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Becoming a Bengali Woman: Exploring Identities in Bengali Women’S Fiction, 1930-1955

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Becoming a Bengali Woman: Exploring Identities in Bengali Women’S Fiction, 1930-1955 1 Becoming a Bengali Woman: Exploring Identities in Bengali Women’s Fiction, 1930-1955 Sutanuka Ghosh Ph.D Thesis School of Oriental and African Studies University of London July 2007 aiat ProQuest Number: 11010507 All rights reserved IN F O R M A T IO N T O A LL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010507 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 I hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own. Sutanuka Ghosh 3 Abstract History seldom tells the story of ordinary men far less ordinary women. This thesis explores the tales of ordinary middle class Hindu Bengali women and their different experiences of the period 1930-1955 through fiction written by women. To undermine the logic of colonialism the Indian nationalist movement had sought to project an image of a modern, progressive, egalitarian society while also holding on to its distinctive cultural identity. The fulfilment of these twin objectives hinged on Indian women. Consequently Bengali women found themselves negotiating different objectives that required them to be ‘modern’ as well as patient, self-sacrificing, pure and faithful like Sita. They were engaging with varied powerful images as they tried to construct their identity since there was no general consensus as to what the Bengali woman ought to be. In the spheres of female education, nationalist politics, women’s work and the family and community the dominant sections tried to fashion women according to their ideology. The novels convey the contradictory prescriptions women experienced. In many cases women had radically different aspirations and they manipulated these prescriptions to carve identities that were at odds with the prescriptive mould. They resisted attempts at feminising education, participated directly in revolutionary activities instead of merely sympathising and took to waged work instead of becoming dependants. Yet they continued to see themselves as familial entities even when it was possible for them to establish their identities as individuals with education, political and legal rights and economic independence. The perimeter of the Bengali woman’s identity was extended but her emotional landscape continued to treasure her roles as daughter, wife and mother. The radical potential that middle class Bengali women exhibited in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, with their political activism, and in the wake of the Bengal famine and the freedom and partition of the country, thus became subsumed under the image of the ‘complete’ woman who packed into her life many things including the duties of a daughter, wife and mother. The novels demonstrate considerable change in the dynamics of gender relationships, yet for many women the ‘brave new world’ remained a distant dream. 4 A Note on Bengali transliteration In this thesis the system of transliteration followed uses ‘o’ as the inherent vowel instead of ‘a’ and except for chondrobindu (the nasalisation sign) no diacritics have been used. Thus, names of Bengali texts, names of characters in the novels, and the italicised Bengali words, phrases and sentences have ‘o’ as the inherent vowel. So, I have written Nobankur and ‘Momota’ even though the translation I use has it as Nabankur and ‘Mamata’. In the case of authors, political activists, critics, organisations, where there is a commonly accepted English spelling, I have kept to it. Where I have not found any commonly accepted English spelling as these Bengali books are rarely known, I have spelled them according to the transliteration system given below. There are some words which are used in other North Indian languages as well and have an all-India currency, like purdah. I have kept to the conventional spelling when I am using such words in the pan-Indian context but have changed the spelling to approximate the Bengali tongue when I have used it in the context of Bengal. So when Purdah has been used with respect to Bengali women only, it has been written as porda. Similarly a character in Nobankur has been written as Odhir while charcters from the Mahabharata have been written as ‘Arjuna’ and ‘Abhimanyu’. See overleaf for transliteration chart. 5 k ST th o kh d * r sh a g *T dh sh § i gh n * r s i ng h $ u ch P u chh w ph ri w j <r b jh bft #v n * r m w r f t y ? rh e r oi £ th <r iSP d ?r y dh cT ] rw 0 n \ ng 0 t 0 ou 0 h BOPHOLA w 6 Contents Abstract 3 A Note on Transliteration 4 Acknowledgements 7 1 Introduction 10 2 Education: The Making of the Bengali Woman 79 3 It’s a Long Road to Freedom: The Bengali Woman and the Independence Movements 130 4 Women’s Work and the Shaping of Identities 178 5 Becoming Good Wives and Mothers: The Bengali Woman in Family and Society 224 6 Conclusion 270 Bibliography 278 Appendix 289 7 Acknowledgements My deep gratitude- to the Felix Trust that believed a research on Bengali women and their writings was worth pursuing and generously supported me to that end; to the Central Research Fund of the University of London that made possible a fertile trip to India and Bangladesh in search of women’s lives and words; to SOAS for a fieldwork grant towards an India trip for the final ‘exploration’. to the Mary Trevelyan Fund for helping me with the expenses of the last stage of work. To Dr.William Radice, who has been there all along with his support and guidance, ensuring I did not embark on an intellectual misadventure, while also preventing brain desiccation by keeping me abreast of film festivals, concerts, plays and other sundry delightful things, I can never thank you enough. To Swati Ganguly, who listened to my dreams and encouraged me to dream some more as she nurtured me through my university years at the Department of English, Visva Bharati, India, I would not be here without you. To Santa Bhattacharyya and Samantak Das, my heartfelt thanks for helping me to believe in myself. To Sarmistha Duttagupta, who read my drafts and papers and pointed me in the right direction innumerable times during fieldwork, thank you so much. To Kaiser Haq, Niaz Zaman, Firdous Azim and Nilofer Begum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, your warmth, help and boundless generosity is unforgettable. Thank you. To my colleagues at Suri Vidyasagar College, who did everything they could to ensure that I could travel to London, I am very grateful. I would also like to thank Moushumi Bhowmick and Samita Sen for patiently answering my queries and helping me to clarify my thoughts. Heart-felt thanks to Hanna Thompson for answering all my queries and giving helpful suggestions to fix my troubled transliteration system. Mulaika, May, Deboshruti and Foqia, my friends at SOAS and partners-in- crime, I am so thankful that you were there to share with me the nerve- wrecking experience of inflicting another thesis upon the world. 8 To Gayatri Chakrabarti and Suma, thank you for providing me a home-away- from-home in those early cold and homesick days. My parents Kanai Lall and Chandana, for being with me even when I am without you, and cherishing my dreams enough to let me go, and my brother Abir, for all your affection, advice, help and setting up of impossible deadlines, this thesis is as much yours as it is mine. To Andrew, quite simply, I could not have finished my writing without you. For being there, through rain and shine, my inadequate thank you. Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” A river is fed by many. 9 To my parents Who started me off on my journey 10 Chapter 1: Introduction Objective of thesis To him that hath is given, they say. There was a bird That wanted so to fly. It looked and looked, but could not find its wings. It saw the others soar, Catching the gold from the sun. Others winged and circled past. Joyful, dipping in the wide blue. This little one that could not fly Wept so bitterly. Tell me where I get my wings?’ The others laughed and flew away Didn’t you know, you little fool. Wings come to those who fly. (Maithreyi Krishna Raj, Wings Come To Those Who Flyin Leela Gulati and Jasodhara Bagchi (eds) A Space of Her Own: Personal Narratives of Twelve Women) Jyotirmoyi Devi called her novel on the Bengal partition, Itihasey Striporbo (The Woman Chapter in History), when it was first published in the periodical Prabasi. This was later changed to Epar Ganga Opar Ganga on the suggestion of the publisher. Jyotirmoyi writes in the author’s note, the ‘woman chapter’ is difficult to write and Vedvyas could not really write one successfully when he attempted to write the Stri Parva in the Mahabharata. She suggests that this parva runs on in contemporary times. In her palimpsestic reading of history woman’s story is the subterranean tale that remains untold when all has been written about the glorious deeds of kings and heroes of war.
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