A Tri-Generational Odyssey: Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha

SANJUKTA DASGUPTA

Ashapurna Devi (1909-1995) an extraordinarily prolific Ashapurnaís fictional representations is beyond question Bengali woman writer and interestingly a close for she is one woman writer of twentieth century contemporary of French feminist philosopher and writer who was not readily contaminated by English language Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) however needs an and literature. As she never went to school and was introduction outside India. therefore unacquainted with formal English education, Born in colonial India in 1909, self-taught Ashapurna looked upon by the Bengali as initiation into the charmed Devi went on to write one hundred and eighty nine novels precincts of power and prestige, Ashapurnaís Bengali is and around a thousand short stories and also four not interspersed with English loan words, a common hundred stories for children. Ashapurna never went to weakness in many Bengali writers. The Bengali idiom that school but became literate by merely watching and Ashapurna chose to express herself in was derived from imitating her elder brother practice reading and writing the well-known and well-worn contours of the domestic as his school exercises. But unlike many Bengali girls in space of the indigenous Bengali milieu. Dialogues of her those days Ashapurna had the privilege of having for characters belonging to various age groups incorporated her mother a literate middle class woman whose pastime the resonance of the region specific spoken rhythm was reading. Ashapurna too became a compulsive reader redolent of a home spun idiom, a remarkable peculiarity but mere reading did not satisfy her. She began her of illiterate and semi literate Bengali womenís speech of literary career by publishing her first poem in the Bangla the colonial times. Naina Dey had observed, ìstanding childrenís journal Shishusaathi at the age of thirteen. The at the crossroads of time, when the history of the world editor wrote to her encouraging the young teenager to was fast changing, Ashapurna Devi concentrated write stories for the journal. Ashapurna readily agreed essentially on the family, especially on the women in the and thus began a literary career spanning almost seven family.î1 significant decades of Bengali social culture. Ashapurna Ashapurnaís trilogy is often cited as resistance died on 13th July, 1995, having secured an undisputed literature. So, in Pratham Pratisruti, Satyabati leaves her position for herself as a pioneer of twentieth century marital home of 30 years after the great betrayal by her Bengali womenís writing. She received many awards and husband Nabakumar and mother-in-law Elokeshi who prizes in her lifetime including the Sahitya Akademi surreptitiously marry off her daughter, nine-year old award and the Jnanpith award. Subarnalata, by taking advantage of Satyabatiís absence. The site of her fiction has most often been a semi -rural Satyabati resolves to leave home permanently and settle or urban one. The urban site that recurred in her fictional in , where her father had settled fotr quite sme representations has been specifically the city of Calcutta. time. In a distinct advancement in purpose from that of One of the most interesting features for the social scientist Ibsenís Nora ( Dollís House) and Tagoreís Mrinal ( Streer and the historiographer about Ashapurnaís texts is the Patra- The Wifeís Letter) Ashapurna informs her readers representation of the changing Bengali social culture from that Satyabati plans to start a girlsí school to fulfill her colonial to postcolonial times. From this point of view of dreams of womenís education, a project that would also course it is her trilogy, Pratham Pratisruti (1964) simultaneously grant her financial independence. She Subarnalata (1966) and Bakulkatha (1973) that documents says, ìWhy should I become a burden for my father? I society and culture in Bengal. The authenticity of will set up a school, this will grant me livelihood.î Her

Sanjukta Dasgupta is Professor of English at the 38 Summerhill: IIAS Review sister in law exclaims, ìYou will run your own life by like Subarnalata had burnt her published slim volume of fending for yourself? You are leaving home and you dare her memoir as her husband was infuriated that she had to do this. I can only fall at your feet, you are such an sold her jewellery for getting the book published. He said example.2 a woman who could dare to do such a thing was capable In fact, Ashapurna critics somehow do not seem to of having an adulterous relationship, an extra-marital notice the trilogyís repeated emphasis on womenís affair.5 education as the best way in which women can gain social If Ashapurna had written nothing else, the trilogy that and cultural identity and freedom. Tharu and Lalita tracks three generations of mothers and daughters would remarked on the rather conservative stance of her short have made her reputation as a dominant voice in Indian stories and novels in contrast to her trilogy, a reason that literature. The repeated emphasis in her narratives about perhaps led to her being classed as a popular novelist women, marriage and family as constituting the and not worthy of critical acclaim. But Tharu and Lalita dynamics of the inner space and the new patriarchy also noticed that not unlike Jane Austen Ashapurna chose however also raises the issue of economic class and caste. to concentrate totally on the domestic; the inner space Western education and culture had not penetrated into inhabited by women- ìThe setting of her well-crafted the rural and urban middle-middle class households of stories is the family; her principal characters women; her Satybati and Subarnalata. Though marriage practices in themes, most often their struggles-subterranean, indeed colonial Bengal and their literary representations have invisible, if one has not lived the life of a middle-class been referred to in great detail by Rochona Majumdar in woman.î3 her book Marriage and Modernity, the inclusion of selective The first two parts of the trilogy are set in colonial references to Ashapurnaís fiction or reference to the life Bengal. In the second volume we find Subarnalataís of Ashapurna, who is a significant text by herself could experience of marriage was even more bitter than her have been considered as Ashapurna wrote powerfully mother Satyabatiís. If her father Nabakumar was an about colonial Bengal in her trilogy that can be read as a irresolute person guided by his mother, almost the social document. effeminate Bengali male of the mid and late nineteenth Ashapurna Deviís daughter Pushparenu Roy recently century, Prabodh was crude, callous and insensitive. published her reminiscences about her mother in her book Subarnalata had the urge not unlike her mother to be titled Ashapurna Ma (My mother Ashapurna) published empowered through education. At middle age when she in 2010. Among various memorable moments that gets her monograph published in a rickety press run by Pushaparenu records is the fact that for her sons and a relative, the typographical errors in the publication daughter Ashapurna remained a gracious and gentle become the topic of mockery and hilarity among her sons mother, she never made the children feel she had an and husband. It is only her daughter Bakul who watches independent life and mind. Moreover Pushaparenu through a slit in the shut door of the terrace how her recorded that after attending to all the domestic chores insulted and humiliated mother makes a bonfire of the Ashapurna would devote herself to writing only at late 500 copies of her cherished publication along with every night, when the other family members had fallen asleep scrap of paper on which she wrote. Needless to add, the ñ ìwhen everyone at home had fallen asleep that was the shattered Subarnalata falls ill soon after and dies and in time that mother wrote.î6 the third part her daughter Bakul. under the pseudonym Anamika Devi becomes a recognized writer who fulfills II her motherís and grandmotherís dream of education as power but remains a rather pensive and less vibrant In this connection but on a different note, I canít help but woman than the two women who inspired her to perform. add an observation about a significant cross-cultural But one cannot forget how Bakul makes the promise parallel, leading to reflections about the possibility and to herself that she will realize her motherís frustrated impossibility of the euphoria about global sisterhood and dream of becoming a writer as the second part concludes, feminist internationalism. I refer back to the first ìMa, My Ma your burnt, lost writing or those words that paragraph of this essay, where I had stated that Ashapuna have remained unwritten, Iíll discover them all, Iíll write Devi and Simone de Beauvoir were close contemporaries. every lost word in a new form. I will inform the radiant In 2009 we celebrated the centenary year of Ashapurna world about the dumb and painful history of darkness.î4 Devi (1909-1995) who was just a year younger than In the last part of the trilogy, Bakulkatha (Bakulís Simone de Beauvoir (1908- 1986). Ashapurna Devi died narrative) Anamika Devi the celebrated writer recalls the in 1995, nine years after Simone passed away. But despite story of an aspirant woman writer named Sabita. She too similar support for cultural freedom and rejection of Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha 39 gender stereotyping, the two women writers from France suggests sibling rivalry too and Tagoreís lack of empathy and India, who consistently represented womenís issues towards his sister who had emerged as a writer of some in their narratives, were absolutely poles apart in their reckoning, seems strange, for very soon he would be lifestyle choices and educational qualifications. The writing the path-breaking, women-centric short stories Frenchwoman Simone De Beauvoir had taught such as Streer Patra and Aparachita in the literary journal philosophy at the Sorbonne University among her other Sabuj Patra, Tagore wrote to Rothenstein, ìshe is one of professional engagements as a public intellectual, while those unfortunate beings who has more ambition than Ashapurna Devi had not received any formal education abilities but just enough talent to keep her mediocrity and was self-taught. Simone de Beauvoir did not marry alive for a short period of time. Her weakness has been though her ìopen marriageî with Sartre is still regarded taken advantage of by some unscrupulous literary agents with awe by the world. Ashapurna had a traditional in London and she has had her stories translated and arranged marriage and played the role of a good wife published. I have given her no encouragement but I have and caring mother throughout her life. Ashapurna Devi not been successful in making her see things in their may have known about the writer Simone de Beauvoir proper light. It is likely that she may go to England and but it would be highly unlikely if Simone de Beauvoir use my name and you may meet her and be mercyful had read Ashapurnaís novels even in translation. Maybe (sic) to her and never let her harbor in her mind any Simone de Beauvoir had not even heard of her third world illusion about her worth and her chance. I am afraid she sister Ashapurna Devi, the creator of such inspirational will be a source of trouble to my friends who I hope will iconic figures as Satyabati and Subarnalata, among others. be candid to her for my sake and will not allow her to mistake ordinary politeness for encouragement.î8 We need to isolate the following phrases: III Therefore, we need to remind ourselves about the status I have given her no encouragement. . . of women writers in India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An interesting study is the comparative career she is one of those unfortunate beings who has more ambition graph of (1861-1941) and his elder than abilities but just enough talent to keep her mediocrity alive sister Swarnakumari Devi (1856-1932). Swarnakumari for a short period of time. was older than Rabindranath by about four years. She was a very talented writer and wrote many poems, short I am afraid she will be a source of trouble to my friends stories, essays and twelve novels and some of these were who I hope will be candid to her for my sake and will not even available in English translation in England between allow her to mistake ordinary politeness for 9 1907-1914. In fact, Swarnakumari had herself translated encouragement.î her novel Kahake into English in December 1913 and it This was Tagoreís viewpoint about his sisterís writing. was published in London by T.Werner Laurie Ltd. A Is it an impersonal literary assessment? Is it sibling second edition was published in 1914, signifying the rivalry? Or is it a more generational and generic rejection popularity of the book. of a woman who aspires to be an accredited writer known Swarnakumari had asked Tagore to help her in finding at home and in the world? publishers for her translations. On January 28, 1914, But what makes Ashapurna Tagoreís daughter or even Tagore had written to Swarnakumari, ìYour book the daughter of Swarnakumari Devi? In her reminiscences reached me at the railway station as I was leaving for Ashapurna had written that she and her sister after much America. You donít know how difficult it is to publish a effort in procuring all the tools for writing and posting a book here. Of course self-funded publications are not a letter, wrote to Rabindranath Tagore asking him to write problem, but unless the publisher is sure of positive out their names at least on an envelope addressed to them. reader reception he would not want to invest in Tagore obliged. Ashapurnaís mother admired the publication. I know that your endeavour to get your book confidence of her daughters in writing to Tagore, when published here will not meet with success. Moreover, the he was looked upon as an icon not just locally but translation is not of a good standard- this means that it internationally as well. Ashapurnaís mother had said, falls short of the high standards of the English language.î7 ìSo, you could do it? I had only dreamt of writing to 10 But his rather harsh letter to Rothenstein about him.î Ashapurnaís motherís statement of resignation Swarnakumariís literary ambitions suggests that women encodes generational advancement, what her daughters writers even from the distinguished were had done, she had only dreamt of doing but could never not regarded with much seriousness. However, the letter muster up the confidence to translate a dream into reality. 40 Summerhill: IIAS Review

Beginning in the nineteenth century, womenís slow but not receive any formal education but became literate by steady progress in search of themselves became an sheer perseverance and curiosity. She made supreme irreversible process, which was enabled through literacy, efforts to learn from her elder brotherís books and school education and corresponding intellectual curiosity and lessons and when she was around nine, she published social empowerment. If Ashapurna had asked Tagore in her first poem in a childrenís magazine, Shishu saathi. That her letter whether she should aspire to become a was the beginning and the crucial turning-point. litterateur could Tagore have responded to her as Robert Ashapurna persisted in writing fiction and essays Southey the poet laureate had done when Charlotte throughout her life. Married at fifteen, mother of three Bronte : ìLiterature cannot be the business of a womanís children, a home maker who diligently attended to all life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in domestic chores, Ashapurna nevertheless created some her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it, timeless fictional narratives that could be categorized as even as an accomplishment and a recreation.î11 resistance literature in the oeuvre of Indian womenís Much later, in a memoir essay Ashapurna had referred writing. to Tagoreís view that since the roles of women are However, it would be an error to state that all the restricted to domestic chores such as food, clothing and writings of Ashapurna Devi prioritise womenís other physical needs of family members women have not resistance, protest and non-conformism. As a matter of been able to participate in intellectual activities and fact, many of her novels and short stories are interactions with the male members, and this lack Tagore stereotypical, in which the roles of men and women described as one that expressed the cruelty and follow the known traditional binaries of dominance and irreverence towards the female family members. subordination. Ashapurna herself was very conscious Ashapurna had supported Tagoreís views and had added that the trilogy was her magnum opus. Referring to the that, ìWomen can easily become lovers (Preyashi) but trilogy and the representation of the three women in three they cannot become an iconic personality (Sreyashi).î12 successive generations Ashapurna had stated, ìThe most The English translation unfortunately cannot claim the distinctive contribution in my literary career has been witty impact of the alliteration of Preyashi and Shreyashi, the portrayal of the three daughters representing three but that is about the politics of translation and not generations.î15 Further when asked which of her books relevant for this essay. would she regard to be her very best, Ashapurna had At fifteen Ashapurna Devi was married. In her stated, ìIn response, I can state supporting my readersí reminiscences she records, ìWithin two years of the views that Pratham Pratisruti ( First Promise) was my best publication of my first pieces I got married and had to creation. But since Subarnalata was written about a time move out of the city of Calcutta which interrupted my that I had directly perceived I have a lot of weakness for writing. The reason of course being that marital home this second part of the trilogy.î16 In the same memoir (Sasur-bari-Father in lawís house in Bengali translation) essay Ashapurna had referred to the last volume of the was not a bed of roses. Moreover, it was more convoluted trilogy Bakulkatha in which she stated that the role of than the restrictive purdah process of the parental home. Bakul was that of an observer not a protagonist or heroine. Absolutely behind the iron curtain. But what caused me Selective close reading of the three novels will bear out the greatest inconvenience was the lack of books in the that Ashapurna Deviís trilogy can be included within the marital home located in a suburban area. I felt like a fish haloed shelves of timeless classics of twentieth century out of water.î13 Much later she looked back on her own . writing and stated not unlike Jane Austen that she never ventured to narrate the lives of people whom she had IV not ever seen or heard of, ìMy writing is fertilized by people around me. Nature descriptions by authors who are nature lovers attract me, generate joy and surprise, Pratham Pratisruti (First Promise) but such descriptions are beyond my capabilities. Within my capabilities lie just people. Middle-class, domesticity In his essays ìThe Nation and Its Womenî and ìWomen with which I am intimately familiar. I have not ventured and the Nationî Partha Chatterjee argued that during to reach out beyond the known territories. ì14 the colonial period the dichotomous tensions between When Tagore wrote that letter dismissing his sisterís the home and the world, the public and the private, the creative talents as fanciful in 1914, Ashapurna Devi was inner and outward were mutually exclusive. The inner then about five years old. What were Ashapurnaís space of the domestic that was also the space inhabited disadvantages? Born in the middle-class family, she did by women as daughters, wives and mothers was Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha 41 sacrosanct where the winds of change such as serious engagement not as gendered narratives alone but westernization, female education, womenís health issues as narratives that represent the inner space of a nation. were all regarded as violation of traditional norms and As we are aware, all social advancement can be possible blasphemy against religious rules and practices. From only when the members of the inner space are included this fiercely guarded inner space of societal rules and and enabled to reciprocate in their individual ways to culture, resistance literature emerged in the form of the demands of the changing times. After all, women of womenís memoirs and diaries which were distinct from India constitute approximately one half of the entire menís autobiographies according to Chatterjee. Chatterjee population and their empowerment or powerlessness cites the memoirs of Rassundari Debi (1809-1900), resonates through decisions made at home or in the Saradasundari Debi (1819-1907), Kailasbasini Debi (1830- parliament. 95), Prasannamoyi Debi (1857-1939) and Binodini (1863- It needs to be underscored at this juncture that though 1941). Most of these narratives were instructional Ashapurna was born in 1909, that is precisely, a hundred manuals for younger women aimed at fortifying them years after Rassundari Debi who was born in 1809, we about negotiating with the norms, customs, social realize the stagnation in Hindu middle class society and expectations and changing times that defined Bengali culture as we discover to our surprise that both society and culture. So Partha Chatterjee commented, Rassundari and Ashapurna never received formal ìThe genre, in short, did not require the author to express education, did not go to school, and were child-brides in her ìselfî or examine the development of her personality. extremely traditional marital homes. In both cases, the It was not a telling of an exemplary life, not even of a life two women were self-taught in the sense that they learned of any importance: to this day, it is useful to remember, to read and write by imitating, copying, replicating. But there are fewer biographies of Bengali women writers there the similarities end. Ashapurna Deviís mother was written by others than there are autobiographies. The a literate woman and an eager reader of Bengali literature genre required the writer only to tell her readers, mainly who encouraged her daughter to read and write. women of a younger generation, how the everyday lives Ashapurna became a writer at the age of nine with her of women had changed.î17 first published poem with a rather symbolic title (Bairer If the scope of the memoirs of the nineteenth century Daak- Call of the Unknown) that can be used as an women writers was limited and restrictive in their span anticipatory metaphor of her career graph. Denied formal and imagination as a deserving daughter of that rich education in school Ashapurna Deviís ideas, imagination, though limited past legacy, Ashapurna Devi stands alone reading and writing circled around Bengali literature due to the striking similarities between the writers of the exclusively. She did have access to translations in Bengali memoirs and her own narratives. Ashapurnaís trilogy of literature from other parts of the world, but overall spans the past, present and future as the texts situate she remained a monolingual reader and writer. The themselves within the immediate past of the late contamination or influence of non-local literatures, nineteenth century and both colonial twentieth century cultures and linguistic styles were absent or minimal in and postcolonial twentieth century. If the women- her writings. As a result Ashapurnaís narratives capture authored memoirs as Chatterjee argued elided issues of not only the times and social customs of the times past the self and identity, the fictional narratives meticulously and present but also the use of the , the graphed the emotional history of womenís evolution in home-grown idioms, symbols, images, metaphors that Bengal. The severe marginalization and determined were part of womenís speech, and from a socio-linguistic resistance are represented through the dominant voices point of view these convey and record the customs and of resistance as the three women protagonists, Satyabati, culture of the domestic space that had not been invaded her daughter Subarnalata and Subarnalataís daughter by Western education and its concomitant influences that Bakul etch their road maps. It is obvious that such road had discernible effects on speech, social and lifestyle maps are not about highways, but lanes, by-lanes and practices such as clothes, food, recreations, music among paths strewn with rocks, boulders and barbed wires. So others. Though cultural colonization became internalized the journey of the three women as narrated by Ashapurna in the lives of the educated, cultured men, the same did Devi is a path breaking journey conducted through three not happen in the lives of middle class Hindu women generations. As a matter of fact, the contribution of though some of them may have been literate. Ashapurna Devi in terms of documenting the historical On the other hand, we must keep in view that Bengali time in her narratives and her incisive comments about women who were born in urban and Christian the strangulating effect of customs and rituals that families were more liberated in their lifestyles and were annihilate womenís initiatives needs to be read with educated enough to pursue professions as did Kadambini 42 Summerhill: IIAS Review

Ganguly (1861-1923) and Chandramukhi Basu (1860- of the struggle of the mothers, grandmothers and great 1944). While Kadambini was a practicing doctor despite grandmothers of the many Bakuls and Paruls. They were being a mother of eight children, Chandramukhi was the not many in number, they were one among many. They first woman Principal of . Both of them had gone ahead alone. They have advanced leaping over graduated from Calcutta University in 1883. Therefore ponds and pools, by crushing stones and uprooting the life story of Ashapurna Devi as text may not be prickly bushes. As they cleared their own paths they may completely representative as an overall reading of Bengali have been confused, perhaps sank on the path that they womenís lives of her times but it can be representative of had cleared themselves. Then another followed: Taking middle class Hindu Bengali women of her times. This is up the work to continue with what the other had left the crucial defining feature and in Ashapurnaís own life behind. In this way the road was constructed. The Road some changes had been remarkable but the overall on which Bakul and Parul and their peers are environment was stubbornly traditional. Her daughter advancing.î21 Pushaparenu was married at an early age, did not receive Satyabati is first introduced to readers as an eight year college education while her sons were upwardly mobile old -clad girl who was married the year before but professionals and her younger sonís wife had a PhD had not been sent to her marital home as she was too degree in English and retired as a professor of English. young. Satyabati is presented as a tomboy of the area, Nupur Gupta taught at Jogamaya Devi college, an she is the leader of all the young girls and boys who are undergraduate college for women under Calcutta around her age. Her zest and energy are considered as University. Moreover Nupur Gupta has translated alarming traits by her grandmothers, mother and aunts Ashapurna Deviís fiction and has written often on her but Satyabati remains unperturbed. Her pert repartees, mother-in-lawís life and career. candid queries about gender inequality, her sensitivity Pratham Pratisruti (First Promise) begins with the towards oppressed women who become objects of author Ashapurna distancing herself as the creator of the domestic violence sets her apart from most young girls text. She reposes all the credit of the narrative to Bakul, of her time. Satyabatiís sympathy for her cousin Jataís the third generation representative of this tri-generational wife and her manner of retaliation is indeed remarkable. novel. As if to create a riddle regarding authenticity and In fact, the experience of domestic violence that documentation and the fictionalization of the factual, Satyabati is exposed to by observing her cousin Jataís wife Ashapurna begins the novel with the following remark ñ makes her understand the humiliation and abjectness of I havenít written Satyabatiís story. This story is taken from rural women of nineteenth century Bengal.. This becomes Bakulís diary. Bakul had said, ìYou can call this a story, more apparent when Satyabati discovers with great you can also call it truth.î18 Later Ashapurna commented, astonishment Jataís wifeís dread about taking medicines ìBakul had never seen Satyabati, but she had seen as her husband and mother in law would not approve , Satyabati in her dreams and imagination, in her feeling even though the medicines were free of charge and sent of care and respectî19. (ibid 4). In other words, Ashapurna by Satyabatiís father who was a renowned Ayurvedic is referring to the feeling of empathy, (sahhridaya) which doctor whom everyone respected. Not unlike Tom consolidates the sisterhood of women through centuries Sawyer Satyabati was the ring leader of the children in and cultures. Interestingly, Sumanta Banerjee situates the the locality. She composed a satiric verse about wife- nineteenth century Bengali women in the socio-economic beater Jata which the children chanted whenever Jata was context, ìWomen of nineteenth century Bengal, like sighted on the village lanes. Ashapurna was very women in other regions, were not economically or conscious that after all the rhymester was a eight year socially a homogenous group, their life style and old semi-literate girl, so the verse was crude, candid and occupations, according to a contemporary observer, hard-hitting- varied depending on whether they were ìwomen of rich familiesî, ìwomen of the middle stationî Or ëpoor ìJata dada, swollen legged women.î While woman of the ìrichî and ìmiddle Like a foolish elephant stationî stayed in seclusion in the andarmahals, the On the wife-beater dadaís back majority were working women. 20 Let the frogs kickî22 But the authorial voice-over is irrepressible, Ashapurna therefore observes as a preamble in the very Expectedly, Satyabati also learns that women make first page of the narrative, ìThere has been a history of humiliating compromises with their lives just to survive many years of struggle behind the numerous Bakuls and and remain domestic slaves. So Satyabati watches Jataís Paruls of Bengal of the present times. It was the history wife pampering her husband and flirting with him with Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha 43 great indignation. When she tries to remind Jataís wife or mothers Ashapurna underscores womenís total lack about the fact that he had kicked her so hard a few days of agency and dependence on the approval of senior back that she had almost died, Jataís wife reprimanded family members, senior male decision makers in rural Satyabati instead. She told Satyabati that after all it was Bengal. Satyabati boasts of her skills of reading and her husband who had beaten her up, why should Satya writing and talks about the women of the city of Calcutta be bothered and why should she compose rhymes and who went to school and received formal education. When persecute Jata, after all he hadnít done anything to Satya. Satyaís cousin cross-questions her that women were not Another episode also struck Satyabati deeply, and this expected to read and write Satyabati asks, ìWasnít the time it was her own father Ramkali Chattopadhyay who goddess of learning Saraswati herself a woman?î24 had made a gesture that was overtly commendable but Womenís longing for knowledge, at least acquirement had devastated his elder brotherís sonís wife. When of basic literacy has been well described by Tanika Sarkar, Ramkali met the groom on his way to the brideís home ìAll varieties of womenís writings unanimously he instantly understood that the groom was very ill and identified and condemned two problem spots within the may die soon. He urged the groomís family members to Hindu womanís existence-the pain of patrilocality and return home. But the severe Hindu laws ruled that the the longing for knowledge. Whatever the format and bride intended for a wedding must be married at that whatever the basic political stance towards patriarchy, designated auspicious hour or she would be doomed to womenís writings at this time agreed on these points of remain unmarried throughout her life. Nothing could be criticism.î25 more disastrous for a young woman than to be Soon after, there was a message from Satyabatiís stigmatized as lagnabrashta, the woman who could not marital home, urging her father Ramkali Chattopadhyay get married at the auspicious designated time period to send their daughter in law to her marital home. (lagna) of marriage. Ramkali felt Satybati needed to come of age to go to her Aware of this severe stricture on the young bride to marital home, but Satyabati persuaded her father to let be, as her would be husband had been detected with an her go. During a rather innocuous sequence, with imminent terminal illness, Ramkali magnanimously Satyabatiís mother in law Elokeshi braiding Satyaís hair prevails on his married elder brotherís son Rashbehari and the braiding failing to stay in place, Elokeshi feels to marry Potli and save her from lifelong ostracism. her efforts to tie Satyaís hair had gone to waste as But in the process Ramkali forgets the agony that he Satyabati deliberately upset her efforts by shaking her subjects Rashbehariís wife Sarada to bear. When Sarada head. So in great irritation Elokeshi strikes Satyabati on was married to Rashbehari she was twelve years old, now her back with her fist. At once, Satyabati freed herself she is a mother and sixteen years old and she is forced to from Elokeshi as she held her hair. She stood up and accept her husbandís second marriage. Questions asked Elokeshi why she had hit her. Elokeshi taunted regarding monogamy, bigamy, the Hindu patriarchal her saying that she needed to be beaten up with a system can be raised in this context. Multiple marriages firewood shaft, then she would learn the lesson of her and having several wives was not regarded as a social or life. Satyabati tells her mother in law, ìOk, hit me, let me legal offence in the mid- nineteenth century. In a deft art see how much firewood you haveî. Elokeshi feels as if of juxtaposition Ashapurna brings together the misery she has struck by lightning as her son also feels when he of two young women, the young widow Sankari who had enters the courtyard suddenly to see his wife and mother come back to the Chatterjee household after her facing each other, the wife staring straight into the eyes husbandís death, and Sarada who feels abandoned by of the mother in law. Such a scene was unthinkable to her husband, now that he gets married a second time. which the young husband Nabakumar was now witness. There was a time when the world of these two young Seeing her son, Elokeshi asks Nabakumar to beat up his women revolved around very different orbits. But now wife, urging him to batter her face with the shoes on his Sankari could feel sympathy towards Sarada. When feet. Nabakumar is too petrified to be able to even say a Satyabati asks Sankari why she looked so despondent, word. Then Elokeshi sets up a lament that her daughter Sankari told her that she was ruminating about ìdeathî in law has hit her and her son is unable to stand up to his (Maran). Satyabati then comments, ìAll women seem to wife and throw her out of the house.26 react in the same way, ìIíll dieî, ìI am dyingî, ìI wish I This sequence is indeed an unprecedented one in was dead.î23 Bengali literature, where the young child-wife stands up In all these sequences regarding the plight of young to the middle-aged mother in law and her son remains helpless woman as wives, mothers and widows and the silent instead of beating his wife to discipline her and domineering senior women of the family, mostly widows thereby pleasing his mother, convincing her and the 44 Summerhill: IIAS Review community about his manhood and roused virility. The Satyabatiís mentor opens a school for women- second such revolutionary sequence was when Satyabati ìSarbamangala Vidyapithî. When her husband tells her husband that she wants to go and live in the city Nabakumar asks her how could she dare to teach when of Calcutta, Expectedly Nabakumar tries to dissuade her her own learning was so limited, Satyabati complacently but Satyabati tells him, ìI am telling you clearly, Iíll go, remarked that her own knowledge would improve as she Iíll go, Iíll go to , I want to see if lightening strikes went on teaching. Satyabatiís husband is astounded and me for going to Kolkata just because I am a woman.î27 declares that his wife now inhabits a sphere to which he However, the authorial voice informs the reader that has virtually no access. Earlier when Nabakumar had Satyaís resolve does not yield results immediately. reprimanded her for wanting to learn English, Satyabati Instead time flows and Satyabati becomes the mother of had remarked, ìI just expressed the wish to learn English, two sons. I didnít say I wanted to wear a gown and eat in a hotel?29 The third such path-breaking sequence in a Hindu Also when Netaiís wife Bhabiniís younger sister becomes Brahmin middle class rural Bengali family takes place a victim of domestic violence, killed by both her husband when Satyabati asks the local schoolteacher to bring in a and his mother, Satyabati writes to the police officer who white male doctor from Kolkata to treat her husband comes over to conduct an enquiry. This episode makes Nabakumar. Nabakumar had taken ill and as Satyabatiís family members think that Satyabati is de-feminized, ìIn father was unable to visit Baruipur at that time, Satyabati her body of a woman there is actually a dangerous sold off her heavy gold necklace and entrusted the man.î30 schoolteacher to escort the white doctor to her marital The sixth and final sequence that may be termed home. Needless, to say, this was another revolution that revolutionary is Satyabatiís voluntary leaving of her a rural woman had caused in a conservative village in marital home. This crucial decision of rejection of the rural Bengal. primary space of security that patriarchy promises to The fourth sequence is of course Satyabatiís initiative women is unique on many levels. Satyabatiís rejection to move house to Kolkata. After many years of vacillation, and departure, referred to in first page of this essay is Nabakumar does agree to take up a job in the city. On more path-breaking than that of Nora in A Dollís House arrival, helped of course by Bhabatosh, the local and Mrinal in The Wifeís Letter (Streer Patra). Satyabati schoolteacher, Satya realizes the freedom of running her feels shattered when she finds that taking advantage of home all by herself. She perceives the liberation of women her absence her mother in law in tacit collusion with her in a nuclear family. However when she had planned the husband has married off her nine year old daughter move to Kolkata Satya had little expectation about any Subarnalata. Nine year old Subarnalata was a school benefit to her own self-ìShe can work in any way she student but too young and helpless to protest against her chose to, no one would notice, no one could find fault, grandmotherís decision. Satyabati had earlier nurtured What a strange feeling! What supreme happiness! Satya Sankariís daughter Suhash and inspired her to get had never battled for freedom thinking of such happiness. educated and looked upon Suhash who had become a She had merely wanted to move to such a place, where schoolteacher as her elder daughter. But she failed to there would be doctors for illness, good schools for her protect her own daughter from her mother in law and sons and good jobs for men, husband. No situation in the politics of the family and For her own self what could be good, she hadnít ever the familial could be more ironic. tried to figure out. She just knew there was criticism and This great act of betrayal that destroys all her dreams spite. Now she noticed there was much more. So this was of making Subarnalata a complete human being makes the joy of freedom? Instead of a sword poised over oneís Satyabati understand that she will have to sever ties with head there was a radiant sky high above oneís head?28 the system that honours customs more than individuals. The fifth sequence is Nabakumar and his friend Netaiís Satyabati decides to turn away from such a relentless suspicion about Satyabatiís disappearance in the conservative society that destroys womenís identity. afternoons. They learn about the meetings of the brahmo Nabakumar curses Satyabati for her decision, saying that samaj from Satyabati who even visits the Brahmo leader because her rich father had left her some property she Keshab Chandra Senís house, the evening when had become so conceited. Satyabati tells her husband that Ramkrishna Paramhansa visits Senís house. Satya also she had not even remembered she had indeed inherited informs them that she goes every afternoon to a womenís some property. On being reminded about it she tells organization and teaches the women who assemble there Nabakumar that with that money her sons Sadhan and how to read and write. This voluntary bid becomes Saral should set up a school in the name of their institutionalized as Bhabatosh Master who had become grandmother and name the school, Bhuvaneshwari Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha 45

Vidyalaya. As she leaves she tells Sadu that she will set was eager to be watched by other men. Fourteen year up a school and earn her own living, reminding the reader old Subarna however fell for the wiles of her husband, that before the birth of Subarnalata she had taught elderly who told her that he was indeed including her much women for a while. At that time it was a voluntary desired balcony in the construction of the house. activity, now she would opt for teaching as a profession However, on the day of house-warming when the entire that would sustain her life. Sadu just falls at Satyabatiís family moved to the new house, Subarna ran up to the feet saying that she could do achieve what other women first floor in search of her balcony. Instead, she just came have been terrified of even dreaming about. Ashapurna across more and more walls. She rushed towards the uses the ultimate symbol as the first part ends. second floor and terrace, but that part hadnít been The cinematic description frame by frame as it were is constructed due to lack of funds. Furious Subarna told indeed remarkable. Satyabati was leaving the village in Prabodh that she was taking an oath that are sons would a bullock cart. The entire village had come to plead with build a house with a balcony for her to avenge the insult her to give up her resolution to leave. But Satyabati of their mother. But then the authorial voice intervenes, remained firm in her decision. The narrative mentions ìBut what about her previous oath? Hadnít she said that the turning wheels of the bullock cart and the restlessness if the house didnít have a balcony she would not even of the bullock. But Satyabati would have to change to a stay there! Alas, wife of a Bengali household, oaths were horse carriage in order to reach a new life. The last line of meaningless for her.î33 this part of the trilogy uses an appropriate symbol of a When Subarnalata recalled her days with her parents definitive turning point in the road map of Satyabati- in Kolkata, the only lingering image in her mind was her ìSuddenly there was silence. The bullock cart stopped mother waiting for her to get back from school, carrying slowly at Hat-tala. The bullock-cart lane ended here.î31 a bag of books. She recalled how her mother Satyabati would keep on insisting that women must be educated, that was the key to their freedom.34 When Satyabatiís Subarnalata (1966) letter to Subarna, delivered after her death according to As in Pratham Pratisurti or the Journey of Satyabati, in her wishes, reached Subarna, in that letter Satyabati had the second part of the trilogy that sketches the journey of written the only cherished image of her beloved only Satyabatiís daughter Subarnalata and also uses the name daughter in her mind was that of her nine year old of Subarnalata as the title of the second part, the emphasis daughter going to school with a school bag full of books). is once again on womenís education. The trilogy registers Much later, Subarna paid a surprise visit to her uncle in Ashapurnaís passionate conviction that the ordinary lawís home. She had learnt that her brother-in-law Hindu middle-class woman trapped in the double bind Jaganath had started a printing press. Subarna brought of gender and caste could only be liberated if education out her manuscript with great hesitation, but when is made available to her. Jaganath read a few pages he could not believe that When Subarnalata dies her daughter Bakul was Subarna herself had composed those poems, stories and seventeen years old. In the very second page of essays. Subarna had to mostly steal time to write or else Subarnalata , Ashapurna makes a caustic abstract of her husband and sons would make insinuations about Subarnalataís life since her marriage and till her death- bad cooking, and that Subarna was engaged in thesis ìIn that house Subarna had spent thirty years of her life, writing. she bore eight children, wept, laughed, worked, rested, But Subarna continued writing her memoirs or participated in all the aspects of family life, yet the confession. In that scripted confession was embedded torment of feeling encaged had made her writhe in agony Subarnaís freedom. Freedom from the prison of the all her life.î 32 exercise book to the radiant mainstream.35 But as referred This was probably what Betty Friedan had so famously to in page one when the manuscript was printed as a expressed in that one-liner in her Feminine Mystique ñ ëthe book, the typographical errors were the only bits that her problem without a nameí that inexplicably oppressed both sons and husband noticed. Subarna found their mockery global and local middle-class women. The second part intolerable. As referred to in the first page of this essay, of the trilogy commences with Subarnaís excitement when Subarnaís sons and husband doubled up with about having a hanging balcony to herself in the new laughter at the errors in printing, Subarna suddenly house that was being constructed by her husband and advanced like a tigress and as she roared with rage she his brothers. Initially, her husband Prabodh had mocked snatched her book from the grip of her eldest son and her and had remarked that it wasnít that Subarna wanted tore it into pieces. Then she went off to the terrace with to watch the world from her south facing balcony, she all the 500 copies of her memoirs along with every scrap 46 Summerhill: IIAS Review of paper on which she had written for many, many years, liberation of her mind inspired by the modern inclusive and burnt them all, till nothing of her writing remained. spirit of Rabindranath Tagore, the very subtle but Every word that she had written turned to ashes. Only unmistakable conservatism of Anamika Devi ( alias her daughter Bakul remained an eye witness to the Ashapurna Devi) comes to the fore. destruction. The third part of the trilogy also tells us that Anamika Soon after Subarna was taken seriously ill. The funeral feels a sense of culture shock and moral outrage about rituals after her death were quite spectacular though her young women who seem to have, according to Anamika sons did worry about stickling to a ìbudget.î But the lost the sense of tolerance, care and patience and the one who did not accompany Subarnalataís body to the graciousness of surrendering self-interest for loved ones. burning ghat was Bakul. She had seen another funeral The inability of husband and wife to live a shared life of pyre on the terrace. She would never know what exactly peaceful interdependence mortifies Anamika. Therefore, turned to ashes that afternoon. Bakul had searched repeatedly in the narrative there is a refrain of a lament through all her motherís personal belongings, in order that this emancipation for women was not what she had to locate at least a scrap of her handwriting. Ashapurna dreamt of. This again, perhaps was not what the comments, ìThat Subarnalata was literate, that resistance of Satyabati and Subarnalata had aimed at. The impression Subarna had totally blotted out. Bakul sat sense of romanticism and nostalgia for traditional values down on that part of the terrace where Subarnalata had of Asian families in term of foregrounding womenís roles lit the funeral pyre.î36 When Bakul finds that even the as caregivers and nurturers as angels within the domestic manuscript given to the printing press was untraceable space, is perhaps the sub-text of Anamika the narratorís she makes a promise to herself that she will recover her disillusionment with the changing times and womenís motherís lost and burnt narrative and hold it up to the role playing. world. This resolution is the concluding sequence of the The tug of war between the liberated mind of Anamika second part of Ashapurnaís trilogy. towards new ideas and her traditional response to lifestyle changes in the conduct of young men and women can be an interesting study. In fact, the most remarkable Bakulkatha (1974) attribute of the narrative is that Anamika never quite In Bakulkatha the third and final part of the trilogy, writes a graphic tale of the life of Bakul, but offers to her Ashapurna creates a distance between Subarnalataís readers brief but powerful vignettes of various situations, daughter Bakul and the narrator Anamika Devi, the characters and episodes of the so-called modern age. Is successful awarded novelist, though they are one and the this because Bakul alias Anamika though living with her same person. The narratorial style separating the person brotherís family remained unmarried all her life? Is the as text and the author as creator of the text and the created life of a single woman not as interesting as that of an adult text complicates the narration but conflates the intention married woman? Is the single woman just an observer of of creating reader consciousness about the author, the social values? Is the single womanís life one of social created text and place, persons and situations that may exclusion? Is the single woman not an active agent of have initially triggered authorial interest in creating the social evolution but a social documentarian, just a passive text. chronicler of her times? These questions however are not The time period of this third part is Kolkata in post- addressed in the trilogy. colonial twentieth century. Unlike the earlier narratives Did Ashapurna construe that the life of Bakul was about Satyabati and Subarnalata, the role of Bakul as somehow a bare one as she was outside the charmed circle Anamika Devi is that of an informed observer, a scribe of belonging within the patriarchal system of wifehood, sensitively recording the changing times and the changes motherhood and perhaps widowhood? These have been in the value system. The narrative exudes a sort of regret the three stages of womenís lives that Ashapurna had and disappointment as the fast paced city life and the represented with tremendous creative energy and changes that have happened in the lives of women seem incisive insight. As Anamika remains till the end of the to be more frenetic rather than creating a sense of mature narrative a single woman who had now grown old, fulfillment. Anamika Devi as writer and recorder of her narration of her own life was about abstract ruminations times therefore repeatedly asks herself and queries in her of the art of fiction, the role of the author in a created text created texts as well whether the present really marks and the record of the convolutions of time present womenís freedom and gender equality. enmeshed in time past , struggling towards the future. Though Bakulkatha harps on Anamika Deviís neutral In a rather resigned mood of confusion if not despair mind, her capability of empathy, but despite all the Anamika as scribe of her contemporary times ruminates, Ashapurna Deviís Trilogy: Reading Pratham Pratisruti, Subarnalata and Bakulkatha 47

ìI am trying to grasp the moments but these are eluding women that she represented, grandmother Satyabati, me. These moments are not leaving behind anything daughter Subarnalata and grand-daughter Bakul- permanent, these are like soap suds, like colorful bubbles ìIs this what we had wanted? You, I, our mother, that disappear into thin air...Modern? No, I wonít call it grandmother, countless imprisoned women if this nation? modern, Iíd rather ask how can I pen down the present Is this the manifestation of freedom? The freedom, for society? I get to hear, that unbelievably, unknown which the imprisoned women had beaten their heads dangerous animals have invaded homes, they have against stone walls, had silently wailed and cursed their aligned themselves with the householders and those fate? Was this the light of freedom, the freedom for which creatures are not even trying to hide their nails, teeth or women imprisoned within iron cells had prayed for, horns. Instead they are describing these as objects of waited for? No Bakul- this is not what we had wanted.î39 pride. But Iíve merely heard about these thingsÖî37 This authorial voice of reservation and disappointment So in several sharply defined vignettes Ashapurna that resonated through the third volume of the trilogy through Anamika identifies several features that have perhaps also indicates the difference between the middle rapidly changed the social fabric of the late twentieth class Hindu women that Ashapurna represented in her century. These comprise the growing sense of intolerance, trilogy and the more liberated women in Rabindranath dissatisfaction and overly ambitious nature of women, Tagoreís narratives. Charulata (Nastanir) and Bimala ( as reflected in the life and suicide of charming Namita. Ghare Baire) belong approximately to the same historical Namita gained fame, money and power as a film star time as Subarnalata. But there are no discernible elements but she was lonely and insecure and was ultimately that can bring Charulata and Subarnalata together. driven to committing suicide. The failure of the marriage Moreover, in Tagoreís novel the macro issues of of Shovan and Rekha due to their incompatibility was nationalism, colonialism, communal riots, religious another case in point. Also, the recent exodus of children discord between Hindus and Muslims play crucial roles longing to reach distant shores in search of material in the fictional narratives. In Ashapurnaís novels such comfort and fame, leaving their own kith and kin behind issues are peripheral and do not inform the central was also identified as a negative feature. Though their discourse. As Partha Chatterjee had argued Ashapurna parents suffered, the children were motivated and in a Deviís narratives fall within the nineteenth century performance-driven life, emotional attachments had to format of narratives, that consolidates the binaries be compromised. Also Bakul/Anamika found it very between the home and the world, the inner space of the difficult to accept the behaviorism of the youth of the domestic and the outer space that was the masculine present generation. The body hugging T shirts and domain. But the trilogy is not a saga of defeatism, moral trousers of the young men and hipster and brief outrage and resignation. Each of the three parts end on a blouses of the young women, their going off to picnics positive note of triumph marking social progress despite without any chaperone, listening to popular English the fact that the last part expresses the authorís songs all caused a sense of repulsion and violent culture reservations and censure about the manner and mode of shock in the mind of the daughter of Subarnalata. 38 the exhibition of freedom. Was Ashapurnaís youthful As a matter of fact, in Bakulkatha Ashapurna reiterates mind slowing down or was it that the overlap between the rhetorical question as she describes the contemporary the home and the world which had become inevitable times and social behavior of the young generations- was with more and more working women taking decisions this the sort of world for women, was this the sort of about all aspects of their lives seemed to her to be in excess freedom that Satyabati and Subarnalata had desired and of what had been her target regarding womenís dreamt about? The only positive source of modern life of liberation? She had herself admitted in her memoir piece the young that has met with the approval of Anamika is that she was now confined to her home, her mobility had that of of her niece Shampa marrying a working class slowed down due to age and so she felt she was unable young man Satyaban and both of them achieving their to keep pace with the rapidly changing times, about dreams through hard work and total dedication to each which however she made no bones about expressing her other through their playfulness and passionate care for disapproval.40 each other. So despite the negative aspects, the third part But then Ashapurna had written in her non-fictional of the trilogy ends on a positive note as it cites the shared text that she had invariably written about women happiness and gender equality in the life of Shampa and warriors and rebels, she had never been attracted to Satyaban. However, the refrain that lingers in the air as recording the lives of complacent average women who the trilogy ends are the queries that Ashapurna inserts were compliant and complicit in the process of into the minds and voices of the three generations of exploitation and marginalization of women. Therefore, 48 Summerhill: IIAS Review

Ashapurna Devi wrote, ìWhatever I have written has 28. Ibid., p. 256.. been within the middle class society that I had directly 29. Ibid., p. 259. observedÖI havenít written about politics, I havenít quite 30. Ibid., pp. 394-95. 31. Ibid., p. 436 written about social-activists. I have written about women 32. Subarnalata, p..2. within the middle-class households. But I have written 33. Pratham Pratisruti, p.11. about those who have not been able to accept the 34. Ibid., p. 256. intolerable situations within the homes. If the situation 35. Ibid., p. 308. demands- then they give up home or their husbands. All 36. Ibid., p. 395. along within my mind there was an element of 37. Bakulkatha, p. 116 Bakulkatha uncompromising rebellion, but that was never apparent. 38. , pp. 241-243) 39. Ibid., p. 303 You may even call it the desire for womenís liberation. 40. Aar ek Ashapurna, p. 18. But that urge was not a personal one. It was directed 41. Ibid. p. 17. towards the progress of society and the community as such.î 41 Works Cited

Notes Bhattacharya, Tapadhir Ashapurna Nari Parisar Kolkata: Bangiya Sahitya Sansad, 2009 1. Sanjukta Dasgupta et al (Ed) The Indian Family in Transition Chakraborty, Rami Ashapurnar Upanashey Nari Kolkata: New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2007, p.222. Bangiya Sahitya Sansad, 2007 2. Ashapurna Devi, Pratham Pratisruti, Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh Chatterjee, Partha The Partha Chatterjee Omnibus New Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1964, p. 435 3. Susie Tharu & Lalitha Women writing in India Vol 2, New Delhi: Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010 first Oxford University Press 1995, p. 476. published 1999. 4. Ashapurna Devi, Subarnalata, Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh Dasgupta Sanjukta et al (Ed) The Indian Family in Publishers Pvt Ltd.,1966, p.396. Transition New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2007 5. Ashapurna Devi, Bakul Katha, Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh Devi, Ashapurna, Pratham Pratisruti, Kolkata: Mitra & Publishers Pvt Ltd.,1973, p. 259. Ghosh publishers Pvt Ltd 1964. 6. Pushparenu Roy, Ashapurna, Ma Kolkata: Avinava Prakashan, 2010, p.38. 7. Paul, Prasantakumar Rabijibani, Vol. 1-9 (vol 6). Kolkata: óóó, Subarnalata Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh publishers Ananda Publishers, 2001, p. 355. Pvt Ltd., 1966 8. Ibid. óóó, Bakul Katha, Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh publishers 9. Ibid. Pvt Ltd., 1973 10. Ashapurna Devi, Aar Ek Ashapurna 1998 ( Posthumously óóó, Aar Ek Ashapurna Kolkata: Mitra & Ghosh published), pp. 37-38. 11. Winifred Gerin, Charlotte Bronte: The Evolution of Genius publishers Pvt Ltd., 1998 (Posthumously Oxford: Clarendon, 1967, p. 110. published) 12. Ibid., p. 16. Forbes, Geraldine Women in Colonial India New Delhi: 13. Aar ek Ashapurna p. 7. Chronicle Books 2005 Women In Modern India New 14. Ibid., p 8. Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 15. Ibid., p. 11. 1996 16. Ibid., p. 12. Gerin, Winifred Charlotte Bronte: The Evolution of Genius 17. Partha Chatterjee, The Partha Chatterjee Omnibus New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010 first published 1999, pp. 139- Oxford: Clarendon, 1967 149, 116-157. Majumdar, Rochona, Marriage and Modernity: Family 18. Pratham Pratisruti p. 3. Values in Colonial Bengal New Delhi: OUP, 2009 19. Ibid., p. 4. Roy, Pushparenu Ashapurna, Ma Kolkata: Avinava 20. KumKum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid, Recasting Women Delhi, Prakashan, 2010 Zubaan, 2006 first published 1989, pp. 128-129. Sangari, KumKum and Vaid, Sudesh Recasting Women 21. Pratham Pratisruti p. 3. 22. Ibid., p. 23. Delhi, Zubaan, 2006 first published 1989 23. Ibid., p. 69. Sarkar, Tanika Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation Delhi: Permanent 24. Ibid., p. 105. Black, 2001 25. Tanika Sarkar, Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation, Delhi: Permanent Tharu, Susie & Lalitha Women writing in India Vol 2 New Black, 2001, pp. 47- 48. Delhi: Oxford University Press 1995 26. Pratham Pratisruti, pp. 153-154. 27. Ibid., p. 190. All Translations unless otherwise stated are mine.