Concept Of Feminism In Mahabharata

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel, The Palace of Illusions is the epitome of feminism. It retells the story of Mahabharata from the view point of Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupad. The delicate threads of her life have beautifully been interwoven to bring forth a grasping story. Chitra Banerjee has herself written “I would uncover the story that lay invisible between the lines of the men’s exploits. Better still I would have her one of her tell it herself, with all her joys and doubts, her struggles and her triumphs, her heartbreaks, her achievements, the unique female way in which she sees her world and her place in it.”(XV).

Women in India were unaware of their miserable condition. It is in the post independence period the women’s quest for identity of her own commenced. The 20th century saw the shift from outer to inner sensibilities and no one can better understand a man or woman better a feminine writer. In modern English fiction a number of women novelists have arrived on the literary scene, they have set out making new forays in to the world of women. Nayantara Sahgal being a feminist writer has emphasized in her novels on freedom and a new definition of the New Women. Sahgal’s heroines are well aware of the injustice done to them in their marriage and they come out of this traditional bond.

Ihara Saikaku’s Life of a Sensuous Woman written in the 17th century and Mary Woolstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman written in the 18th century are powerful literary works that advocated feminism during the time when women were oppressed members of our societies. These two works have a century old age difference and the authors of both works have made a distinctive attempt to shed a light towards the issues that nobody considered significant during that time. Despite these differences between the two texts, they both skillfully manage to present revolutionary ways women can liberate themselves from oppression laden upon them by the society since the beginning of humanity.

It is important to note that the Laws of Manu clearly states that “Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere), or devoid of good qualities, (yet) a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife.” and “A faithful wife, who desires to dwell (after death) with her husband, must never do anything that might displease him who took her hand, whether he be alive or dead.” She complies with none if these things. On the day of Rama’s supposed coronation, the king seeks out Kaikeyi for her company. However, when he finds her she is laying on the ground and in a very sour mood. She berates the king for his preference of Rama and how she would rather be dead than subordinate to his other wives, particularly Kausalya. She refuses his insistence to calm down and sit with him on the couch and demands that he respect two

Just as the British ignored women’s perspective, so did the Indian men from both secular and religious backgrounds. Geraldine Forbes (1996) argues that the female approach is often missing in history and thus, she attempts to privilege women’s own accounts, whether it be through their oral histories, folktales, memoirs, journals, documents, etc. I believe the same could have been done in regards to the sati, primary documents such as the Ramayana reveal that there was female opposition to the sati (in the case of Sita). The introduction of the “woman question” was a significant step in South Asian history in terms of initiating the movement for women’s rights, however, it lacked the necessary voice from Indian women

This paper attempts to examine the fictional projections of Indian girls, to see how they emerge in ideological terms. Their journeys from self-alienation to self-adjustment, their childhood struggles against the hypocrisies and monstrosities of the grown-up world, eventually demolishing the unjust male constructed citadels of power that hinder their progress- are the highlighted issues. The point of comparison between the two novels focused on here is the journey of Rahel in The God of Small Things and Sai in The Inheritance from a lonely childhood to a tragic adulthood passing through a struggle with the complex forces of patriarchal society. Both the novels portray the imaginativeness, inventiveness, independence, rebelliousness, wide-eyed wonder and innocence associated with these young girls.

Panchaali wallows in anger and helplessness when Kunti come to a decision that all her five sons should join in matrimony with Draupadi. She presumes that Arjun would stand up for her and speak up for her that she is only married to him. But Draupadi is disillusioned by him for he abides by his mother’s wish and doesn’t say anything. While Draupadi’s father, brother and the Pandavas examine about the practicality of Draupadi espousing five brothers, their focal point is family honour and customs. Not even a single person gives eminence to Draupadi’s desires. The depiction of Draupadi as an angry woman in a man’s world brings out the status of women in a patriarchal society where women’s wishes are not considered as important. She justifies this lifetime sentence by remunerating that probably this was her punishment for treating Karna unfairly.

There are many who believe that it was her headstrong actions that brought about the destruction of the Third Age of Man and she is known to be a Kritya, one who brings doom to her clan. But Chitra Banerjee moves away from such interpretations to provide a new outlook on Draupadi. She portrays Draupadi as a powerful, strong and independent woman, an equal to the men around her, rather than subservient. The novelist presents Draupadi‘s life as a series of choices made by herself, and not by her written fate. She is the one who writes her own story and gives herself a voice in the overwhelmingly patriarchal society in ancient India. She is the protagonist of her

Using the elements of fiction and truth a mass amount can be gained from understanding how women fit in with the government/patriarchy. From novels comparably, A Passage to India and A Handmaid’s Tale, these two reflect different times: a realistic time of Indian Imperialism and a Utopian fantasy that could indubitably become the future of tomorrow. How do they correspond with the role of women? Both either represent or differ from the true, unseen representation of women amongst the power of the elite, against the suppressors of the minority, and the

In “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, Mr. Kapasi tries to interpret other people’s difficult marriages although by passing his own. He interprets the marriage of the Das family and reveals their problems, but the problems of his own marriage he leaves hidden. He is trying to take away the agony of his own marriage through the enjoyment of fantasizing about Mrs. Das. When Mrs. Kapasi doesn’t recuperate from her lost son, Mr. Kapasi tries to help her but she doesn’t use the attention. Mr. Kapasi feels bad, but looks towards Mrs. Das to help his pain.

The political and social events of the sixties and the seventies along with growing opportunities of education and employment for women encourage women belonging to the urban middle class to engage in literary activities. The thematic concerns of these women writers have been cantering around women related issues. The social setting for most of these writings is the urban middle class and the protagonist is, more often than not, a woman. Indian Culture treats women with utmost reverence. Women are identified with Adi Shakti or the primordial energy. Woman’s avatar as mother treated as highest manifestation of human relationship; It is the mother who gets precedence over all other principles of life including father and god in importance. She

While feminists have been using literature to spread their beliefs and to advocate gender equality for centuries, science fiction as a genre is traditionally masculinist in its approach to the ideology of humanity. Within science fiction texts, human values are frequently represented by white male protagonists who become capable of overcoming natural limitations while women are reduced to insignificant supporting roles. Feminism seeks to counter such sexist depictions of humanity, and although such movements have obtained impressive momentum, much of the focus has historically been placed on women in the western world. Postcolonial feminism marked a transition away from a singular focus on middle class western women to campaign for the rights of women of color and developing nations. India in particular is and always has been governed under a strictly masculine hegemony that presents women with numerous cultural challenges such as discrimination and a lack of access to education. Rokeya Shekhawat Hossain is a feminist writer who was well ahead of her time as the themes portrayed in her most notable short story “Sultana’s Dream” coincide with the postcolonial feminist movement that would take rise over fifty years after the publication of her work. The article “Feminist Theory and Science Fiction” by Veronica Hollinger outlines several different approaches and general structures feminist science fiction authors undertake to promote their feminist agendas. Although Hollinger

One daughter was wanted and other was unwanted for the father,Draupadi just erupted from fire her father just wanted a son. One erupted from fire full grown, Draupadi a woman who hasn’t experienced childhood. She had to suffer because of her husbands. Goddess Sita was saved by her husband. Like Goddess Sita Draupadi was also reincarnation of several goddess but she is only a village Goddess and she is worshipped alone without her five husbands. Whereas Goddess Sita is worshipped with her husband and sometimes

Feminism in India is a set of movements which defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights and equal opportunities for Indian women. Feminist criticism was not inaugurated until late in the 1960s.Behind it, however lie two centuries of struggle for the recognition of women’s cultural roles and achievements and for women’s social and political rights marked by such books as Mary Wollstone Craft’s A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women (1792), John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection Of Women (1869), and the American Margaret Fuller’s Women in The Nineteenth Century

One daughter was wanted and other was unwanted for the father,Draupadi just erupted from fire her father just wanted a son. One erupted from fire full grown, Draupadi a woman who hasn’t experienced childhood. She had to suffer because of her husbands. Goddess Sita was saved by her husband. Like Goddess Sita Draupadi was also reincarnation of several goddess but she is only a village Goddess and she is worshipped alone without her five husbands. Whereas Goddess Sita is worshipped with her husband and sometimes