Women in the Novels of Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Saratchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore”, Thesis Phd, Saurashtra University
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Etheses - A Saurashtra University Library Service Saurashtra University Re – Accredited Grade ‘B’ by NAAC (CGPA 2.93) Chatterjee, Monali, 2009, “Women in the Novels of Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Saratchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore”, thesis PhD, Saurashtra University http://etheses.saurashtrauniversity.edu/id/836 Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Saurashtra University Theses Service http://etheses.saurashtrauniversity.edu [email protected] © The Author Women in the Novels of Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Saratchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SAURASHTRA UNIVERSITY FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH Submitted by: Monali Chatterjee Supervised by: Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee Senior Asst. Professor Smt. S.H. Gardi Institute of English & Comparative Literary Studies, Saurashtra University, Rajkot. 2009 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the work embodied in this thesis entitled “Women Characters in the Novels of Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Saratchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore” has been carried out by the candidate Monali Chatterjee under my direct guidance and supervision for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts of Saurashtra University, Rajkot. I further declare that the work done and presented in this thesis is original and independent. I certify that the work has not been submitted either partly or fully to any other university or institute for the award of any degree. Forwarded by: Supervisor: Dr. K. H. Mehta Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee Head of the Department Senior Asst. Professor S. H. Gardi Institute of English & S. H. Gardi Institute of English & Comparative Literary Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, Rajkot. Rajkot. 2009 I hereby declare that the research work in this thesis is prepared by me after studying various references related to the thesis. The analysis and the critical interpretation found in this thesis are entirely original. Hence, I state that I am responsible for the critical opinions and the other details found in this thesis. I further declare that this thesis is my original work and has not been submitted to any university or institute for the award of any degree. Date: 17th January, 2009 Signature of the Candidate: Place: Rajkot Monali Chatterjee Chapter Page Acknowledgements i 1. Introduction 1 2. Bengal’s Political, Social and Economic Development 36 3. Women in the Novels of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 87 4. Women in the Novels of Rabindranath Tagore 140 5. Women in the Novels of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee 198 6. Conclusion 278 Bibliography 304 First and foremost my sincerest thanks go to Dr. Avadhesh K. Singh and Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee for their invaluable guidance during the entire course of this research project. My special thanks to all my friends and the members of my family who have offered their assistance in this undertaking. I owe my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, uncle, husband and mother-in-law in particular, for their unflinching support. I wish to put in a special word of thanks to the librarians at the National Library and the Central Library, Kolkata; St. Xavier’s College Library, Gujarat Vidyapith Library and M. J. Library, Ahmedabad, H. M. Library, M. S. University, Baroda and the District Library, Saurashtra University Central Library and the C.C.D.C. Library on the Saurashtra University campus for their help rendered during the course of my research. They understood my time- bound schedule and enabled me to receive books and reference materials on time. I am profoundly indebted to Prof. K. S. Iyer, Ms. Purnima Upadhyay, Dr. Indira Nityanandam and all the faculty-members of St. Xavier’s College, Gujarat University and Dr. Kamal Mehta, Dr. J. K. Dodiya, Dr. R. B. Zala and Mr. Maulik Vyas of Smt. S. H. Gardi Institute of English and Comparative Literary Studies, Saurashtra University, Rajkot for their valuable inputs. My thanks are due also to all the research scholars and the non-teaching staff-members of this institute for their help and kind demeanour. i Chapter 1 Introduction This research endeavours to study the women characters in the novels of three nineteenth century Bengali writers against the backdrop of the nineteenth century Indian Renaissance. This study proposes to attempt a detailed study and draw inferences which might offer a fresh perspective to this topic. The East India Company: The discovery of the sea-route to India by Vasco-da-Gama in 1498 brought the Portuguese and the Dutch to India long before the British. Vasco- da-Gama landed in Calicut and established his fort in Cochin. The Dutch ended the Portuguese colonization by wresting Fort Cochin from them. The French continued their transactions with Pondicherry on the Coromandel Coast as their centre. Gradually the East India Company which was chartered in 1600 established their settlements in Madras (1539), Bombay (1668) and Calcutta (1698). The French also established a trading post in Pondicherry near Tamil Nadu as the Portuguese did in Goa. In the early and mid 19th century British interest in India remained in the seminal stage. On 31st December, 1600, a group of merchants who had incorporated themselves into the East India Company received the privileges of monopoly on all trades with the East Indies. The Company’s ships arrived at the port of Surat, in 1608. As the emissary of King James I in 1605, Sir Thomas Roe secured for the British the right to establish a factory in Surat, from the Moghul Emperor Jehangir. In course of time the British eclipsed the Portuguese and over the years they 1 witnessed a massive expansion of their trading operations in India. Numerous trading posts were established along the east and west coasts of India and English communities flourished around the three presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. In 1717, the Company achieved its pinnacle of success when it received a firman or a royal decree from the Moghul emperor exempting the Company from the payment of custom duties in Bengal. Thus, “the Company whose original aim had been primarily commerce and not conquest soon discovered its manifest destiny of filling the vacuum created in the 18th century India by the gradual disintegration of the Moghul Empire”. (Lal www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Eco.html1) The East India Company’s conquest of India was hastened by the chaos that allegedly followed Aurangazeb’s death. The East India Company had become one of the great mercantilist enterprises in the world as well as the east, and in asserting its dominance over the ever large parts of the sub- continent, it thrust existing weaker Indian mercantilist institutions on to the higher levels of development. The relational web between India and Bengal was woven quite early—well before the actual British dominion was formalized. (Stein 5) The East India Company had initially established itself for trading purposes, and its military establishment was intended to protect this trade. Gradually and almost inconspicuously, it had expanded the territory under its control, chiefly by taking sides in the local disputes helping one rival against another. The Company’s troops were better skilled and being an asset to any side, the Company extracted heavy payment for the aid. (Nehru 277) So the Company’s power developed and its military establishment enlarged. People regarded these troops as mercenaries to be hired. “When it was 2 realized that the British were playing nobody’s game but their own and was out for political domination over India, they had firmly established themselves in the country.” (Idem.) A few years later the Company acquired the right to collect revenues on behalf of the Moghul emperor but the initial years of its administration were devastating for the people of Bengal. In Bengal, after a few months of succeeding to the throne of the Nawab, Siraj-ud-Daulah launched an attack upon Calcutta. He had demanded, as was his right that British fortifications in Calcutta, designed to be used against him be destroyed, and when his demand was not complied with he captured the city. The Nawab was then falsely implicated in the infamous episode of the Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta in which one hundred and forty six English prisoners were said to have suffocated to death by being confined in a small airless prison. The Nawab, in the end, had an unhappy ending. In early 1757, Clive recaptured Calcutta and a few months later the encounter between Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah moved to a decisive close. Betrayed by his old grand uncle, Mir Jafar, and deserted by his army, Siraj-ud- Daulah lost the battle of Plassey on 23rd June 1757 which has been dignified by historians with the epithet ‘battle’, although it lasted no more than a few hours, and, indeed the outcome of the battle was decided long before the soldiers came to the battle field. The aspirant to the Nawab’s throne, Mir Jafar, was induced to throw his lot with Clive. By far, the greater number of the Nawab’s soldiers were bribed to throw away their weapons, surrender prematurely, and even turn their arms against their own army. The forces of East India Company under Clive triumphed and the administration of Bengal fell into the hands of the company.