Rites of Passage: Women’s Reforms in Autobiographies of Sunity Devi, Cornelia Sorabji and Indira Goswami A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in English by Esha Nadkarni (Reg. No. 1630020) Under the Supervision of Sushma V. Murthy Associate Professor Department of English CHRIST (Deemed to be University) BENGALURU, INDIA December 2017 DECLARATION I Esha Nadkarni, hereby declare that the dissertation, titled Rites of Passage: Women’s Reforms in Autobiographies of Sunity Devi, Cornelia Sorabji and Indira Goswami is a record of original research work undertaken by me for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in English. I have completed this study under the supervision of Dr. Sushma V. Murthy, Associate Professor, Department of English. I also declare that this dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associate ship, fellowship or other title. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru Date: ..................... Esha Nadkarni Reg no: 1630020 Department of English CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Bengaluru CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation submitted by Esha Nadkarni (Reg. No.1630020) titled Rites of Passage: Women’s Reforms in Autobiographies of Sunity Devi, Cornelia Sorabji and Indira Goswami is a record of research work done by her during the academic year 2016- 2017 under my supervision in partial fulfillment for the award of Master of Philosophy in English. This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associate ship, fellowship or other title. It has not been sent for any publication or presentation purpose. I hereby confirm the originality of the work and that there is no plagiarism in any part of the dissertation. Place: Bengaluru Date: ..................... Sushma V. Murthy Associate Professor Department of English CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Bengaluru Head of the Department Department of English CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Bengaluru Nadkarni 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT As this eventful journey of Mphil comes to an end, I have a few people to thank without whom this dissertation would not have seen the light of day. A mere thank you would not be sufficient to express my gratitude to Dr. Sushma V. Murthy, my supervisor, whose guidance helped this dissertation blossom into an authentic and exciting piece of research. Her patience, perseverance, and warm smile were beacons of encouragement throughout and I am greatly blessed to have had her as my supervisor. I am also indebted to my internal examiner, Dr. Arya Aiyappan for sharing her insightful suggestions and views that further molded my dissertation. A big thank you goes out to my parents and friends too. They have been my support system throughout this journey, motivating me and cheering for me whenever I felt low or incapable. Your warm hugs and soothing words helped me believe in myself, and my dissertation. Lastly, I would like to thank the Department of English, Christ (Deemed to be University); The HoD Dr. Abhaya N.B. and all the other professors for their feedback and assistance during this course. I thank you for being a part of this journey. I dedicate this dissertation to my Ajo and Aji who have been unconditional in their love and support. ABSTRACT The genre of autobiographies is a retrospective genre where the author narrates his/her story in an attempt to reconstruct his/her personal development in a social, cultural, historical or political framework whilst making coherent meaning of the past events. Unlike men’s autobiographies, women’s autobiographies are not just made up of one singular voice, but they echo voices of several other women forming a collective women’s consciousness due to their shared histories. These autobiographies are a reflection of their time and age, exposing patriarchy and gender biases during its specific periods of time. In a male-centric society where women were never allowed to speak their mind, writing gave voice to the voiceless. For a long time, people believed that all women’s activities should only belong to the private realm with no direct bearing on the society and state. Hence women's issues were private. But with the gradual change in attitude, women's questions have started receiving a different dimension. The primary texts are The Autobiography of an Indian Princess written in 1920 by Sunitee Devi, Cornelia Sorabji’s India Calling (1934) and Indira Goswami’s An Unfinished Autobiography (1990). These autobiographies written in the twentieth century, belong to women reformers who made attempts to bring a change in the lives of girls and women. The research will analyze women's reforms and writing in the autobiographies of Sunitee Devi, Cornelia Sorabji and Indira Goswami along with the progress in female education in twentieth century India by textually analyzing the primary texts through the lens of feminism, autobiographical writing and women’s reforms. The first chapter of the dissertation will state the objectives and the research question of the dissertation in relation to the three autobiographies. The entensive literature review will highlight the genre of autobiography, women’s writing, women’s reforms along with book reviews of the texts. The second chapter is an analysis of Sunity Devi’s An Autobiography of an Indian Princess taking into consideration her socio-historical background, reforms in education and personal life. The third chapter deals with India Calling by Cornelia Sorabji examines her struggle in becoming India’s first woman lawyer, the lives of purdahnashins and reforms brought about by Sorabji. The fourth chapter studies Indira Goswami’s An Unfinished Autobiography with regard to her life, her writing and the lives of widows in Vrindaban. Lastly, the fifth chapter will be the conclusion of the dissertation along with further scope and the limitations. Keywords: women autobiographies, social reform, feminism, writing, female education, resistance TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval of Dissertation ii Declaration iii Certificate iv Acknowledgements v Abstract vi Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Primary texts 3 1.2 Research question and objectives 4 1.2.1 Research question 4 1.1.2 Research objectives 4 1.3 Review of literature 4 1.3.1 Autobiographical writing 5 1.3.2 Women’s writing 11 1.3.3 Women's reforms 12 1.3.4 Book reviews 14 1.4 Method and methodology 15 1.4.1 Method 15 1.4.2 Methodology 15 1.5 Scope 16 1.6 Relevance and limitations 16 1.6.1 Relevance 16 1.6.2 Limitations 1.7 Conclusion 16 Works Cited 18 Chapter 2 Women's Reform and Patriarchy in Sunity Devi's An Autobiography of an Indian Princess 21 2.1 Introduction 21 2.2 The brahmo movement in India 23 2.3 Sunity's insights in brahmo movement 24 2.4 Sunity's family and upbringing 27 2.5 Influence of brahmo movement and the contributions of Sunity Devi to women's education in India 31 2.6 Conclusion 34 Works Cited 38 Chapter 3 Unveiling Women's Reforms in Cornelia Sorabji's India Calling 40 3.1 Introduction 40 3.2 Sorabji's view on women education in India 42 3.3 Sexual politics and law in India Calling 45 3.4 Cornelia Sorabji and the purdahnashins 50 3.5 Conclusion 56 Works Cited 61 Chapter 4 Writing and Resistance in Indira Goswami's An Unfinished Autobiography 64 4.1 Introduction 64 4.2 Woman's education and Indira Goswami 68 4.3 Radheshyamis in An Unfinished Autobiography 71 4.4 Writing as a form of revolt 77 4.5 Conclusion 81 Works Cited 84 Chapter 5 Conclusion 87 5.1 Scope and limitations 92 Works Cited 93 Bibliography 94 Chapter 1 Introduction The word autobiography can be broken into three words “autos” the self, “bios” the life and “graphe” which is the act of writing. So the autobiography very simply means the act of writing about one’s own self. The genre of autobiographies is a retelling of life, a mode of self-revelation. In this retrospective genre, the author narrates his/her story in an attempt to reconstruct his/her personal development in a social, cultural, historical or political framework whilst making coherent meaning of the past events. Autobiographies are not a part of traditional Indian culture, but from the nineteenth century onwards, autobiographical writings had started emerging in India. The writing of autobiographies is essentially a result of English education. Men began writing their autobiographies much before women; even now the number of men autobiographers is higher than women. In the words of Kumar, “Autobiographical writing is an act of a conscious self which is documented through the active help of memory. Since human memory is short, the autobiographer tries to make up the forgotten past by inventing things which suit the narration” (Kumar 3). Autobiographies are a product of memory, and through this amalgamation of memory, one can see the emergence of ‘self’ which is the making of the author. The narrator can choose what topics s/he will feature in his/her autobiography depending on which he considers significant. Autobiographical writing is a political act as it is an assertion of the narrative self. Some critics believe that the act of writing about oneself is an act of self-glorification. But then again not all autobiographies are a celebration of self, some of them are tales of struggle and self-awakening. As per Kumar, autobiographies can be divided into three main types- informal, formal and specialized form. Informal autobiography consists of intimate writing not intended for publication. Formal autobiography offers a special kind of biographical truth.