (Mandodari’s description), maternal feelings… the
woman’s desolation and desperation at being neglected, worship of local
goddesses… and the performance of religious rituals. Chandrabati even uses
bratakatha-style formulaic language when describing Sita’s ritualistic
performances…
As narrators, Sita and Chandrabati differ in that one is a character, the other is an
outsider… Sita is an ideal representation of the dominant ideology but Chandrabati
is a dissenter. She openly questions, challenges and punctures the ideology of
her time in her personal intrusions, and also in her selection of episodes, depth of
detail and silences. But, she does not criticize Sita for acting according to the
dominant ideology.
… In Indian epics the epic battle is between good and evil, and in a patriarchal
system (which produces the epic) both are represented by male characters. In
Chandrabati Ramayana also, there is this war of good and evil – but both are
represented by women, Laksmi and Alaksmi, Sita and Kukuya.
… Chandrabati Ramayana… is what we call a silenced text… a poor literary

work because it was a Ramayana that did not sing of Rama… Today, a re-reading
of the narrative exposes an obvious failure: to recognize Chandrabati Ramayana
as a personal interpretation of the Rama-tale, seen specifically from the wronged
woman’s point of view.
Activity 3
In what way does Chandrabati make her own thoughts and feelings known
in her narrative?
1.4 ANALYSIS
You have had a glimpse into Chandrabati’s personal life and you must be quite
eager now, after reading Nabaneeta Deb Sen’s essay, to know about the text
itself. Some of you who are real enthusiasts could visit the library of the University
of Calcutta where Chandrabati’s manuscript is kept. Just scanning through it
would in itself be really exciting! We will group our analysis of this text under
three heads –
i) Text
ii) Narrative techniques
iii) Insights
Once we have completed our analysis, you will be able to understand the
importance of woman-speak and how a woman approaches and interprets her
life and its problems differently. We have with us a text that deals with and
narrates Sita’s entire life span – her Baromasi (a Hindi term which literally
translates into barah mahina, i.e. twelve months – which represents a life cycle,
each season representing a stage of life) – telling us about her happiness, sorrows
and her eventual tragic death. You will find it interesting to see that war, and
public appearance and affairs, which matter enormously in a male-centric society
are treated very casually here. Even the people who are addressed and the way
they are spoken to is remarkably different from the regular forms of social
intercourse one finds in Valmiki’s Ramayana.
10
Valmiki’s Ramayana begins with janmalila – an entire section devoted to Rama’s A Woman’s Retelling of the
birth. Chandrabati departs from this tradition to begin her epic by devoting its Ramayana
first six sections to describing Sita’s birth. Sita is born as an incarnation of Goddess
Laxmi to fulfil a divine prophecy. She comes into this world to bring Ravana’s
end. She, not Rama, thus becomes the protagonist. In Valmiki, Sita is found
abandoned in the fields by Raja Janak. However, in Chandrabati, Sita is
Mandodari’s offspring and has no father. Chandrabati Ramayana paints for us a
Ravana who is dissolute, tyrannical, and over-ambitious because of Brahma’s
boon.
Activity 4
How does Sita replace Valmiki’s Rama in Chandrabati Ramayana?
Ravana murders sages and collects their blood in a box as poison with which to
end the immortality of the gods. He abducts beautiful women and spends time
with them, completely neglecting his wife, Mandodari. Out of extreme sorrow,
Mandodari drinks this potent potion to end her life and miseries. But in a dramatic
twist, instead of dying, she gives birth to Sita in the form of an egg. Sita is thus
conceived out of the blood of ascetics who had been brutally murdered and the
agony of a much neglected and suffering Mandodari. When Mandodari gets to
know that Ravana is out to destroy the egg, she puts it into a golden casket and
makes Ravana throw it out of her castle window into the ocean. The egg floats
across the Bay of Bengal. Ravana’s threatening an innocent life seals his
damnation.What happens to the egg? Does it get broken? No. It is found by
Madhab Jalia, a poor and honest fisherman. His religious wife, Sata performs
holy rites and receives the egg worshipfully, which pleases Goddess Lakshmi,
who blesses the couple with wealth and prosperity. Lakshmi visits Sata in a
dream and asks her to deliver the egg to King Janak’s wife. Sata goes to the
Queen and gives her the egg, requesting the Queen to name the child, Sita, as her
namesake. Her wish is granted and the new born is named Sita – a derivative of
Sata. Her conception and birth are as befitting a traditional male hero.
Chandrabati’s Sita’s miraculous and divinely ordained birth without a male
authoritative figure makes her one of the earliest radical feminists.
Activity 5
What is the importance of the character Madhab Jalia in Chandrabati
Ramayana?
Chandrabati devotes only two comparatively shorter, later sections to the birth
of Rama, his three brothers and one sister, the evil Kukuya who has the Bengali
(and Sanskrit) term for evil (ku) pronounced twice in her name. The heroic code
is subtly defied and re-written in Chandrabati Ramayana. Traditionally, epics
are regulated by a heroic code which demands that the central character should
be a man who is virtuous and masculine, and has martial prowess. He should
uphold the dominant patriarchal social code of conduct. Chandrabati speaks up
in her own person to denounce patriarchal ideology: Sita takes the centre stage
with a supernatural birth generally reserved for heroes.
In Book II, we find that Sita has returned from her exile and subsequent abduction
by Ravana, and is in her married home. In a flashback sequence, she recalls her
entire life from her childhood to her life during her exile accompanied by her
11
Womenspeak husband, and her loneliness in Lanka. It is very interesting that the thrust of this
book is not on Rama’s heroic exploits but Sita’s emotions. Rama’s achievements
– the breaking of Haradhan and the entire epic battle are mentioned briefly while
the epic actions are referred to through dream sequences. Sita, however, has
much to say about her relationship with Rama. Sita’s pregnancy and her
abandonment, her giving birth to their children, her and death or entry into Mother
Earth to end her experience of injustice are described in detail. We have
descriptions of exclusively feminine experiences like Sita’s yearning to chew
burnt clay during her pregnancy.
Activity 6
How does shifting the focus from Rama to Sita in Chandrabati Ramayana
alter the storyline?
Apparently, the original edition of Chandrabati ends here. However, we have a

second edition which is in all probability an interpolation by male writers. We
have the entry of Lakshmana, a representative patriarchal figure in Book III. He
praises Rama’s heroism on which Chandrabati Ramayana had remained silent
so far. The text gets a patriarchal slant. Male characters take centre stage: we
have the heroism of Lava, Kush and Hanuman; the ascetics Vashistha and Valmiki
appear in their full Brahminical splendour.
1.5 NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

Chandrabati Ramayana has a narrative sequence in which the speakers change
from book to book, as does the mode of address to its audience and readers. The
narrator of Book I is Chandrabati while the narrator of Book II is Sita herself.
These two books are women-centric – they are written by women and articulated
by women to an audience comprising women. The form of address is
overwhelmingly, ‘shuno skhijana’ (listen girlfriends). Sita’s confidantes are her
close women friends with whom she shares her experiences. Typical women-
centric ways, like bratakatha-style language, i.e. narratives of fasting are used
here.
In later editions and in Book III, patriarchal authoritative voices take over. In all
probability, the poem had become a property of the bards of East Bengal long
ago and was sung to a mixed audience. The modes of address change: ‘shuno
skhijana’ is replaced by ‘shuno sabhajana’ (listen, members of the court) and
‘shunu sarbajana’. The tone shifts from intimate and emotional to public and
celebratory.
It is interesting to note that Chandrabati remains critical of the dominant male
ideology. At times she directly addresses the characters and shows her annoyance
at their behaviour which brings sorrow into Sita’s life. However, Chandrabati
does not criticize her heroine, Sita for acting in accordance to the very same
dominant ideology; Sita is celebrated because she follows this ideology
unquestioningly.
1.6 INSIGHTS
Chandrabati Ramayana is undeniably an exciting text which helps readers to
relate to the pain of women, and understand that every text has an authoritative
12
voice against which many dissenting voices rise. These dissenting voices create A Woman’s Retelling of the
alternative text(s) which help maintain an ongoing discourse on ethics and value- Ramayana
systems. In a society which is patriarchal, it is the man and his supporters who
call the shots. Here, literary works do not provide any space for woman-speak. It
does not surprise us that it was only as recently as the sixteenth century that a
woman-oriented Ramayana was written.
Chandrabati Ramayana is beyond doubt about Sita – her life, her problems and
her personal experiences. Rama is a character in the margins. Chandrabati
Ramayana is a ‘Sitayana’ – telling us about the journey of Sita’s life; to call it
Ramayana is misleading. This Ramayana is a heroic epic with a difference.
Traditionally, heroism translates into masculine valour and a fight between the
forces of good and evil which are generally violent, even virulent. However,
here evil and good are represented by inner conflict, as ethical and moral forces.
There are no visible weapons, and signs of traditional warfare are absent.
Chandrabati Ramayana is of great importance as it provides us with an alternative

woman-centric point of view to understand, analyse and interpret religion. In
this Ramayana we meet an anguished and stricken Sita who suffers despite being
innocent and blameless. Here, the focus is not on Rama’s martial prowess or his
kingly attributes but the emotional aspects of Sita’s life and her very limited
happiness. We are made to feel the helplessness of women who are victimised
because their morality is suspect and which has to rely on the judgement of male
authority that sentences and punishes. Such mindless harshness destroys a
woman’s peace of mind and existence forever. Chandrabati paints for us a pregnant
and lonely Sita who yearns to be pampered by her husband. Through Chandrabati,
we re-visit a vulnerable Sita who tells us that she has always felt lonely and
without a real home since she never knew her real parentage. Unlike Valmiki’s
Sita eclipsed by her husband, Lord Rama, Chandrabati’s Sita comes out of the
margins and shares the centre stage with her friends.
Activity 7
Can the Chandrabati Ramayana be referred to as a Ramayana?
1.7 LET US SUM UP

Chandrabati Ramayana is a text that was penned by a woman who was well
read and critical of her times. Through her Ramayana, she gives us the woman’s
point of view. This piece of writing was generally neglected and overlooked by
critics as trivial since it did not follow the typical patriarchal pattern of narration
or writing. It remained a “silenced text” for long and was only rediscovered in
the 1920s. What has intrigued the critics by and large is its creative intertextuality.
Chandrabati Ramayana borrows across various mythologies like those of
Krishna, Prahlad and Shakuntala. The concepts of a biological mother, a foster
mother, fisherman and a cruel male-relative are not part of the original Ramayana.
Chandrabati has encouraged fresh perspectives on Ramayana. Above all, it is
extremely significant that Chandrabati’s Sita is named after a fisherwoman, Sata
– a deliberate strategy to underscore women and defy their secondary status in
society.
Undeniably, Chandrabati Ramayana is and will continue to be a text which will
continue to engage our intellect and force us to re-assess our moral yardstick.
13
Womenspeak
1.8 AIDS TO ACTIVITIES
Activity 1: Gender affects our reading and interpretation to a certain extent in
the process of identification with the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Activity 2: It is called as such as it has been largely ignored within a system of

patriarchy.
Activity 3: Chandrabati often intrudes into the text and directly addresses the
characters herself.
Activity 4: Sita, not Rama, is the central character who brings an end to Ravana’s
evil rule. She is Lakshmi’s incarnation who is destined to defeat Ravana and the
first sections of the book are devoted to her.
Activity 5: Madhab Jalia in Chandrabati Ramayana rescues the egg which

contains Sita’s life after it is thrown into the sea by Mandodari. Sata chooses the
name, Sita as a derivative of her own name.
Activity 6: Valmiki’s Ramayana is built around Rama and his public and political
image as a ruler and a brave warrior. In sharp contrast, Chandrabati Ramayana
is written from Sita’s point-of-view with hardly any mention of war and kingship.
Activity 7: The central character of Chandrabati Ramayana is Sita, not Rama.

Therefore, it would be more appropriate to call it a Sitayana, not Ramayana
since it narrates the life of Sita and expresses her point-of-view.
1.9 GLOSSARY
abducted : kidnapped
ascetic : a holy man/sage who has given up worldly
pleasures
auspicious : holy
ballad : a folk song that tells a story
Baromasi : covering a period of twelve months
casket : basket/ case
clan : a group of closely knit families
dissenter : a person who disagrees
exploits : brave acts
gory : bloody
guise : a fake appearance
humiliation : insult
ideology : a set of beliefs and ideas
intertextuality : borrowings across texts
janmalila : story about birth
legend : famous person or story
14
mediator : a person who helps bring in an agreement between A Woman’s Retelling of the
two parties Ramayana
mingle : mix
recurring : happening again and again
soothsayer : a person who tells the future
tactic : method/ strategy
tyrannizing : behaving like a cruel and heartless ruler
unabashedly : frankly
unrequited love : love which is not returned/ one-sided love
1.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Who was Chandrabati? What is so special about her Ramayana?
2) Who are the narrators in Book I, Book II and Book III of Chandrabati
Ramayana? How does it impact our reading of the text?
3) What do you understand by ‘heroic code’? To what extent is it found in
Chandrabati Ramayana?
4) How is Rama in Chandrabati Ramayana different from in Valmiki’s
Ramayana?
5) Why is Sita named after Sata in Chandrabati Ramayana? Why is this
significant?
6) Which Book is written from a patriarchal viewpoint? Why?
7) Why is the Chandrabati Ramayana considered a ‘silenced text’?
1.11 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

1) Amirthanayagam, Guy. Asian and Western Writers in Dialogue. Ed.. London:
The Macmillan Press Ltd. 1982. Print
2) Bedekar, D.K. and Kelkar, Ashok R., ‘Indian Consciousness through Ages:
Marathi Literature (1870-1970).’ Maharashtra – A Profile: Vishnu Sakharam
Khandekar Felicitation Volume, V.S. Khandekar Amrit Mahotsava Samiti,
1977. Web
3) Bose, Mandakranta. “Reinventing the Ramayana in Twentieth Century
Bengali Literature.” In Bose, Mandakranta (ed) Ramayana Revisited. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print
4) Dasgupta Sanjukta and Lal, Malashri (eds). The Indian Family in Transition:
Reading Literary and Cultural Texts. New Delhi: Sage Publications India
Pvt Ltd, 2007. Print
5) Iyengar, Radhika. ‘Diwali Special: A Ramayan, but not about Ram.’ livemint.
Web
6) Paniker, Ayyappa K (ed). Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology. New
Delhi: Elegant Printers, 1997.
15
Womenspeak 7) Patel, Utkarsh. ‘Birth of Chandrabati’s Sita.’ http://talkingmyths.com. Web
8) Sen, Geeti (ed). Crossing Boundaries. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1997.
Print
9) Sen, Nabaneeta Dev. ‘When Women Retell the Ramayana.’ http://
www.manushi.in/docs/906-when-women-Retell-the-ramayan.pdf. Web
10. Shetiya, Vibha. ‘The Chandravati Ramayana: A Story of Two Women.’ https:/
/ feminismandreligion.com. Web
16
UNIT 2 LAKSHMI KANNAN AND INDIRA Rama-Tale: The Chandrabati
Ramayana
SANT: POEMS
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Lakshmi Kannan and Rasha Sundari Debi
2.3 The Text - ‘Don’t Wash’
2.4 Understanding the Poem
2.5 Indira Sant
2.6 The Text – ‘Her Dream’
2.7 Understanding the Poem
2.8 Let Us Sum Up
2.9 Glossary
2.0 OBJECTIVES
On completing this unit, you will understand the challenges in the life of India’s
first woman autobiographer, Rasha Sundari Devi whose courage and patience is
the subject of Lakshmi Kannan’s poem, ‘Don’t Wash’. You will also be able to
see, through Indira Sant’s poem ‘Her Dream’, how a widow in India feels
unwanted because she does not have a husband to ‘complete’ her, and society
thinks that she is therefore inferior and inauspicious. At the end of this unit you
will see how society favours men and tries to keep women under control by
denying them education and an equal status to men without whom they are made
to feel like lesser beings.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The patriarchal system ensures that women are not allowed to participate fully
in life activities and are forcibly circumscribed by the four walls of their home –
and even more so, of the kitchen. In one of her interviews, Kannan tells us that
she has ‘always celebrated the struggle of the so-called “ordinary” women (and
men)… as truly heroic in the way they strive to triumph over their endless struggles
in life.’ It is sad that even today across India, girls are not allowed to develop
their talents and skills; they are only taught what is required to be deft
homemakers.
17
Womenspeak
2.2 LAKSHMI KANNAN AND RASHA SUNDARI
DEBI
Lakshmi Kannan is a well-established Indian writer who writes on themes centred
round women issues. Her subjects are mostly middle class women who rebel
against limits imposed on them by society. Born in Mysore on 13 August 1947,
Kannan is among the pioneering Indian feminists writing from first-hand
observation and experience. She began writing in Tamil, and later in English as
well. She has also done her own translations of her Tamil writings into English.
Kannan writes under her Tamil pseudonym, Kaaveri something which reflects
her fondness for the river, Kaaveri with which she has a strong spiritual connection.
Her poems too reflect a lot of water and river images.She is a founding member,
and member of the governing body of the Poetry Society of India and has had the
distinction of being a jury-member for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Eurasia.
Let us now talk a little about Rasha Sundari Devi – the person to whom Kannan
has dedicated her poem, “Don’t Wash”. Let me tell you that the nineteenth century
India in which Rasha Sundari was born was a very exciting age where traditions
were probed, questioned and re-written. This age is known as the age of the
Bengal Renaissance and Reformism – a time when women’s right to education
was campaigned for, and resistance to child marriage grew. During the 1800s,
women were largely deprived of education as it was widely believed that if a girl
became literate, her husband would die. This attitude towards women prevailed
everywhere – among the rich households as well as the poor ones.
Rasha Sundari was born in 1810 in the remote village of Pabna in East Bengal.
She had no memories of her father, Padmalochan Roy, who died when she was a
small child. There was a pathshala in her father’s house which was managed by
a missionary woman. Only boys were allowed to study here. Though she was
not allowed to attend this school, Rasha Sundari somehow learnt some Bangla
and Persian by being around in the school’s vicinity and overhearing what was
being taught. Her childhood came to an abrupt end when she was married off at
the tender age of twelve to a wealthy landlord, Nilmani Roy. You can only begin
to imagine her childhood trauma of leaving the security of her parental home to
live with strangers where she was expected to manage household chores!
Rasha Sundari Devi was a privileged high caste Hindu who was not expected to
do anything other than look after her family’s interest and serve them. Her family
after marriage was not ready to accept or accommodate her aspiration to education
and Rasha Sundari’s life is motivational because she dared to educate herself in
the face of overwhelming odds. Her life became extraordinary because of her
courage to dream and realise it in the face of stiff opposition. She had hardly any
leisure time but she managed to practise reading and writing even while working
in the kitchen. She learnt with practically nothing – two sheets of written paper
and charcoal. She later recorded her life’s incredible story in her much-celebrated
autobiography, Amar Jiban – India’s first autobiography written by a woman.
Rasha Sundari’s husband and in-laws were religious-minded. Well, Rasha Sundari
too had a religious bent of mind! It was her strong desire to read devotional
works first hand that fuelled her resolution to become self-taught and, at the age
of twenty five, she started teaching herself to read the alphabets. Learning a
language is not easy, and learning it all by yourself when no one supports you
18
and you are pressed for time is even more tough. It was by accident that her Lakshmi Kannan and Indira
Sant: Poems
husband left a copy of the Chaitanya Bhagvata in the kitchen. She quickly tore a
page out of this book, and, armed with this page and a palm leaf which her son
used for writing, she practised writing and taught herself the Bengali script. She
also scribbled on kitchen walls with charcoal stubs used for lighting the fire, to
improve her writing skills. She became a widow at the age of fifty nine, and
subsequently started working on her autobiography, Amar Jiban, which has been
praised for its simple and clear prose. Amar Jiban gives us an account of the
contemporary village life and the position of women. It also makes us familiar
with the writer’s views on various subjects, and motivates us to understand how
important it is to follow your dream and to take a stand in your life. Rasha Sundari
Debi died when she was around eighty eight years old, leaving behind a legacy
of inspiration and emancipation.
2.3 THE TEXT – ‘DON’T WASH’

(For Rasha Sundari Debi)
No, don’t.
Don’t ever clean with water
the dark, sooty walls
of your kitchen, Rasha Sundari.
For the akshara you scratched
on the walls so furtively,
the akshara you tried to match
with the sounds you heard
They’ve quickened now, with life.
Even as you wash rice, fish, vegetables
even as you peel, cut, bake, stir and cook
the thieving letters on the wall will take wings.
They fly down to the palm leaf
you once stole from your son.
See how the letters move
in the eyes of the mind,
then leap over, back to the wall
from the page of Chaitanya Bhagavata
you tore from the book
when no one was looking.
You need no book, Rasha Sundari
no paper or pen either
you have the black, smudgy kitchen wall
for your magical scribbles
lines, ellipses, curves
all of them your secret codes for
a whole new world.
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Womenspeak
2.4 UNDERSTANDING THE POEM
The poem, ‘Don’t Wash’ is written by Lakshmi Kannan to honour and pay tribute
to Rasha Sundari Debi’s extraordinary spirit and grit: a woman who even risked
her reputation in her determination not to take anything lying down. Rasha Sundari
lived in a society where educated women were considered a bad omen. ‘Don’t
Wash’ helps us appreciate the intelligence, determination and daring with which
Rasha Sundari embraced what was socially unacceptable and even sinful, to
fulfil her dreams and live life on her own terms.
Kannan uses the image of wash as the poem’s central metaphor. ‘Wash’ symbolises
customs which are considered sacred and are not to be questioned. Water has an
important significance in Hinduism where washing the place of worship, altar
and statues of gods and goddesses is an integral part of religious ceremonies. In
itself, water cleans filth. However, in the poem the poet persuades Rasha Sundari
Debi to leave the walls of her kitchen unwashed so that whatever she may have
scribbled on the wall remains intact and unerased. The sooty writing on the walls
underlines Rasha Sundari’s hopes and becomes a marker of her identity. Not
washing the walls is like saying that you should not change yourself because
society expects you to be different: your uniqueness should not be washed off
because it is what will make the world a better place where everyone – man or
woman – will have a fair chance to realise their worth. The kitchen walls in
Rasha Sundari’s house, blackened with charcoal soot look dirty and the kitchen
appears messy. But the poet insists that the walls are not to be washed as the
akshara is written on them. If you think about it a little more, you’ll realise that
the written word – akshara – is considered sacred in Hinduism. The poem argues
that the akshara continues to remain sacred and is not defiled just because it is
written by a woman.
Activity 1
Why were women not allowed to read and write?
There was a superstition that the written word – akshara – would lose its sacredness
and power if a woman wrote it.We are told that this writing on the wall has been
done “furtively” - it is an act of secrecy. This secret and furtive act is not an act
of cowardice but an effort which required commitment, guts and planning. To
wash off the traces of this action would have smothered Rasha Sundari’s inner
self as it was this writing which had brought meaning to her mundane and routine
life. The poet helps us appreciate the tremendous hard work and dedication that
went into her learning as she did not neglect any work that she was expected to
do.
Activity 2
Do you think what Rasha Sundari did was correct? Why?
Rasha Sundari painstakingly completed all her household chores – “wash rice,
fish, vegetables… peel, cut, bake, stir and cook” – and alongside worked doubly
hard to memorise the letters she regularly scribbled on the walls. Despite her
tough schedule, she persisted in her efforts which helped her imagination and
intellect expand – “take wings.” With education, she could understand the complex
world and express herself in different ways. She was like a bird with strong
20 wings with which it could fly fearlessly.
Lakshmi Kannan and Indira
Activity 3 Sant: Poems
Why did Rasha Sundari wish to get an education?
The poem has imaginative and complex descriptions written in a simple and
clear language because of which we understand the the poem with ease and
engage with difficult issues. We are provoked into re-thinking issues that we
take for granted and to question religious customs that we practise every day
without giving a second thought to how these customs underwrite and promote
discrimination against women. By understanding Rash Sundari Debi’s defiance
and her dedication, planning and perseverance, we realise that social change and
progress is only possible with belief in oneself, one’s cause and and unrelenting
commitment to it. A combination of intelligence and determination helped Rasha
Sundari’s fight against impossible odds. She had been able to tear merely a page
from her husband’s book, Chaitanya Bhagwat, and secretly keep with her only
one of her son’s palm leaves on which he practised writing. She constantly
imagined and re-imagined words to re-create them. Even though she had a bare
minimum, she taught herself to read and write - to eventually become an acclaimed
writer whose life inspired many a woman to rise against social injustice. We
unreservedly admire her daring to remain unwashed and unclean – blackened by
the ‘unholy’ deed of learning to read and write.
Activity 4
How does Rasha Sundari practise reading and writing?
The last four lines of the poem draw a subtle inference that the written script is
mysterious, full of “magical scribbles” that seem like a complex maze of
geometrical shapes – “lines, ellipses, curves” – to the illiterate. Only by not
washing off this mysterious writing can women gain entry into the world of
knowledge – “a whole new world.” The poem rises above the specific life of
Rasha Sundari to encourage women universally to take social criticism headlong
by not being afraid of what society can/will say. Only by risking their security
can women live on equal terms where they too have access to reading and writing
– “secret codes” to empowerment. ‘Don’t Wash’ is a poem that asks us to look
into social taboos and assess their worth – whatever is forbidden is perhaps
forbidden not because it is unclean or evil but because it gives muscle to the
masters who do not allow and do not want certain sections of society, like women,
to gain power or a status that challenges their monopoly.
‘Don’t Wash’ is a powerful poem which asks women to say no to social customs
that expect women to wash themselves of their dreams and their individual
identities. The poem pays tribute to Rasha Sundari Debi’s extraordinary courage
to listen to her heart and educate herself. When she practised writing on walls
which became black and sooty, she took a huge risk because she could have been
caught studying and punished severely for it. Lakshmi Kannan finds it very
disturbing that society takes whatever it finds serviceable from the women –
their ability to do hard work, and utility as homemakers and breadwinners, but
do not acknowledge or encourage their individuality and dreams. A woman’s
personal traits, talent, inclination or acquisition is considered useless unless it
provides material comfort to the family members. She believes that it is important
for women to get a chance at social participation and decision making and stresses
the need to question and engage with the idea of what is acceptable and who
21
Womenspeak decides what is correct. To help women rise, you have to challenge patriarchy
and draw attention to injustices against women. People have to be persuaded to
understand that women should have equal rights and privileges as men. We need
to sponsor transgression, i.e. a breaking down of the boundaries of social
correctness. In her works, Kannan insists that in India women and ‘dalits’ have
been bracketed together and denied basic rights, like the right to recite the Gayatri
Mantra. To live their lives to the fullest, women have to rebel and create their
space where they can achieve their full potential.
While women in the West undertook to define feminist thinking and fight social
prejudices against women, Asian women have had a tough time trying to
rationalise and weed out traditional beliefs and practices that target and constrict
women to roles that are pre-defined for them. Indian society is suspicious of
change and the idea modern itself. Any activity that challenges tradition or
provides an alternative to tradition is labelled offensive and shamelessly modern.
Kannan’s works stoke women’s passion to re-discover themselves and assert
their identities as individuals, not just gendered beings – beings who are only
limited to their biological identities and gender, woman, nothing else. Through
her poems, Kannan gives us examples of women who refused to be restricted by
their gender. Like Rasha Sundari Devi, they followed their dream. Such women
inspire us to have faith in ourselves and the courage to risk our reputation and
comfort zone so that our tomorrow as well as the future of the coming generation
of women is more just and happy.
2.5 INDIRA SANT

Indira Sant is an acclaimed Marathi poet who has written on diverse issues that
concern women. She was born into a progressive Maharashtrian family as Indira
Dikshit on January 4, 1914 in the small town, Tavandi in Belgaum District,
Karnataka. Her childhood was spent in the rural areas of Southern Maharashtra,
which provided her with a typical Indian sensibility that colours her various
works. She attended Rajaram College in Kolhapur and Fergusson College in
Pune. It was at the latter college that she met Narayan Sant, whom she married in
1936. Together, they published a collection of their poems, Sahwas in 1940.
However, their married life was short-lived as Narayan Sant died within ten
years of their marriage. Indira was grief-stricken and the poignancy of her tragic
loss echoes throughout her works. Her determination and optimism saw her reach
heights in her professional and creative life. A professor, she later became the
principal of a teachers’ training college in Belgaum and wrote twenty-five books
during her lifetime. In 1984, she was honoured with the Sahitya Academy Award
for her collection of poems, Garbhareshmi as well as many other prestigious
awards like the Janasthan Award and the Maharashtra State Award. In 1975, the
acclaimed poet Nissim Ezekiel translated her poems into English and published
them as Snake-skin and other poems of Indira Sant. She passed away on 13 July,
2000.
2.6 ‘HER DREAM’

Her dream, like the dream of a dozen other women.
A full plate, deliciously full.
Places to go, things to do, morning and evening.
22
Neatly ironed clothes. A nicely furnished home. Lakshmi Kannan and Indira
Sant: Poems
Sometimes a play, sometimes a concert – with the best seats.
All the happiness in the world on a meagre income.
Laughter and teasing. Talk and chatter.
Her dream, like the dreams of a dozen other women.
But she woke up before the dream began.
And then she never fell asleep again.
2.7 UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

‘Her Dream’ is a moving poem in which the poet gives us a realistic picture of an
Indian widow. You must have noticed how widows are often treated cruelly by
society and even by other married women. Even if widows are not openly insulted,
they are expected to wear dull colours, be humble – even self-effacing - not
enjoy life or eat lavish food and have personal desires and dreams. At this point,
it is a good idea to discuss whether it is possible to be alive and not have dreams.
We are humans; dreaming, planning and hoping come naturally to us. We may
face tragedies but that does not make us stop looking forward to good times.
Don’t you agree that in your darkest moments you wish someone could comfort
you and make you smile again? Yes, no one wants to be alone or to receive
shabby treatment. Why are widows deliberately made to feel their pain over and
over again? Yes, some pain is unavoidable because of the absence of a husband
and his companionship. But to force it down a woman’s throat and to victimise
her because she is a widow is shameful and unforgivable. If you look around,
you will see how widows are not invited to festivals and ceremonies like marriages
– their presence is considered inauspicious. It is as if they are responsible for
their husband’s death. As a result, widows become disillusioned and stop
dreaming.
‘Her Dream’ begins on a poignant note. It tells us that every woman has dreams
and dreaming is not limited to married women alone. The unnamed woman in
the poem represents a typical Indian widow whose identity is lost because her
life and existence depends on her husband: without a husband, she loses her
social status and is unable to partake of the simple joys of married life. The poet
lists the widow’s everyday dreams which move us because of their simplicity,
and the eventual realisation that these humdrum activities are no longer for her.
Even before she could have started relaxing and daydreaming leisurely after her
wedding, her happiness was smashed and her dreams came to nought. Unable to
dream, she became restive and sleep lost its pleasure. Her life became a stretch
of hopelessness where there was no rest or serenity. She became agitated and felt
utter despair when she lost her husband whom she loved tremendously and who
pampered her.
The woman’s desires were simple. She had always hoped for a married life where
she would be on her toes, busy running everyday errands, and also be spoilt by
her husband’s affection. The joys that she had always looked forward to are
listed in the poem. Her first desire had always been to have a “full plate.” The
phrase “full plate” suggests not only sufficient food to eat, but a life full of
responsibilities, doing chores so that there is hardly any leisure time. The woman
had always looked forward to this hectic married life because it would have
made her immensely happy, just like a plate filled with delicious and mouth-
23
Womenspeak watering delicacies pleases the taste buds. The poem tugs at our heart with the
realisation that this woman no longer finds happiness because these
responsibilities are no longer special for her after her husband’s death. She feels
unwanted and vulnerable. Her pain intensifies when she sees a “dozen women”
around her busy with their daily errands, running around happily – their plates
“deliciously full.” The lives of these women are a flurry of activity – they
accompany their families on various trips and are ever alert, seeing to it that
everything functions smoothly. They have no time to spare. Mornings and
evenings alike keep them engaged with an endless list of “things to do.” The
poet tells us that women are central to their families. It is a woman who sees to it
that every family member is well turned-out with neatly ironed clothes. This
involvement with the family makes a woman’s life meaningful. However, without
a husband, a woman feels incomplete and gets no happiness in doing household
chores for she does not have a husband who will appreciate her and make her
feel special.
Activity 5
Why does the speaker wish for a “full plate”?
Married women keep their home spick and span, and the family members happy.
A woman’s home is “nicely furnished” because she takes complete care of
everything while her husband contributes to her well-being. A woman’s marital
life is full of responsibilities that have their own pleasurable and light-hearted
moments. The widow in the poem is no different from other women. She had
always looked forward to spending quality time with her husband and enjoying
his company and like any other young girl, had fancied the idea that her husband
would escort her to some or the other event – “a play” or “a concert.” She had
pictured these moments of togetherness where her husband would go all out to
make her feel special by booking the best seats for them so that they could relax
and unwind, and enjoy the finest view possible. She had fantasised that life would
be a beautiful journey of shared happiness and companionable moments. She
had always anticipated a life where she would be indispensable to her man who
would need her to take care of his day to day needs while he would make an
effort to make her feel special by giving her comfort and a break from her routine.
She believed that their togetherness would fill their lives with laughter and cheer
and their happiness in being together would make problems like shortage of
money, insignificant. The widow was convinced that she and her husband would
tide through bad times because of their patience with each other and their shared
love.
The reality of her life pains the widow as her life is strikingly different from her
cherished daydreams. Hers is a cold and lonely world where she has no companion
to share her troubles with or to make her feel treasured. She had visualised a
husband who would love her dearly and see to it that she had everything she
needed, and a lifestyle that would make her feel the significance she held for
him. She had never imagined a life without her husband where mindless chatter
and shared laughter would be missing. With her husband’s death, she is left with
shattered dreams and wistful longing. There is only desolation and nostalgia for
her. Her marital life was short-lived and now seems like an impossible beautiful
dream. With her husband’s death, she was jolted into a harsh reality where she
realised that the dreams she had shared with “a dozen other women” would never
24
come true. Her life was now so steeped in sorrow that “she never fell asleep Lakshmi Kannan and Indira
Sant: Poems
again” and forgot her troubles: her dreams were ruined and relaxation became
impossible.
The poem moves us with its simplicity and honesty of emotions. We feel for the
woman whose dreams are like every other woman’s, but who now faces a life
where her dreams remain sheer dreams, without a shred of possibility of their
ever coming true. All the promising, beautiful moments that could have been
possible with a husband now remain beyond her. She knows that now her life
will be lonely where she will have to survive on a “meagre income” without a
companion who would have seen to it that she always had a plush life with a
“nicely furnished home” and regular visits to performances to relax and unwind.
Her life appears quite meaningless to her because she feels left out in the cold
without a husband needing her to complement his life and make it smooth by
taking care of his routine needs. The poem expresses a widowed woman’s deep
anguish at a life where responsibilities would continue unabated but love and
companionship would be absent – a life of utter loneliness and hard work where
shared laughter and talk would aways be missing.
2.8 LET US SUM UP

The two poems read in this unit highlight two different aspects of women’s lives
in India in the not so distant past – illiteracy and widowhood.
‘Don’t Wash’ is a powerful poem which asks women to say no to social customs
that expect women to wash themselves of their dreams and their individual
identities. The poem pays tribute to Rasha Sundari Debi’s extraordinary courage
to listen to her heart and educate herself. Rasha Sundari practised writing on
walls which became black and sooty. She took a huge risk by not washing the
walls because she could have been caught studying and punished severely for it.
The speaker in the poem, ‘Her Dream’ is a widow who had always had simple
dreams of being happy with her husband, looking after him and getting spoilt by
him. There was nothing extraordinary about her dreams, except that when she
lost her husband these dreams became impossible to realise and filled her life
with immense grief. She had always looked forward to a happily busy life where
she would have had to iron clothes, tidy the house and plan visits to plays and
concerts. She had dreamt that her life would be full of caring for her family and
loving her husband who in turn would also make her feel special by laughing
with her and teasing her. It would be a beautiful life where relationships would
matter and money would be secondary.
2.9 GLOSSARY
chatter : gossip, small talk
ellipses : three dots “…” in a sentence which show
(plural of ellipsis) continuation of thought and mystery
full plate : a busy schedule
furnished : equipped with furniture
furtively : secretly
25
Womenspeak meagre : not enough
scratched : written hurriedly
scribbles : untidy writing
smudgy : dirty
sooty : greyish black
take wings : fly/ be free from confinement
thieving : stolen
quickened with life : became meaningful/ came alive

Activity 1: Women were not allowed to read and write because it was believed
that if a woman was educated, she would bring bad luck and death to her family.
Activity 2: Rasha Sundari practises reading and writing furtively. It is correct
because everyone has a right to education, which is denied to women because of
baseless superstitions that educated women are a curse on their families.
Activity 3: Rasha Sundari was a very imaginative and intelligent woman who
was curious about the world. She could only “fly” with the wings of education to
gain access to this knowledge which was barred to women.
Activity 4: She tore out a page from her husband’s book, Chaitanya Bhagwat
and took a palm leaf from her son’s book. She read and re-read the page from
Chaitanya Bhagwat and imagined the words in different combinations. She
practised writing on her son’s palm leaf and the walls of the kitchen where she
prepared food and washed utensils.
Activity 5: The phrase “full plate” suggests a life which is full of activities that
keep going on and on. The widow who feels she has no one to take care of or
someone to make her feel special finds that everything is now meaningless.

1) What is it that Lakshmi Kannan does not want to be washed? Why?
2) Why are the kitchen walls sooty, black and smudgy?
3) Why are the letters described as “thieving” and “taking wings”?
4) What would you say is the central idea of the poem, ‘Don’t Wash’?
5) What is the dream in the poem ‘Her Dream’? What happens to it?
6) What does the speaker in ‘Her Dream’ want her deliciously full plate to
contain?
7) In what ways does the woman in ‘Her Dream’ feel that her dreams are
unfulfilled?
8) Explain the line, “she woke up before the dream began./ And then she never
fell asleep again”.

1) Amirthanayagam, Guy (ed). Asian and Western Writers in Dialogue.
(London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. 1982).
26
2) Banglapedia, National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh//web.archive.org Lakshmi Kannan and Indira
Sant: Poems
3) Bedekar, D.K. and Kelkar, Ashok R. ‘Indian Consciousness through Ages:
Marathi Literature (1870-1970)’, Maharashtra – A Profile: Vishnu Sakharam
Khandekar Felicitation Volume, V.S. Khandekar Amrit Mahotsava Samiti,
1977. Web. February 6 2019.
4) Chandra, Swati. ‘Rashsundari Debi’s Amar Jiban and Binodini Dasi’s My
Story and My Life as an Actress: A Comparative Study’, in Bite, Vishwanath
and Bite, Madhuri (eds). The Criterion An International Journal in English.
5) Dasgupta, Sanjukta and Lal, Malashri (eds). The Indian Family in Transition:
Reading Literary and Cultural Texts. New Delhi: Sage Publications India
Pvt Ltd, 2007. Print
6) http://marathikavitasangrah.in/category/indira-santen.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Indira_Sant
7) http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/awards/akademi%20
samman_suchi.jsp
8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Sant
9) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rassundari_Devi
10) https://klon.org/discuss-concept-double-colonization-postcolonial-women-
writers-contest-patriarchy-colonialism-essay
11) https://www.academia.edu/4008542/Enabling_Feminist_Critiques_
Review_of_Empire_Media_and_the_Autonomous_Woman
12) https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/11/rassundari-devi-autobiography/
13) Kannan, Lakshmi. ‘Don’t Wash’ in Unquiet Waters N Delhi: Sahitya
Akademi, 2005
14) Sant, Indra. ‘Her Dream’ in Arthur W Biddle et al (ed) Global
Voices:Contemporary Literature from the Non-Western World. Pearson,
1995
15) Tharu, Susie J. and Lalita, Ke (eds). Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to
the Early Twentieth Century. Vol.1. New YorK: Feminist Press, 1991. Print
27
Womenspeak
UNIT 3 NASEEM SHAFAIE: POEMS
Structure:
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Text: ‘Neither a Shadow Nor a Reflection’
3.3 Critical Analysis
3.4 Text: ‘Solitude - For the Girl Child’
3.5 Critical Analysis
3.6 Let Us Sum Up
3.7 Glossary
3.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit you will understand and analyse the poems ‘Neither a Shadow nor a
Reflection’ and ‘Solitude for the Girl Child’ by Naseem Shafaie. By the end of
the unit you will be able to relate to problems faced by girls and women in a
male-centric society. You will also appreciate that resistance and dialogue, more
than confrontation, can empower women.Some important issues and questions
that will be discussed and resolved through this unit will relate to the position
and treatment of women down the history, and in contemporary times. You will
be able to answer questions related to the need for respect, appreciation and
consideration toward girls and women who leave their home to go and live with
strangers when they get married.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Written in simple and moving language, the poems appeal to their readers to let
women be. The poems argue about the need to allow women and girl children to
realise their potential and we are aware of a restrictive society where change can
only come if we become aware of the pain our traditions cause. The poems make
a strong statement that women are individuals in their own right who cannot be
treated as puppets by their husbands. What makes a woman worthy of being
celebrated is that she does not seek revenge and has the strength to walk out of a
bad situation to create a more wholesome society where people are more kind
and accommodating.
Naseem Shafaie (1952-) is a contemporary Kashmiri poet who writes, among

other things, about Kashmir, women from Kashmir and their perspective. She
has a Masters degree in Kashmiri language and literature. In 1984 she joined the
higher education department of Jammu and Kashmir Government, and has taught
undergrads at the University of Kashmir. In 2011, she was honoured with the
28
prestigious Sahitya Academy Award for her collection of poems, Neither a Shadow Naseem Shafaie: Poems
nor a Reflection (published in 2007). She is the first Kashmiri woman ever to
have been bestowed this distinction. Her works have been translated into several
languages including English, Italian, Korean, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi
and Telugu. According to a blog, Kashmir Forum, Shafaie’s poetry is “an
expression of a woman’s inner passion for self-esteem, and self-admiration…
termed as ‘Sun Passion’ by Kshemendra, the 10th century writer from Kashmir.”
You will be interested to know that in the 1970s, Shafaie was the only woman
poet to attend mushairas in Kashmir.
3.2 TEXT: ‘NEITHER A SHADOW NOR A

REFLECTION’
As always you once again came, standing
at the door speechless. Only if I had been
in possession of a few words would I decorate
them on your lips and hear those fiery words you wish.
unable to decipher,I feel the heat of your eyes.
I knew for me you would certainly come,
I felt the hope of your arrival and felt,
that like a gale of spring, you would enter my heart, and
every particle of my life would get rejuvenated.
But you stand still where the string was broken,
You never guess how many forms you gave me,
I, like Lalla, rose in the late hours of the night,
and lulled you in my lap and woke you up.
I, like Habba Khatoon, said you are the sky,
I am your earth, you the shelter of my secrets,
the garden belongs to you, come and enjoy it,
what rival of mine lured you away?
Stay a while and ponder, didn’t I sing:
Ó love I shall adorn you under the cherry trees,
Fasted I for you that you stay with me.
My nights passed reciting holy verses for you.
If like Krishna you wish and change your guises,
If that Habba Khatoon decides and leaves you midway, what
if she too feels hate, she is not to be slayed.
Even if now you find some clue, come and stay a while,
realise your fault, I shall know you have come for me; you
come now, like a true Adam beside me.
I shall be assured that you realised:
I am neither a shadow, nor a reflection.
(Translated from Kashmiri by Prof Indu Kilam)
29
Womenspeak
3.3 CRITICAL ANALYSIS
While reading the poem you must have realised this is a love poem which is very
different from the ones we generally read. In this poem, you hear the voice of a
woman who loves her man with all her heart. She tells us throughout the poem
how she has devoted her entire life to caring for her husband in every possible
way. Whenever he needed her, she was there and she always adjusted to his
ways. However, the subject of this love poem is not only this woman’s love and
dedication to her man. It also tells us the other side of the story – the man’s
attitude towards his beloved and how he returns her commitment and affection.
You will agree with me that the poem shows us the politics of love in a man’s
world where women end up doing whatever is needed to make their man’s life
comfortable and happy, while men take their women for granted and gradually
become indifferent towards them. The poet tells us in the opening words of the
poem – “As always”– that this one-sidedness in a man-woman relationship is
universal: it is to be found everywhere. The poem tries to make us understand
that both - man and woman - can be equally happy if the man responds to a
woman’s love and care by being there for her when she needs him and by letting
her be what she wishes to be, even helping her to express herself in ways she has
never been allowed to by the male-centric society. I hope you can see for
yourselves the significance of the poem’s title – ‘Neither a Shadow, Nor a
Reflection’.
Have you ever thought of becoming your own shadow and reflection instead of
remaining a shadow to others and someone else’s reflection? Shadows and
reflections have no independent existence. They are empty forms which merely
follow and repeat the movements of the body. If you think about shadows and
reflections, you will be able to see that shadows have no colour – they are black,
whereas reflections have colour. Yet, both – shadows and reflection – cannot do
anything on their own. The surface where they appear remains blank till something
or somebody comes on the scene. Shadows and reflections are lifeless and their
actions are never theirs. What would you like to be? Surely not a shadow and a
reflection!
My guess is that all of us would want to be independent people with a fair chance
to live and act the way we want to. The poem’s title, ‘Neither a Shadow nor a
Reflection’ conveys a similar desire – the hope to be a person with an identity
and not merely another’s shadow with no identity, dreams or ambitions. The
woman in this poem asserts that she is a woman, a living being, not a lifeless
reflection. And because she is animate, she is not to be shamed and treated with
disrespect. This poem is an assertion of a woman’s self-respect where she asks
her man to be “beside” her. The woman reminds her man that she has been with
him whenever he needed her, and that he should never ever abandon her even
when the patriarchal society tries to silence her honest dreams and forbids her
from talking about her pain and sorrow.
Activity 1
Write down your own thoughts on what you feel is the subject of the poem.
We have tried to understand the title of the poem. You must have realised by now
that the title also indicates the theme, which is about a woman’s protest at not
30
getting a fair deal from her man despite her being there for him whenever and in Naseem Shafaie: Poems
whatsoever capacity required. The poem’s subject is the subjugation of a woman
by patriarchy, and the woman’s courage to raise her voice against the injustices
done to her. What makes this poem unique is that while relating her sufferings
and asking for a just treatment, the woman stresses that men complement women
and they should be with each other, not against each other. The poem suggests
that women should stand up against men’s cruelty and indifference, and help
them understand where they have gone wrong. Naseem Shafaie “re-imagines
the whole relationship of male and female based on mutual love, self-respect
and dignity.”
The poet makes references to various religious and mythological figures. Why
do you think she does this? Well, if you read the poem closely, you will see that
the poem does not focus on any particular community; it tries to make the readers
realise that women experience abuse and neglect globally. And, because societies
are largely patriarchal/ male-dominated, don’t you think the poet is trying to tell
us that patriarchy needs to be checked? Women are capable of bringing in social
equality and justice by refusing to accept ill-treatment silently. “If that Habba
Khatoon decides and leaves you midway… she is not to be slayed” is a powerful
statement that supports women who, refusingto compromise on their self-respect,
walk out of bitter relationships. Slaying suggests extreme violence and the poet
insists that violence can never improve relationships. Men and women can live
together only when a man supports and respects his woman “like a true Adam” –
the first human created by God– who never left his woman and always stood by
her even when she made a wrong decision. The poet tries to make her readers
understand that if you love someone, you do not make them feel guilty, but help
them get over their mistakes and lead wholesome lives.
Activity 2
Against whom does the speaker plan a protest? What is the strategy?
The poem has an intense tone. It begins with a rather exasperated and desperate
woman who complains to her man that he keeps coming back to her but remains
“speechless”. We feel her sense of betrayal, for conversation happens only among
friends who have common ground; by being incommunicative, she and her
husband become near strangers. The woman tries to analyse her man’s strange
behaviour and concludes that he does not speak to her because he cannot
understand her. She tells us that her vocabulary is limited and she does not
“possess” the simplest of words through which she can make him understand
her feelings and share her passion. The woman says that if she could begin to
even speak about her own desire, her man would grow closer to her and share his
“fiery words” of pleasure, which would enrich their relationship. You can easily
imagine how much better this would be from their present where the man “stands
still” and “speechless” and his woman is “unable to decipher” his passion.
Activity 3
What is the woman “unable to decipher?” Why?
The poem celebrates and affirms a woman’s faith in her man. She longs for him
to come to her as she feels incomplete without him: “I felt the hope of your
arrival…every particle of my life would get rejuvenated.” With him she is filled
31
Womenspeak with optimism and an enthusiasm for life. However, when he does not treat her
as a companion, a sense of worthlessness overcomes her– she is reduced to a
musical instrument with broken strings that has neither beauty nor melody. The
poet goes on to use mythological legends to portray how women have stood by
their men through bad and good times down the ages.
Why do you think the poet refers to mythology? Why do you think the woman’s
dialogue with her man suddenly gets so complicated? What is the poet getting
at? Well, you are right if you think she is trying to make the readers understand
that a woman is emotional, passionate, dependable and strong, and that her belief
in mankind has the power to inspire confidence in not only her man but in the
entire society to treat their women folk with respect. All the women who are
mentioned had the courage to move on when their husbands could not love them
and treat them respectfully.We are made to think about complex issues like
morality and society’s expectations. Are we dealing with something that is more
than just the subject, love? Let us explore the poem a little further.
Well, shadows and reflections are inversions: they are not only lifeless but altered
– left becomes right and right becomes left. The poem suggests that this is a
natural phenomenon. However, the man-woman relationship is a social
phenomenon created by tradition and patriarchy. We can bring positive change
by becoming more aware of the consequences of our actions. The best way forward
is to generate awareness of how gender imbalances make women feel insecure,
vulnerable and threatened. It is but natural that men will feel guilt and seek
forgiveness, which the female voice in the poem says must be forthcoming:
“realise your fault… I shall be assured that you realised:/ I am neither a shadow,
nor a reflection.” Revenge is not a solution for it cannot undo injustices. To be
given her space, freedom and identity is a woman’s right. She should not let
herself be reduced to a lifeless and drab reflection which follows her man’s
instructions and is not allowed to have hopes and dreams of her own. Lalla,
Habba Khatoon and Eve – the much celebrated women in the poem – were not
only dedicated to their men but had strong identities of their own. They were
with their men in different avatars – as a mother or seductress or as a devotee or
guide. Their strong individuality and faith in the power of love is legendary.
Lalla and Habba Khatoon were from Kashmir. The two of them had much in
common even though Lalla was from the fourteenth century and Habba Khatoon
lived in the seventeenth century. Both were married when they were just twelve
or thirteen. Their husbands and in-laws treated them badly because of which
they walked out of their marriage. Lalla became an ascetic who raised her voice
against the wrongs committed by the ruling Brahmanical classes. Though she
was a Kashmiri Pundit, she spread her revolutionary ideas by writing poetry in
the Kashmiri language, not the elitist Sanskrit which was the symbol of the upper
classes. Lalla challenged the authority of Sanskrit in the 1400s by composing
Vakh in the local language. She inspired the peasants and the common man to
such an extent that she has since been venerated by Muslims and Hindus alike.
Habba Khatoon was a beautiful and gifted child who composed sensitive poems
and sang beautifully. Her original name was ‘Zoon,’ which is Kashmiri for moon.
Her exceptional beauty attracted Yousuf Shah Chak who became her second
husband and went on to be the last independent ruler of Kashmir during the
Mughal era. It is believed that Zoon was his inspiration. She was widowed
32 following a long tragic separation from him when he did not listen to her advice
to not accept the Mughal emperor, Akbar’s invitation to visit Delhi. Akbar betrayed Naseem Shafaie: Poems
Yousuf’s trust and imprisoned him till he died. Habba Khatoon was so heartbroken
that she left her home, wandering from place to place, composing and singing
sad soulful songs. Habba Khatoon was the last Queen of Kashmir who gave
excellent advice to the king. She was also an accomplished poet who composed
Lol, the first ever Kashmiri lyrics. She stirred the Kashmiri imagination greatly–
a hill named after her testifies to her legacy.
Lalla and Habba Khatoon were women whose love-life was not all smooth. Their
greatness lies in their refusal to accept defeat. They were strong and creative
individuals who composed outstanding poetry which helped the local Kashmiri
language to evolve and made people aware of social ills and the necessity of a
just attitude towards women. Lalla created a new form of devotional and
philosophic poetry – Vakh, while Habba Khatoon created lyric poetry, Lol. Eve
is a mytho-religious figure who took an independent but incorrect decision to eat
the forbidden fruit of Paradise. Her disobedience resulted in her and Adam being
expelled from Paradise where life was extremely comfortable, to Earth, where
life was very tough. Eve was a companion to God’s first human creation, Adam.
She took a bold decision to eat the forbidden fruit of Paradise because of which
she and Adam were thrown out of Paradise to Earth where they faced innumerable
problems. However, despite her rashness, Eve is celebrated because she remained
loyal to her husband and never left him.
Activity 4
What makes the women from the myths exemplary?
‘Neither a Shadow nor a Reflection’ is an assertion of every woman’s right to be

like Krishna and behave as the situation requires for a woman is a thinking and
feeling person, not just a lifeless image. The poet punctures the romantic image
of an idealised beautiful woman by showing us women who are capable of anger
and of overcoming it. All the three women are truly exemplary because they
inspire other women to never accept defeat, to be courageous and to contribute
to the betterment of society so that there is equality and justice. Their positive
contribution to society is their hallmark.
‘Neither a Shadow nor a Reflection’ is a poem which describes the trauma faced
by independent-minded women down the history and across religions. The poem
tells us that a woman has enormous patience and courage because of which she
is able to take care of her husband and also fight for him in adversity. A woman’s
selflessness should not be abused and lead to her victimisation. The poem gives
us examples of courageous and strong women who were taken for granted and
exploited, but who refused to take this unjust treatment silently. These women
not only rebelled against their partners but also contributed to making a more
just society. They have become legends and are universally celebrated.
3.4 TEXT: ‘SOLITUDE - FOR THE GIRL CHILD’

Gently rouse her, calling in tones soft,
Lest she should with loudness be jarred.
Full asleep is she, her eyes half open,
Such beauty in blameless purity makes me afraid,
33
Womenspeak Verily the smuggling case of my bosom is she
And the honour of her father’s tilted cap.
A daughter she is, a houri of paradise;
Once she leaves home, it will be for ever.
When some day in distant parts she dwells
Where what the people be like! I know not,
Will they awaken her on gentle, mellow sounds?
Or, will they, I misgive, snatch her sleep away?
(Translated from Kashmiri by G.L.Labru)
3.5 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

‘Solitude - for the Girl Child’ is a touching lyric, musical and full of startling
images. It is a mother’s prayer for her daughter. The mother feels her heart ripping
at the thought that her child will have to one day live with and among unfamiliar
people who may not value her uniqueness. You know for sure that all parents
treasure their children. Have you noticed how protective they are towards their
girl child and wondered why it is so? Let’s ask ourselves what makes parents,
especially mothers worry over their girls. Don’t you think it has to do with the
way women are brought up and treated? Well, think again if you disagree! Mothers
want their children to never have bad experiences. But a mother in traditional
Indian society feels helpless when her daughter gets married as after her marriage,
the daughter becomes part of her husband’s family where her parents can only
be visitors. The mother in the poem is agitated by the thought that her daughter
may receive indifferent treatment in her marital home where lack of love and
concern would make her restless and sleepless. The poem expresses a mother’s
overwhelming sorrow for her precious daughter’s uncertain future where she
could forever remain deprived of tender, loving care. The poem’s title is her
desperate desire to let her daughter be herself. The word solitude conveys a
sense of comfort where a person is not disturbed but comfortable and happy with
his/her identity. Girl-child suggests a pre-puberty girlhood, which is significant
since once the child grows into a young girl, society will not leave her alone. The
mother wants her daughter to have a carefree childhood without any tension
because she is afraid that her life could be chaotic in the future.
The poem is composed as a prayer to all those who care to hear. Do you see how
beautifully the poem begins? “Gently rouse her” tells us that the girl-child is fast
asleep. We are asked to gently awaken her. The poet deliberately uses the word
rouse as it is not only a synonym for awaken, but suggests awareness. The poem
uses the image of a sleeping girl-child to portray innocence but who will sooner
than later be made aware of the real world where kindness and consideration for
a young girl is much wanting. The mother knows that her girl-child is just a
child: completely trusting. She sleeps without a care, “her eyes half open.” The
“half open”eyes create a picture of a child who is full of energy and curiosity,
and like every other child, wary of unfamiliar faces. The girl’s attractive looks
and innocent nature worry the mother even though she knows that the girl has
done nothing wrong – is pure and blameless. Why? The next stanza subtly leads
us to the answer after we are made to understand the society in which the family
lives and their social status/ standing. The mother confesses that their daughter
is her husband’s pride just like a cap or turban or pagdi is the symbol of a clan’s
34
honour.The entire clan is insulted if the pagdi is handled casually. Similarly, the Naseem Shafaie: Poems
father feels very strongly about his daughter’s dignity, and the slightest possibility
that his daughter may be disrespected upsets him. The poet describes the mother’s
heart as a box or a chest that has cracks. Like the stored objects in a cracked box
are not completely safe, the mother’s emotions are vulnerable because her heart
– her case – has cracks of concern that her daughter may be abused. Worry keeps
“smuggling” into her heart – consciously or subconsciously she remains anxious
about her daughter and what can happen to her.
Activity 5
Why does the mother say “Gently rouse her”?
The child is her father’s pride and a product of his upbringing – she is the one
who will now be the upholder of his values. She has to live her life with
consideration to the family’s traditions without breaking down the social structure.
The daughter is extremely attractive. She is described as an “houri” – a girl so

beautiful that she seems to be a gift of paradise on earth. This worries the mother
because the girl would sooner or later have a string of admirers. The thought that
she could leave home to live among unfamiliar people who may admire her
makes her jittery. The mother becomes extremely anxious thinking of what will
happen to her daughter who in her parental home has always slept undisturbed
and only been spoken to softly. There is a strong possibility that the people she
goes on to live with could have a lifestyle and attitudes very different from theirs
– people who are loud and disrespectful to women. The poem ends on an agitated
note with the mother voicing her greatest fear that her daughter may lose her
peace of mind completely and never ever sleep again.
The poem is a mother’s desperate hope that her child always has a calm and
peaceful life – solitude - even when she lives away from her parents with her
husband and his family. I think you can understand that each one of us has a
personal space where we can do things we like and be the way we want to be. We
are carefree at home. Once we leave home, we are expected to shoulder
responsibilities which sometimes break us. No one wants to be alone, but no one
deserves to be taken for granted or ill-treated either. Married girls are usually
expected to be uncomplaining even while doing backbreaking chores. You will
agree with me that the poem ends on a note which is harsh and troubling, but
realistic: a girl’s innocence and attractiveness can get her a suitor but cannot
guarantee her solitude and keep her safe from abuse.
In ‘Solitude - for the Girl Child’ we come across a mother’s overwhelming concern
for her daughter who is still to become a woman. The mother worries that her
little girl who is at present full of life, spontaneity and happiness will soon be
forced by society to follow suffocating customary practices. These customs will
require the child to marry and become an obedient and unquestioning wife and
daughter in law who will have no choice but to do what her in-laws ask her to do.
The mother prays that her daughter will be looked after in her husband’s home
which will be in a strange land with unfamiliar customs. This poem grieves over
the inescapable loss of the girl’s spontaneity, freedom and carefree ways.
35
Womenspeak
3.6 LET US SUM UP
In this unit you have read about a woman’s courage to rise above her sad situation
and contribute positively to society, which leads to her society celebrating her as
a legend that continues to inspire people down the ages. She underscores her
uniqueness by saying that no matter how comfortable and plush her life is and
can be, she will never become a doormat because she is not a dark lifeless shadow
or a colourful but emotionless image which has no self, and comes into existence
only to replicate and duplicate someone. The woman says that she will not let
anyone disrespect her or take her for granted because she is an individual with
feelings and thought. She offers examples of much loved and devoted wives
from earlier recorded times before her man so that he understands love, not
persecution and revenge and thus help create a strong relationship.
You have also heard a mother’s prayer for her daughter as she grows up in a
traditional and orthodox society which does not allow freedom of expression
and action to its women. The mother hopes that her daughter gets married into a
family that accommodates her bubbly nature. These poems have helped you
become aware of customary practices that are regressive with regard to women
and need to be changed so that we can have a just society where women can
express their individualities and be the person they want to be.
3.7 GLOSSARY
adorn : decorate
assured : become certain about/ not be doubtful of
decipher : make sense of
dwells : lives
fiery : full of energy and high-spirited
gale : strong breeze
guise : appearance
houri : a pure and extremely beautiful girl
jarred : very much disturbed
midway : middle of the journey
lest : otherwise
lulled : put to sleep
lured : attracted by wrong means
mellow : soft and subtle
misgive : be afraid of
every particle : smallest part
ponder : think deeply
rejuvenated : filled with life once again
rival : enemy
rouse : awaken
36
shelter : a place where you are safe Naseem Shafaie: Poems
slayed : killed with violence by a sword or a sharp weapon

solitude : to be peacefully all by yourself
stay a while : stop for some more time
tilted cap : a metaphor for someone who is different from others
and is lovable
verily : in truth

Activity 1: The poem’s subject is a woman’s strong refusal to be reduced to a
nobody by a male-centric, patriarchal society. The female voice in the poem
symbolises every oppressed woman’s protest.
Activity 2: The speaker in the poem is a woman who plans a protest against
people, especially men in a patriarchal society, who treat their women with
disrespect. Her strategy is to reform such men through persuasion and insistence,
not revenge and violent retaliation.
Activity 3: The woman is “unable to decipher” why her man stands silently at
the door with passion in his eyes. She does not understand his silence and his
intense, “fiery” passion because she has neither been taught her man’s language
nor permitted to express her passion.
Activity 4: The women from the myths are exemplary because of their strong
personalities who lived life on their terms, never compromising their dignity.
They had the courage to listen to their heart, follow their dreams and create a fair
and just society.
Activity 5: The mother wants her girl-child to be treated with gentleness and
wants her daughter to be woken up tenderly as she is still a child and who might,
all too soon be among strangers who will not treat her so considerately.

1) Why does the speaker in the first poem want to be “in possession of a few
words”? What does she want to decorate?
2) What does the speaker mean when she says, “every particle of my life would
get rejuvenated”?
3) Who stands “still where the strings was broken”? Why?
4) Why “if she too feels hate, she is not to be slayed”?
5) How can women be empowered, according to the poet?
6) Why does the mother ask everyone to speak in “tones soft”?
7) Why is the girl-child special? What is needed for her?
8) Explain the line, “Such beauty in blameless purity makes me afraid”.
9) What can happen to the girl-child “When some day in distant parts she
dwells”?
37
Womenspeak
1) Beauvoir, de Simone. The Second Sex. London: Jonathan Cape, 2009.
2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naseem_Shafaie. Web January 25 2019.
3) https://thekashmirimages.com/2018/06/02/in-conversation-with-naseem-
shafaie/
4) JLF 2017: “Read literature, not history to understand Kashmir, says Naseem
Shafaie,” Hindustan Times. Web. February 10, 2019.
5) Kashmirforum.org A personal Journey and a Political Memoir. Web. February
10 2019.
6) Mohiudin, Akhter, A Fresh Approach to the History of Kashmir. Srinagar:
Book Bank, 1998.
7) Parray, Ashaq Hussain. ‘Re-Imagining the Man-Woman Relationship: A
Feminist Appraisal of Select Poems of Naseem Shafaie’, The Criterion: An
International Journal in English Vol. 8, Issue-III, June 2017. ISSN: 0976-
8165.
8) Shabir, Junaid. “The Recounting of Loss, Pain and Gloom in the Poems of
Naseem Shafaie”.
9) Shafaie, Naseem. Open Windows. Srinagar: Kashmir Publications 1999.
10) ———————. Neither Shadow nor Reflection. Srinagar: Kashmir
Publications 2000.
11) The Criterion Vol.6, Issue December 2015.
12) Toshkhani, S.S. Lal Ded : The great Kashmiri saint-poetess. New Delhi:
A.P.H. Pub. Corp. 2002.
38
Naseem Shafaie: Poems
UNIT 4 ‘SAPAVIMOCHANAM’ (‘THE
REDEMPTION’) BY
PUDHUMAIPITHAN
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The author: Pudhumaipithan
4.3 Excerpts from ‘Sapa Vimochanam’ (‘The Redemption’)
4.4 Discussion
4.5 Let Us Sum Up
4.7 Glossary
4.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit will introduce you to ‘Sapa Vimochanam’ (‘The Redemption’) a Tamil
retelling of the Ahilya story from another point of view. By the end of this unit,
you will be able to appreciate how the recounting of a familiar story from a
different perspective impacts the reader. You will also be in a position to
understand that stories have not always been told from a woman’s point of view
and how this affects the stories that were told and the response to them. Although
the other texts featured in this Block – “Womenspeak” – have been written by
women, it is significant that a male writer has recast a familiar tale from a woman’s
perspective and is thus worthy of study.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
It may be argued that every telling of a story handed down to us over the ages is,
in essence, a re-telling for every narrator adds and revises – albeit sometimes
unintentionally – the story, to suit the audience and the mood. On the other
hand, some writers deliberately change and tweak details of a familiar story so
that it offers new insights. It is like looking at the photograph of a well-known
scene that one has become accustomed to and almost ignored but which now
appears new and fresh because of a change in perspective. These revisions enjoy
the advantage of presenting a story that is known to most readers but with a twist
that serves to convey what the revisionist wishes to by the addition or otherwise
of certain details in the oft-repeated tale. The first unit in this Block spoke about
the retelling of the Ramayana by Chandrabati. This unit takes up one of the
episodes in that epic and sees how the retelling is handled.
39
Womenspeak
Activity 1
What purpose do you think a retelling serves? Can you think of any in your
own language?
4.2 THE AUTHOR: PUDHUMAIPITHAN

Pudhumaipithan is the pseudonym of C. Viruthachalam (25 April 1906 – 5 May
1948), one of the most influential and revolutionary writers of Tamil fiction who
wrote poetry, short stories and political works. His works were characterized by
social satire, progressive thinking and outspoken criticism of accepted
conventions. He as an individual and his works have been extensively reviewed
and debated for over sixty years since his death. His influence has been accepted
and appreciated by the present day writers and critics of Tamil fiction.
Pudhumaipithan was the first Tamil writer to successfully use a dialect of Tamil
other than that of Chennai or Tanjore. Most of his characters spoke the Tirunelveli
dialect. His stories were set either in Madras or in Tirunelveli, the two places
where he spent considerable portions of his life. His writing style had a mixture
of colloquial and classical words. Gentle satire even while handling complicated
and serious situations was his hallmark.
4.3 EXCERPTS FROM ‘SAPA VIMOCHANAM’

On the path, a statue of stone. Its broken, decrepit state notwithstanding, the
enchanting face would still kindle chivalry. The intoxication it induces would
make one wonder whether an extraordinary sculptor came down to the mortal
world to crystallize his dreams in stone. However, in the eyes of that goddess
brims a sorrow – a sadness that cannot be bound by words, which kills lust in
onlookers and submerges them in grief too. It was no ordinary dream of the
sculptor but was shaped by a curse. This is Ahilya.
She lies sculpted in stone on that forest path, sorrowful, in the lap of Nature
which looks at her desolation with the detached eyes of an ascetic. She is scorched
by the sun, soaked in mist, lashed by the rains. Dust, soil, sparrows, owls sit on
her; fly away. She lies like a tapasvi, without awareness – as stone.
A short distance away is an anthill. Immersed in austerities, totally absorbed,

forgetting his sorrow, sits Gautama in deep meditation. Nature nourishes him
too…
The rustle of the Ganga in the distance. Mother Ganga could perhaps sense their
boundless sorrow!
Many ages passed like this for the couple. Then one day…
The midday sun was undeniably severe. But in spite of that, the green shade and
the flowing breeze flowed coolly into the mind like elements of faith that could
soothe the afflictions of the world, seeming to banish sorrow by awakening
belief and strength.
Like a lion, walking proudly, ruminating over the joy of having completed what
he had undertaken, comes Vishwamitra. Maricha and Subahu have been
40 obliterated without a trace. The old tyranny of Thataka has been crushed. There
is the satisfaction of having made of himself the medium through which peace ‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
Redemption’) by
and succour came to those who immersed themselves in religious rituals and Pudhumaipithan
were guardians of the scared flame.
He looks back frequently. What love shines in that glance! Two youngsters
come running behind him, playing catch. They are none other than the child
incarnations – Rama and Lakshmana themselves. Having begun the end of the
demons and unaware of its import, they run and play, carefree.
Their running stirs up the dust. Lakshmana runs in front; the one who chases
him is Rama. A drift of dust touches the statue…
Delighting in their boisterousness, Vishwamitra looks back. And just stands

there, gazing.
A drift of dust settles on the statue.
The heart that had turned to stone some time long ago now throbs within. The
blood that had congealed in the veins it used to course through now starts to
flow. The warmth of life spreads through the stone and brings it to the roundedness
of life. Consciousness returns.
Ahilya closes and opens her eyes. There is awareness. Redemption from the
curse! Redemption from the curse!
O God! The flawed body of flesh has been made pure!
Who is the godly being that has come to give her renewed life? Is it that little
child?
She prostrates at his feet. Rama looks at the rishi with astonishment.
Vishwamitra has understood all. She is Ahilya. The simpleton who had been
deceived by Indra’s magical disguise. She is Gautama’s wife - one who, in her
boundless love for her husband, had fallen prey to the illusion of Indra’s enchanted
pretense and had defiled her body. He tells Rama the whole story. There, look at
that anthill; like a silkworm cocooned in silence, Gautama sits immersed in
meditation. Lo, he too has arisen now!
... Rama’s education peers through the eyes of dharma and assumes the light of
clarity and serenity. But it has not been honed on the whetstone of experience;
he has the teaching of Vasishtha who saw every strand of life’s tangles unbroken
from one weave to the next. Yet he is unaware of the swerving from the virtuous
path and consequent disgrace, giving the mind the strength to walk boldly on
new paths.
What is the nature of the world that it should twist around and disturb one in
such a contrary fashion! Punishing someone for a deed…which neither the heart
nor the unhurriedness of the intellectual faculty could contain? With a cry of
“Amma!” Rama falls at her feet in reverence.
Both the rishis (one possesses boldness itself for intelligence; the other views
love as the foundation of all dharma) rejoice at the ideas that rise in the little
one’s window of awareness. What a fine, loving, bold truth!
41
Womenspeak “To accept her who erred unknowingly would be the right thing to do”, says
Vishwamitra softly.
The roughness of his voice seems to be at variance with the coolness-laden breeze.
Gautama, his wife, the pillarless structure which had once been their dwelling
and had collapsed into a mound – none of this moved from the spot. But now,
the place which had been bereft of life earlier was profusely drenched with
signs of life.
...Their hearts were completely filled with tenderness and affection. Yet, both of
them suffered in their two different mind-prisons.
Ahilya’s only worry was whether she was worthy of Gautama.
Gautama’s only worry was whether he was worthy of Ahilya.
The flowers that bloomed along the edges of the path looked at them and laughed.
... In accordance with Ahilya’s wishes, Gautama started his dharma vichara in a
small hut on the banks of the river Sarayu in Ayodhya, a little away from the
fields that skirted the city, in a place where the odour of human custom and
tradition did not permeate. Gautama now had implicit faith in Ahilya. Even if
he were to see her lying in Indra’s lap, he would not doubt her – such was his
faith in her absolute chastity. He now felt that if she were not with him, it would
completely destroy his dharma vichara.
Ahilya loved him greatly in a way that could not be measured. When she thought
of him, her mind and every part of her body would thrill like that of a newly wed
girl. But the stone that had settled on her mind did not shift. She wished to
conduct herself in a way such that no one would point fingers at her, why, even
stare at her in a particular way. Consequently, her demeanour underwent a change
from its natural disposition. It was as though all those who surrounded her were
Indras; fear lodged itself in her heart. From that time onwards, speech and
playfulness vanished completely. She would speak only after having rehearsed
the words a thousand times in her mind, having examined them from all
perspectives and judged their appropriateness. She would agonize over whether
there was any hidden meaning even in ordinary words uttered by Gautama.
Life itself had become the tortures of hell for her.
The rishi Mareechi came one day. Dareechi had visited them on an earlier
occasion. Madanga too, on his way to Varanasi, dropped in to enquire about
Gautama’s well being. Although they were full of love and concern, Ahilya
cringed in their presence. Her mind lay all curled up and withered. Even the
tradition of hospitality accorded to guests seemed to be on the point of being
transgressed. She shied away from meeting the eyes of even those who looked
at her in an ordinary manner, feeling that she could not look at them with a pure
heart. She hid inside the hut.
...Sita and Rama would from time to time come that way eagerly, riding on their
chariot. An incarnation, this child, to Gautama’s mind, seemed to be the
embodiment of the ideal youth. Even his laughter and playfulness, like self-
replenishing lamps of dharma shastra, appeared to interpret the essence. And,
the fondness of that youthful couple! It reminded Gautama of his life in time
past.
42
Sita was the dove that had come to alleviate the burden on Ahilya’s mind. To ‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
Redemption’) by
Ahilya, her speech and laughter seemed to scrub and rinse away the stains on her Pudhumaipithan
spirit. It was only in her presence that Ahilya’s lips would curve into a smile and
the light of enthusiasm would gleam in her eyes.
They were destined to rule after all, growing up under the watchful eyes of
Vasishtha, weren’t they? They came to this isolated, different world tucked away
on the bank of the river Sarayu to the beings dwelling there, restoring the joy of
a previous time.
Ahilya disliked going out and moving around in the outside world. Sita’s
companionship eased the weight on her mind and gave her some strength.
She had consented to go to Ayodhya during the celebrations that would surround
the coronation. But then, the power of the whirlpool of emotion that swirled
within the palace! In one breath, it took away Dasaratha’s life, banished Rama
to the forest and sent off Bharata in tears and haircloth to Nandigram.
It was as though some transcendental force, incomprehensible to the human

faculty, had, with frenzied speed, rolled the dice in a hypnotic trance and ended
it all.
As for Vasishtha, he had wished to establish a reign that would be the triumph of
human dharma and had brought up the princes diligently and carefully towards
that end. All his calculations crumbled to dust and became a flickering, unsteady
light in Nandigram.
It would not be far from the truth to say that the hut on the bank of the Sarayu
collapsed, bereft of pillars once more. The dharma vichara of Gautama was
pillaged in the devilish storm and all his faith shriveled into nothingness.
And what of Ahilya? If her distress were to be measured, it would not be contained
in words. She could comprehend nothing of what had happened and fell back
wounded and exhausted. Rama went to the forest. His brother too followed
him. And so did Sita. Ahilya’s mind went back to the state when it had lain inert
while she was an image of stone. As dawn glimmered, Gautama completed his
chanting and meditation, climbed the riverbank and entered his hut.
Holding out the brass pot filled with water for him to wash his feet, Ahilya’s lips
quivered.
“I am not at peace here. Let us go away to Mithila”.
“All right, get ready then. It’s been a long time since we saw Sadananda too”,
said Gautama as he went out of the hut.
Both of them walked towards Mithila. In the minds of both, a weight had settled
and made its home. Gautama paused a little. He reached out for Ahilya’s hand
as she followed him and held it tightly as he resumed walking. “Don’t be afraid”,
he said. And they continued walking in the direction of Mithila.
... Ahilya loved bathing and playing in the river. Feeling that the bank of the
Ganga would give her a sense of calm, she would go off alone at dawn, carrying
her water pot.
43
Womenspeak For a couple of days, alone, in peace, allowing the tendrils of her mind to spread
freely, with a contented feeling of having shed her burden, she bathed, dipped,
played and came back with the pot full of water.
This did not go on for long.
She was walking back after a bath with bent glance, having let her mind wander,
when she heard the tinkle of toe rings. Wives of some Rishis! They were also on
their way to bathe in the river. As soon as they spotted her, they rushed away to
avoid contact as though she were an outcaste, gave her a fearful look and
proceeded.
“She is the one; she is Ahilya”, could be heard from a distance. These words
scorched her more than the fire in Gautama’s innards that had given rise to the
curse.
Her mind burned and roared like the flames at a cremation ground. Thoughts
churned. “Dear god! Even if there has been redemption from the curse, will
there never be redemption from the sin?” she agonized.
...The day declines and the horizon goes dim. Two people are walking towards
Ayodhya along the edge of the Sarayu river.
Fourteen years have passed and merged with the floodwaters of Time. There are
no munis or gods they have not glimpsed; not a holy place they have not visited.
But peace of mind is the only thing they do not have.
Like a Shankara’s philosophical edifice that remains out of reach to the grasp of
a man bereft of strength, they stood on weakly faltering legs and viewed the
unattainable heights of Mount Kailasa from misty peaks.
They crossed deserts that seemed to be a metaphor for the erosion of faith which
the burden of their pain had engendered.
They went around volcanoes that spewed smoking ash and dust like their scorched
spirits.
They went up to look at the ceaseless waves of the ocean that battered the shore
like their thoughts and retreated.
...Ahilya rejoiced in the thought that Sita and Rama would come to see them.
And they did, as soon as the welcoming excitement subsided, without an attending
retinue.
Rama, on whose brow experience had etched a network of lines, alighted from
the chariot. Sita’s beauty had blossomed through her experience. The intense
laughter of both evoked the ecstasy of moksha.
Gautama took Rama away with him on a stroll outside.
With the tender love like to one who had been carried in her womb, Ahilya
escorted Sita inside. Both sat with faces wreathed in smiles.
Ravana carrying her away, the pain, the liberation – all this Sita related without
the stains of anguish having faded away. After having been reconciled with Rama,
where was the place for pain anymore?
44
She spoke about the agni pravesham, her ordeal through fire. Ahilya writhed in ‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
Redemption’) by
pain. Pudhumaipithan
“Did He ask for that? Why did you do it?”
“He asked for it. I did it”, replied Sita calmly.
Both remained silent for a long time.
“Should it not be demonstrated to the world?” said Sita and laughed softly.
“Isn’t it enough for the heart to know? Is it possible to demonstrate the truth to
the world?” questioned Ahilya. Conversation languished.
“In any case, will it become the truth through a demonstration? What if it never
even touched the heart? Let it be; what of the world?” queried Ahilya.
The chariot rolled away; gradually the sound of the wheels subsided too.
Gautama stood there lost in thought…He went inside.
Ahilya was in a daze. Once again the Indra drama - the Indra drama that must
needs be forgotten, was playing in the theatre of her mind.
Gautama embraced her.
To her it seemed to be Indra come in the guise of Gautama. Her heart congealed
to stone. What peace!
Lying trapped in Gautama’s hands was a stone statue.
Ahilya turned into stone again.
The burden on the mind disappeared.
(Translated from Tamil by Malati Mathur)
4.4 DISCUSSION
The incident of Ahilya cursed by her husband, Rishi Gautama, for submitting to
Lord Indra when he appeared in the guise of Gautama, and her redemption by
young Rama, is a well-known episode that forms part of the Ramayana. The
episode serves to reinforce the divinity of Rama and, as a corollary, the idea that
there is redemption for even grave sins if there is submission and repentance. In
addition, according to Jaya Srinivasan, Ahilya’s actions and the resultant curse
are a warning that immoral behaviour leads to doom.
Early narratives portray Ahilya as consciously making the decision to accept

Indra’s advances, having seen through his disguise as Gautama. She is said to
have done this out of curiosity and flattered by his interest in her, as well as her
pride in her incomparable beauty. As Jaya Srinivasan comments, “Ahilya
was…sharp enough to recognise Indra’s disguise. Yet she acquiesced to his desire.
In fact, being conscious of her beauty, she was proud to have been desired by
Indra himself.”
45
Womenspeak However, later re-tellings absolve her of guilt and describe her as having been
the victim of a cruel trick or of having been forced to submit to Indra’s demands.
All the narratives agree that she and Indra are cursed by her husband, the Rishi
Gautama and while the nature of the curse may vary according to the text, they
all reiterate that Rama would be the eventual cause of Ahilya’s liberation from
the curse. Interestingly enough, the Buddhist and Jain Ramayana do not feature
the story of Ahilya.
In earlier versions of the story, Ahilya is purified by offering hospitality to Rama.

Puranic tales were the first to describe her as being turned to stone and brought
back to life by the touch of Rama’s foot, a variation taken up by later versions as
well.
Activity 2
In what way would the patriarchal mindset have impacted the reworking of
Ahilya’s story?
Tulsidas, in his Ramacharitamanasa,as well as other poets of the Bhakti period

view this episode as exemplifying God’s saving grace as epitomized by Rama.
The story is just one of many in the epic as it develops upon the divine aspects of
Rama’s character and the fulfillment of his destiny as an avatar but modern
writers often tell the story from Ahilya’s perspective. Pradip Bhattacharya says
Ahilya is unique in her daring act and its dire consequences. For Bhattacharya,
Ahilya is the eternal woman who responds to her inner urges and the advances of
the divine ruler, a direct contrast to her ascetic husband, who did not satisfy her
womanly desires. The author regards Ahilya as an independent woman who makes
her own decisions, takes risks, and is driven by curiosity to experiment with the
extraordinary and then accepts the curse pronounced on her by patriarchal society.
While Ahilya is a minor character in all ancient sources, stigmatized and despised
by those around her for violating gender norms, the kind of attention that she has
received from modern South Indian writers suggests that she is no longer an
insignificant figure.
In Sapa Vimochanam (1943), celebrated Tamil writer Pudumaipithan takes up

the tale of Ahilya from where Valmiki leaves it off in the Ramayana and talks of
her life after the redemption. Where the epic focuses more on the transgression,
the punishment and the subsequent redemption, the Tamil story brings Ahilya to
the reader as a real person with thoughts and feelings.
Prema Nandakumar remarks, “Pudhumaipithan’s imagery partakes of the

sulphurous currents that keep the human body in thrall”. She then goes on to
cite the opening lines of the story in which the incomparable beauty of the figure
sculpted in stone is described as being bound by the overwhelming sorrow in the
eyes which would, at a glance, kill lust in any beholder.
Pudhumaipithan goes with the later version of the tale and assumes that Ahilya
is innocent and a victim of Indra’s trickery. When Rama is told the story of
Ahilya’s curse after he has redeemed her from it, he wonders: ‘What kind of a
world would penalize one for an action controlled neither by the heart nor the
mind?’ And Vishwamitra tells Gautama: ‘To accept her who erred unknowingly
would be the right thing to do’.
46
Pudhumaipithan also describes how Gautama regrets his hastiness in judging ‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
Redemption’) by
and condemning Ahilya: ‘Gautama could not speak to her with an unsullied mind Pudhumaipithan
as in earlier times. That day, when he had abused her as a harlot, it was as
though he had scorched his very tongue.’ As he muses upon dharma, Gautama
concludes that ‘Only actions that came about with mindfulness and self-awareness
would leave stains…In his mind, Ahilya glided as one without blemish. He was
the one who had been foolish he reflected; the anger which had fed the flame of
his curse had defiled him.’
Although both feel a depth of tenderness and affection for each other, ‘yet, both
of them suffered in their two different mind-prisons. Ahilya’s only worry was
whether she was worthy of Gautama. Gautama’s only worry was whether he was
worthy of Ahilya.’
Interestingly, there is also the description of what has been called “post-trauma
repetition syndrome” in which Ahilya relives and re-experiences Indra’s seduction
and Gautama’s fury over and over again: ‘Ahilya loved him greatly in a way that
could not be measured...But the stone that had settled on her mind did not shift.
She wished to conduct herself in a way such that no one would point fingers at
her, why, even stare at her in a particular way. Consequently, her demeanour
underwent a change from its natural disposition...fear lodged itself in her
heart...She would speak only after having rehearsed the words a thousand times
in her mind…She would agonize over whether there was any hidden meaning
even in ordinary words uttered by Gautama.’
Activity 3
Why does Ahilya go over the past incidents over and over again?
So what did life after the redemption signify for Ahilya? It certainly wasn’t one
of unalloyed joy at having been redeemed from the curse and given a second
chance at life and marital bliss for, ‘Life itself had become the tortures of hell for
her.’ She shied away from meeting anyone who came to visit them, refusing to
meet the eyes of even those who approached with genuine love and concern as
she felt that she could not do so with a pure heart.
Having started life anew, the couple experience pleasure in the visits of the
youthful Rama and Sita, and the latter particularly seemed like a ‘ dove that had
come to alleviate the burden on Ahilya’s mind. To Ahilya, her speech and laughter
seemed to scrub and rinse away the stains on her spirit. It was only in her
presence that Ahilya’s lips would curve into a smile and the light of enthusiasm
would gleam in her eyes.’ To Gautama, Rama ‘seemed to be the embodiment of
the ideal youth. Even his laughter and playfulness, like self-replenishing lamps
of dharma shastra, appeared to interpret the essence.’ And the obvious fondness
that the couple shared reminds Gautama of his life in time past.
Ahilya is prepared to go for Rama’s coronation to Ayodhya but before that can
happen, the forces that were unleashed ‘took away in one breath, Dasaratha’s
life, banished Rama to the forest and sent off Bharata in tears and haircloth to
Nandigram.’ Ahilya is so devastated by this that her ‘mind went back to the state
when it had lain inert while she was an image of stone.’ It was as though her
mind grows lifeless with the shock and sorrow, as when she had been in the
stone-like state.
47
Womenspeak Gautama and Ahilya decide to go away to Mithila to be with their son. There,
one day, when she is returning from her daily dip in the Ganga, Ahilya meets
some women – the wives of other rishis. They recognize her and flinch from her
presence as though she were an outcaste: “She is the one; she is Ahilya”. These
words scorched her more than the fire in Gautama’s innards that had given rise
to the curse. Her mind burned and roared like the flames at a cremation ground.
Thoughts churned. “Dear god! Even if there has been redemption from the
curse, will there never be redemption from the sin?” she agonized.’ The whispers
and pointing fingers are an ongoing torment. What sort of redemption was this?
The two then set out on a long pilgrimage, returning only when fourteen years
have passed, to await the return of Rama and Sita from the forest. As soon as the
welcoming excitement subsides, the new king and queen of Ayodhya visit them
and Sita tells Ahilya of all that had transpired, including her ordeal by fire.
When Sita remarks with bitter irony that purity and innocence needs to be
demonstrated to the world, Ahilya questions: ‘Isn’t it enough for the heart to
know? Is it possible to demonstrate the truth to the world? In any case, will it
become the truth through a demonstration?’ The allusion obviously is to her
own experience wherein she feels that whatever happened between her and Indra
never reached her heart as her heart always belonged to Gautama and could not
be sullied by another’s touch.
When Gautama enters the hut after the royal guests have left, he finds Ahilya in
a daze: ‘Once again the whole drama of Indra - the drama that must needs be
forgotten, was playing in the theatre of her mind...Gautama embraced her. To her
it seemed to be Indra come in the guise of Gautama. Her heart congealed to
stone. What peace! Lying trapped in Gautama’s hands was a stone statue. Ahilya
turned into stone again.’
Reverting to the state before her redemption by Rama is essentially the choice
that Ahilya voluntarily makes not only because her life has become abhorrent
to her in the aftermath of the curse but because of her intense rage over society’s
injustice towards women. It is her protest against the hypocrisy of a patriarchal
set up and the arbitrary judgment and punishment meted out to women as part
of ‘dharma’. The Ahilya in the Tamil story emerges as a strong woman who,
willingly turns to stone again, rejecting her redemption.
Prema Nandakumar comments that ‘There is a feverish glow about

Pudhumaipithan’s Ahilya that does make the story feminist in essence.’ In ‘Sapa
Vimochanam’, Pudhumaipithan brings Ahilya to life and casts her in a feminist
mould, questioning and protesting against societal norms that are tragically
skewed and heavily biased against women.
4.5 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, you read excerpts from ‘Sapa Vimochanam’ by the celebrated Tamil
writer, Pudhumaipithan. You could see how the author portrays Ahilya as a
sensitive woman who is tormented by her past and who, ultimately is filled with
righteous anger and disgust at the double standards of society which had different
rules for men and women.
48
‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
4.6 AIDS TO ACTIVITIES Redemption’) by
Pudhumaipithan
Activity 1: A re-telling allows the narrator to bring in local cultural elements and
to offer a fresh perspective.
Activity 2: The patriarchal mindset would condemn a woman’s conduct in this
situation in absolute terms and banish her to a state of non-existence, as though
she did not deserve to live any longer.
Activity 3: Every word and action of the past still affect her behaviour and make
her over cautious in whatever she does or says.
4.7 GLOSSARY
Abhorrent : inspiring disgust
Absolve : declare free from guilt
Acquiesced : accepted
Afflictions : disorders
Aftermath : effects
Ahilya : wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi, seduced by
Indra, cursed by her husband for infidelity, and
liberated from the curse by Rama.
Alleviate : reduce
Arbitrary : without a system
Ascetic : hermit
Bereft : deprived of
Congealed : to change to solid state
Corollary : resulting from something
Decrepit : broken down
Edifice : structure
Engendered : gave rise to
Espousing : supporting
Gautama : Rishi, husband of Ahilya
Haircloth : stiff, rough cloth
Harlot : woman of loose character
Honed : sharpened
Honorific : title
Kannagi : legendary Tamil woman who forms the central
character of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram (100-300
AD).
Maricha : rakshasa (demon), killed by Rama.
Moksha : salvation
49
Womenspeak Pillaged : looted
Sadananda : son of Ahilya and Gautama
Skewed : biased
Spewed : erupt
Stigmatize : condemn
Subahu : a rakshahsa
Succour : comfort
Sulphurous : wicked
Tandava : divine dance performed by Shiva
Thataka : rakshasi, mother of Subahu
Transcendental : relating to the spiritual
Transgressed : break the law
Transpired : happened
Vasishtha : a rishi
Venerated : respected
Vishwamitra : a rishi
Whetstone : a fine-grained stone used for sharpening cutting tools

1) What is it that greatly troubles both Ahilya and Gautama after her redemption
from the curse? Why do you think this is so?
2) Why does Ahilya shy away from meeting people? Is there any reason for
her to do this?
3) What aspect of Sita’s narration of the fourteen year exile touches Ahilya
most? Why?
4) What do you think of Ahilya’s voluntarily turning back into stone?

1) Bhattacharya, Pradip. “Five Holy Virgins, Five Sacred Myths: A Quest for
Meaning (Part I)”. Manushi (March–Apr 2004), (141) 4–7.
2) Devy, Ganesh. After Amnesia: Tradition and Change in Indian Literary

Criticism. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1992.
3) —————————. In Another Tongue: Essays on Indian Literature in

English. 1993. 3rd edition. Madras: Macmillan India Ltd., 1995.
4) Manavalan, A.A. (Tamil) Rama Kathaiyum Ramayanankalum (“The Rama

Story and Ramayanas”). 2005. 2nd edition. Chennai: Institute of South
Indian Studies, 2012.
50
5) Mukherjee, Sujit. Translation as Discovery. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, ‘Sapavimochanam’ (‘The
Redemption’) by
1994. Pudhumaipithan
6) ——————————. Translation as Recovery. Delhi: Pencraft

International, 2004.
7) Nandakumar, Prema. ‘Myth as metaphor in feminist fiction.’ Hindu, Book

Review, (2006).
8) Ramanujan, A.K. The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan.New Delhi:

Oxford Univ. Press, 1999.
9) Richman, Paula (ed)). Ramayana Stories in Modern South India: An

Anthology. Indiana University Press, (2008), pp. 27, 111.
10) Srinivasan, Jaya. “Lessons from the Ahilya episode”. Hindu. (30 September
2002).
11) —————————.”Expiation of Sin”. Hindu (25 June 2010).
51

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Selections From Indian

Dr. Vandita Gautam IGNOU FACULTY (ENGLISH)

Dr. Nupur Samuel Dr. Pema Eden Samdup

Dr. Ruchi Kaushik Ms. Mridula Rashmi Kindo

Dr. Cheryl R Jacob

Dr. Chhaya Sawhney

Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

1.2 CHANDRABATI, THE WRITER

… Chandrabati Ramayana… is what we call a silenced text… a poor literary

Apparently, the original edition of Chandrabati ends here. However, we have a

1.5 NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

Chandrabati Ramayana is of great importance as it provides us with an alternative

1.7 LET US SUM UP

Activity 2: It is called as such as it has been largely ignored within a system of

Activity 5: Madhab Jalia in Chandrabati Ramayana rescues the egg which

Activity 7: The central character of Chandrabati Ramayana is Sita, not Rama.

1.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1.11 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

2.3 THE TEXT – ‘DON’T WASH’

2.5 INDIRA SANT

2.6 ‘HER DREAM’

2.7 UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

2.8 LET US SUM UP

2.10 AIDS TO ACTIVITIES

2.11 UNIT END QUESTIONS

2.12 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READING

Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

Naseem Shafaie (1952-) is a contemporary Kashmiri poet who writes, among

3.2 TEXT: ‘NEITHER A SHADOW NOR A

‘Neither a Shadow nor a Reflection’ is an assertion of every woman’s right to be

3.4 TEXT: ‘SOLITUDE - FOR THE GIRL CHILD’

3.5 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The daughter is extremely attractive. She is described as an “houri” – a girl so

slayed : killed with violence by a sword or a sharp weapon

3.8 AIDS TO ACTIVITIES

3.9 UNIT END QUESTIONS

Words in bold are explained in the Glossary

4.2 THE AUTHOR: PUDHUMAIPITHAN

4.3 EXCERPTS FROM ‘SAPA VIMOCHANAM’

A short distance away is an anthill. Immersed in austerities, totally absorbed,

Delighting in their boisterousness, Vishwamitra looks back. And just stands

A drift of dust settles on the statue.

O God! The flawed body of flesh has been made pure!

It was as though some transcendental force, incomprehensible to the human

“I am not at peace here. Let us go away to Mithila”.

This did not go on for long.

“Did He ask for that? Why did you do it?”

“He asked for it. I did it”, replied Sita calmly.

Both remained silent for a long time.

Gautama stood there lost in thought…He went inside.

Gautama embraced her.

Lying trapped in Gautama’s hands was a stone statue.

Ahilya turned into stone again.

The burden on the mind disappeared.

(Translated from Tamil by Malati Mathur)

Early narratives portray Ahilya as consciously making the decision to accept