A STAR IN THE INDIAN LITERARY HORIZON
Between 1950 and 2000, a throng of Indian women writers in English began to express themselves in poetry. Sudipta is a poet-critic-translator, but poetry is the genre closest to her heart. Thus far she has published three volumes of poetry: For Your Eyes Only (1994), Aurora (1996), and Meanderings of a Mind (1997). Her poems have been included in international anthologies such as World Poetry 97, Poems 96 (Quest) and others. They have also been translated into Telugu and are in the process of being translated into Hindi and Bengali. In 1999, Sudipta received the International Michael Madhusudan Dutt Academy Award for literature. She was also awarded a D.Litt. by the International University, Washington D.C. Sudipta goes beyond the recurrent sense of hurt into a sense of harmony, peace and fulfillment. The poems in her volume Aurora specifically progress from an attitude of despair to one of hope.
A REALISTIC AND VIVID PORTRAIT OF THE INDIAN WOMAN
Through her poems enshrined in the volume Aurora1, Sudipta presents a realistic and vivid portrait of the Indian woman, against the overpowering background of the Indian culture. In her own words, Aurora is a flowering of emotions at the altar of womenhood2. Sudipta herein depicts the psychological and emotional nature of woman as groomed to cater to the conventional demands of a patriarchal society. She provides a complete picture of the Indian woman from childhood to old age, from ancient times to the twentieth century.
THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF AURORA
The poems are thematically divided into six sections. The first four sections, namely "The Culture Frown", "A Patterned Existence", "Cracked Crucibles" and "Weaving Motifs" focus on the social, psychological and economical negations in a woman's life. The last two sections entitled "A Haze of Awakening" and "Shakti" explore the potential strength of the Indian woman beneath her exterior delicacy.
TWO IMPORTANT ELEMENTS: ENVIRONMENT AND ALIENATION
I see two important elements in Aurora: Environment and Alienation. This motif is perfectly illustrated in Sudipta's poem, "A Flower in the Desert". Here is a dual image of the beautiful lotus thriving in a slimy bed and the ornamental cactus surviving in the arid desert: A fine metaphorical reflection of the Indian woman. Like the lotus and the cactus, she is born into a hostile environment and has to battle for survival. She experiences alienation within her own home as well as within the wider cultural setup. Born with the privilege of being the "fairer" sex, she is soon fettered by society and its meaningless norms.
Shakuntala Narasimhan, a contemporary journalist, aptly defines the position of the woman in India as follows:
Smothered or poisoned at birth, given away in marriage at a tender age, bargained over like some commodity by dowry-hungry in-laws, secluded in the name of chastity and religion, and finally burned for the exaltation of the family's honour … the burden of oppression took different stages of a woman's life, from birth to death ... 3
Sudipta's poems reflect the same image of womanhood.
THE VANISHING CHILDHOOD OF THE INDIAN GIRL
"A Rosebud is Born" is a poem which delves into the childhood of the Indian girl. A newborn girl is likened to a rosebud and a precious pearl; a blend of physical beauty and delicate worth. The poem "Innocence" goes on to say that her movement is like the lilting flow of water, and her hands like a pair of wings. At this stage she is ignorant of the dark mysteries that await her in life ahead. Sudipta continually draws from the beauty of nature around her for her metaphors. In this she is one with the Indian poetic tradition. However, Sudipta uses her metaphors to draw a new set of conclusions about women and their position in contemporary Indian society.
The poem "Succor" describes the childhood bliss and innocence in the following words:
When I was young, innocent and joyous
The sun shone brighter, the flowers more colourful
Always blue was the sky...
My mind was strengthened with faith and trust
For I visualised only goodness in all mankind. (Aurora, p. 50)
This vision of puerile joy vanishes as the girl grows into a woman. The poem entitled "A Girl" vividly states:
With blows and bruises
I just grew, with
Every moment of pain
Piercing my soul
Numbing my senses. (Aurora, p. 27)
A VEILED TREACHEROUS ABYSS AWAITS THE WOMANHOOD
The girl now steps into a veiled treacherous abyss where she will bemoan her fate, her very birth. She is soon aware of the mixed emotions which greeted her birth, and soon discovers that her birth was associated with horrifying images of empty coffers (Aurora, p. 23). In no uncertain terms Sudipta shows the disparity between the God-given dignity of a woman and the low esteem bestowed on her by human society. Born to be "another lovely entity of God's creation" (Aurora, p. 23) she becomes, in course of time, the object of cheap abuses and disrespect. Given a chance, every Indian woman will burst into bloom and exude the inner fragrance she possesses. Unfortunately, she is stifled by the cultural milieu she finds herself in, as explicitly stated in the poem "A Condemned Lot". A girl's lot in life includes social constraints, contraventions, induced suppressions, excessive supervision and constant depression. Don't we know that Indian languages exhibit such attitudes in their nuances, idioms, proverbs, and folk songs?
INDIAN WOMAN AS THE CRUCIBLE: MARRIAGE IS DEATH?
The 'Crucible' provides yet another facet of the feminine image. As specified in the preface to Aurora, a woman is a crucible, in other words, a passive receptacle of cultural and gender discrimination. The word 'crucible' refers to a heat-resisting container. Like the crucible, the Indian woman has to resist and withstand the pressures of an antagonistic social environment, an environment, which erases her individuality and ignores her longings. Consequently, marriage is presented as being synonymous with death in the poem "Burial". To quote:
It was with great fanfare, fun and excitement
That a beautiful grave was being dug. (Aurora, p. 69)
Why does the poet equate marriage with death? To begin with, Indian culture "forbids" a young woman to marry the person of her choice. This is exemplified in the narrative poem "Nowhere Woman". It describes the agony of a village girl Asha, who is wrenched from the affections of her lover and forcibly wedded to the person of her parents' choice. Sudipta poignantly says:
Casteism had reared its ugly head
She was forcibly married to another. (Aurora, p. 48)
Following marriage, a woman assumes a multi-dimensional role, simultaneously losing herself and her own unique individuality. The poem "Only Dreams" says that since times immemorial, the woman in India has merely tread on the footsteps of her husband, leading a mindless existence. To quote:
Every foot she placed forward
In the desert sands of her life
She lost her identity bit by bit
Engulfed completely by her husband's feet
Moulding herself in accordance
With his mentality and lifestyle
She lost her charming individuality... (Aurora, p. 7)
SUBMISSION AND MURDEROUS RAGE
Two other poems which elucidate the Indian woman's domestic status are "Submission" and "Murderous Rage". Submission has been the essence of the woman's life. She is expected to be meek and compliant, docile as a lamb. This again is a paradoxical situation. The lady of the house is its very lifeblood. She is both sustainer and provider, as well as its ornament. Nevertheless, she is stripped of all dignity and self-respect. In the words of the poet:
Near voicelessness is what men generally prefer
Yet very much aware that absolute dumbness
Will bring to a grinding halt
The well-oiled wheels of their beautiful home. (Aurora, p. 13)
The pathos of this paradox is further illustrated in the poem "Murderous Rage". This is the picture of a humble home where the woman gathers wood for the hearth and sells some of it to generate income. There is no consideration for her health or her well being. It would apt to quote a few lines:
However the weather may be
Whatever the state of her health
Nothing ever seemed to matter
But picking the axe with the rising sun
And plodding to the near forest (Aurora, p. 52)
GENDER CONFLICT
She is not only a housewife but serves the family like a maid. Despite her selfless service, she is greeted by a raging husband who eventually burns her to death. A woman is thus destined to face persecution from all sides. The poem "Chauvinism" poses a direct question which unearths the gender conflict:
Are you men born to play hell into women?
To make their lives miserable with innumerable Obstructions (Aurora, p. 63)
THE SUBSERVIENT PSYCHE
Sudipta not only presents the social milieu within which the woman
exists. She also probes into the woman's psyche, exposing the fears,
perplexities and dilemmas implanted therein. Realisation of her subservience
emerges very strongly and a deluge of emotions comes to the fore from
the inner sanctum of the woman's consciousness. "Tears Unbidden" is
a poem which depicts the wounded soul and the grief which find expression
in a flood of tears. Once again, reference may be made to the crucible
image. The poem "Cracked Crucibles" says:
From the walls of the crucible in its virgin beauty
An exude of emotions emerge, varying in size and shape ...
Disintegrated hopes blew away like the clouds (Aurora, p. 39)
This image of the woman's soul is found in a "Sonnet to Pain" which describes a woman's suffering as intense and acute. Besides, there is no one to sympathize with her agony and she exists solitary as a rock.
A POETIC HOPE OR DELUSION?
The last two sections of Aurora, "A Haze of Awakening" and "Shakti", are a distinct breakaway from the previous sections in tone and texture. The mood of dejection gives way to one of hopefulness:
Amidst the darkening cloudy sky
Was shone an illuminating beam;
Even though this heart had resolved to die
By an angel's tender love was I redeemed. (Aurora, p. 105)
The poems in this section contain an exalted yet realistic, while at the same a conventional, image of womanhood. Despite the constraints of a patriarchal society, the Indian woman proves her mettle as a conqueror. Sudipta conveys this message of hope through a number of metaphors and allusions.
A SENSE OF LIBERATION AND A NEW NAME AND IDENTITY: A VISTA OF THE FUTURE?
The poem "Liberation" discusses the Indian woman's position in terms of a farming metaphor. The woman is the land and the man is the farmer who has ploughed and subjugated her for centuries, sowing seeds of pain and humiliation. The poem "Woman's Name" offers a novel picture of "the patriarchal universe". Sailing in the vast ocean of existence, are a number of boats, each bearing the name of a man. A woman does not possess her own boat but lives under the insignia of a man, be it her father or husband. Despite this suppression, women have succeeded in asserting their individuality.
This thought is given concrete shape in another poem, "The White Horse". The horse symbolizes the hope and courage which ought to spur a woman towards her goal, in spite of numerous setbacks. Thus the earlier image of the passive crucible is replaced by that of the valiant horse. The horse may be hurt and crippled, but it limps towards its goal. Similarly, a woman may be the victim of discrimination, or she may be forsaken by her family. Nevertheless she emerges victorious and never opts for death. This optimism is further reiterated in the poem, "The Warrior Class", which is a tribute to the historical personage, Jhansi Ki Rani, who represents the valiant spirit in the Indian woman. Every woman is a warrior in her own right. To quote:
Modern woman are [sic] warriors one and
Who need no swords or horses
To prove their grit and worth
Struggling morning noon and night
And cater to the family's needs ... (Aurora, p. 112)
Women, thus, play a pivotal role at home, and thereby in society. A
truly appealing and conventional theme from which even this imaginative
and sensitive writer could not escape!
Sudipta glorifies the Indian woman not for her physical charm but rather, because of the spiritual fortitude which has sustained her through years of subjugation. She urges every woman to rejuvenate her innate 'Shakti', to assert herself boldly. The following poem, "Nine Lives" underscores this innate strength:
They forgot that I was born
A woman of inherent strength and
With infinite faith in the Lord;
This combined power can take on
All situations any way they come
For death may subdue us, but
With nine lives is a woman blessed. (Aurora, p. 117)
EQUALITY IN GOD'S ARRANGEMENT
In conclusion, the poet presents the contrast between the actual, inborn status of a woman, as opposed to her cultural status. She draws from the environment her metaphors, and depicts the alienation of women in Indian society with sympathy, anger and understanding. Metaphors become her message. She advises every woman to be "transformed into a woman/a real woman, not the man-made one" (Aurora, p.118). In addition, she establishes the equality between men and women in her poem "Equality in Dust". Gender discrimination is a product of culture and is not ordained by God. Both men and women were created out of dust and similarly, return to dust. Moreover they are made in the image of God. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female," in God (Galatians 3:28).
Having established this equality with images taken from the Bible, Sudipta brings in a metaphor of her own, a sort of flipflop of the creation story in the Bible, to argue that women actually have the upper hand in the gender conflict. It is true that Indian culture welcomes a boy with beaming smiles as he is considered to be the traditional provider and guardian. But the fact remains that:
Of a woman's blood is a man born
With her milk has he been nurtured (Aurora, p. 114)
Although fettered within the caverns of social orthodoxy, "Yet, ironically,
she is the universal mother An embodiment of life and its procreator"
(Aurora, p. 119). As a final word, Sudipta inspires women to translate
from a position of vulnerability to one of courage. According to her,
Womanhood should be invincible armour
And motherhood the flag of the earth's destiny; (Aurora, p. 124)
REFERENCES
1. B. Sudipta. Aurora Visakhapatnam: Indian Scholar Publications, 1997. Preface.
2. ibid.
3. Quoted in Ruth and Vishal Mangalvadi. William Carey and the Regeneration of India. Mussoorie: Nivedit Good Books Distributors, 1997, p. 15.