Representation of Women in Tagore

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Representation of Women in Tagore’s Fiction: The Emergence of the ‘New Woman’

Chinmay Roy Alipurduar,West Bengal

Rabindranath Tagore,recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature, is an internationally acclaimed Indian writer who wrote in Bengali.One of the distinctive as well as recurrent aspects of his fiction is his skilful handling of bold,freedom-seeking women characters.In many of his novels and short stories he takes care to show his women adopting unconventional stand to give vent to their feminine voice in a traditional Hindu society,which can undoubtedly be referred to, in Tennyson’s words, as a “Man to command and woman to obey”(The Princess) society.They do not hesitate to stand against the established values and norms of the society they live in and seek to find their freedom and identity within a situation which is totally and cruelly at odds with their hopes and aspirations,demands and expectations,likes and dislikes.

In fact Tagore’s women, especially his later women can be said to represent the ‘New Woman’,a concept, established by Sarah Grand in her article, The New Aspect of theWomen Question’and further popularized remarkably by British American writer Henry James,Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen whose fictional product Nora stands a glaring example in the genesis of the ‘new woman’.New women are women of affluence and sensitivity,who exhibit an independent spirit and are accustomed to acting on their own.They exercise control over their own lives be it personal,social or economic.They seek to make a room of their own and do not hesitate to free themselves from the shackles of established codes and conventions.Accordingly below is an attempt to trace the presence of those women in Tagore’s novels and short stories,who incorporate in themselves the qualities of the ‘New Woman.’

Chokher Bali(Eyesore,1903)is the story of the yearnings,frustrations and protests of Binodini, a young widow whose marriage with a sick husband hardly reaches any form of consummation and who, as a result, is doomed to live a life of misery in a society that looks down upon widows.When she comes to live in the house of Mahendra and Ashalata the newly married couple had been living in perfect marital bliss.But “anarchy is loosed upon the world”(Yeats,The Second Coming) of Asha as Mahendra falls passionately in love with Binodini and unleashes forbidden emotions in the entire family.Binodini also feels drawn towards him and the three letters that she writes on behalf of Asha become ‘her’ love letters to Mahendra ,an act of seduction ,an act only which can offer a substitute for a young widow’s cravings for ‘romantic love’in such a ‘closed’ society.Mahendra’s closest friend Bihari to whom Binodini lays bare her heart during a conversation in a picnic is also deeply attracted to her. Binodini in her insecurity and emotional fallibility first succumbs to Mahendra’s love,then devotes herself to win the love

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of Bihari.Tagore brings out the intensity of her feelings and emotions at various points of the novel.

In this respect it must be noted that in Tagore’s times women in Bengali households were most often left to their everyday household chores in a potentially hostile environment of the in-laws’ house.If they happened to be young widows they were treated with very little affection and care.Their craving for love and companionship was the last thing on the minds of patriarchal society which instead ascribed a life of austere spirituality for those unhappy lots-the magnitude of which often crossed the border of physical and emotional endurance.But Binodini shows courage not to conform to the roles ascribed to the widows.When the affair between herself and Mahendra gets going the household becomes at a loss as to what to do with her potentially subversive sexuality.She refuses to be tied down to the role of an austere widow.She says bluntly on the face of Rajlakshmi that she would go with Mahendra and grasps his hand in front of her.

In Chokher Bali we find two distinct classes of women characters.Rajlakshmi,the over-protective mother of Mahendra and Annapurna,her brother-in-law’s wife,both elderly widows ,belong to the ‘by-gone’era,se kal and Asha, Mahendra’s adolescent wife and Binodini,the western educated widow are products of the modern era, e kal.Both Rajlakshmi and Annapurna represent traditional values.One is a typical example of a dowager in a joint family , the other that of a docile spiritual widow.Unlike them Binodini is a representative of modern women.The kind of hospitality she shows to Rajlakshmi and Bihari in the village home itself,with deft touches of fine taste and dedication that none can match,sets her apart from the common village- women.Instead she is a woman with a mind and heart of her own.From her relationship with Mahendra and Bihari she shows that she wants to have her share of recognition,love and happiness from the society.

In spite of the passage of the Widow Remarriage Act in 1856 widow-remarriage was perhaps neither a social nor an artistic possibility at the time of Tagore.As seen in Chokher Bali Binodini and Bihari do not marry in the end.But in Chaturanga(1916),at the end of the novel Damini,a young widow,the heroine of the novel gives her consent to marry Sribilas.Like Binodini, Damini is not a woman whose “sphere was defined and maintained by men”(Showalter). She becomes a symbol of a new class of emancipated women,who are no longer prepared to be crushed and burnt out by society but fight to assert their rights in a “male chauvinist society”(Arundhati Roy,The God of Small Things,p.57)

Damini from the beginning is shown as having unyielding temperament and strong convictions.She curtly refuses to follow the guru,Leelananda Swami while everyone including her husband obeys him blindly.She possesses such power in the novel that the guru is scared of her and does not impose his decisions on her.When her husband gives away her jewellery to the Guru he says that he has no right over them as they were her father’s gift.After her husband’s death she does not feel anything wrong in loving Sachish and does everything to get his attention.



Like Binodini she refuses to be tied down to a “liminal state beween being physically alive and being socially dead”(Chakravarty,2013) ,a role the society ascribes to the widows.She registers her protest in no uncertain terms as she says to Sachish: “ …Haven’t you people put chains round my feet and flung this woman without faith into the prison of devotion?...some of you will decide this for me,some that,to suit your convenience - am I a mere pawn in your game.”(Rabindra Upanyas Samagra,vol.2,p.358)

Damini is also resonant with sexual desires,the presence of which in a widow was forbidden in the then society.She submits herself to Sachish in the cave.But Sachish is unable to respond to her sexual advances ,perhaps because he cannot rise above the society’s dominant idea of ‘desexualized widow.’

The character of Nanibala ,though a marginal presence in the novel,is of significance.Jagmohan gives shelter to Nanibala,the young widow,whom Sachish’s elder brother Purandar burdens with pregnancy.He makes arrangements for Sachish’s marriage with her,without thinking it necessary to know her mind.It is beyond his wildest imagination that Nanibala can possess any feeling of love for the wicked Purandar.For him Nanibala is more a concept in his longer design of the project of social uplift than a creature of flesh and blood.Nanibala can not be openly rebellious like Binodini or Damini.But she,nevertheless,makes her silence heard through her suicidal note in which she declares her undying love for Purandar: “Father I could not,please forgive me. I have tried heart and soul,for your sake, to forget him, but I could not.”( Rabindra Upanyas Samagra,vol.2,p.343)

Set against the backdrop of the swadeshi(home rule) movement in Bengal Ghare Baire(The Home and the World,1916) gives out the trajectory of Bimala’s transformation from a traditional housewife to a modern and conscious woman.At the opening of the novel Bimala is a traditional, obedient house wife,who is faithful to her husband ,even forcing herself to be respectful towards her nagging sister-in-law.She says, “I would cautiously and silently get up and take the dust of my husband’s feet without waking him,how at such moments I could feel the vermilion mark upon my forehead shining out like the morning star.”(Rabindra Upanyas Samagra,vol.2,p.602). But her character undergoes a radical change with her meeting with Sandip,her husband’s friend and an active supporter of the movement.As she develops romantic feelings for Sandip,she slowly weans herself from the traditional housewife role.She becomes more daring,more confidently brushing off her sister-in-law’s criticisms,crossing outside the women’s quarter of the house and easily conversing with a man Sandip,who is not her husband.Thus she turns into an independent and modern woman.

Although not painted in bold strokes,the appearance of the “new woman” is perceptible in some other novels too.In his political novelGora(1910),Sucharita and Lalita,the two leading female characters ,hold their personal views on marriage. Jogajog(Relationships,1929) depicts a conjugal relationship based on force rather than consent.The Tagorean message here is that Madhusudan’s – or any man’s for that matter – idea that women were simply beings to be kept



and used was not acceptable.Women have particular sensibilities and need to be wooed not just claimed.Shesher Kobita(The Last Poem,1929) recounts the love story of Amit Ray,an Oxford educated person with virulent intellectualism.His chance encounter with Labanya in a car accident in Shillong results in the building up of a romance between the two.Amit’s iconoclasm meets with Labanya’s sincere simplicity through a series of dialogues and poems that they write for each other.After building up their affair the lovers decide to marry other suitors,without any air of tragedy.In the text the reason appears to be that they feel that daily chores of living together will kill the purity of their romance.

However Tagore’s most subtle portrayal of a woman’s heart perhaps occurs in the novella Nastoneer(The Broken Nest,1903).It tells the tale of a neglected housewife Charulata whose rather old detached husband pays no attention to her owing to the mad pursuit of his intellectual hobby of running a radical English news paper in Calcutta.Her loneliness in the big house is like that of the mariner in the vast sea in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

“Alone,alone,all, all alone

Alone on a wide, wide sea!

And never a saint took pity on

My soul in agony.”

However the sun shines brighter for Charulata as she develops an intimate friendship with Amal,Bhupati’s cousin of almost her same age.She takes great pleasure in tending to Amal,fulfilling his trivial demands,reading articles with him and inspiring him to continue writing.Her apparently innocent intimacy with Amal catches her offguard and she becomes deeply attached to him.Amal also realizes that his emotions are leading him astray .He marries a girl rather hastily and goes abroad to study.Charulata is crushed by his departure.The deph of her emotions comes out powerfully in an array of words: “I haven’t forgotten you Amal.Not for a day,not for a moment.You have given me the best things in my life.I’ll worship you everyday with all my heart.”(Galpaguchha,p.442) Being a married Bengali woman her involvement with Amal who is not her husband,is really ahead of the time she is a product of.

When Bhupati realizes that his wife is in love with Amal he adopts a soft approach and decides to forgive Charulata.At last he offers to take Charu with him but she refuses replying to his offer of togetherness with the simple expression, “ na ,thak.”, “no,it’s all right.”(Galpaguchha,p.448)

Shasti(Punishment) takes the symbol of female resistance one step further.It tells the story of two farmer brothers Dukhiram and Chidam Rui.When Dukhiram kills his wife in a fit of rage,Chidam persuades his wife Chandara to take the blame. He says, “If I lose my wife I can get another but if my brother is hanged I’ll not find him any more.”(Galpaguchha,p.171). He tells



Chandara that she must plead self-defence. But when she appears in court ,she tells the judge that she was unprovoked and is sentenced to death.In choosing her own fate Chandara punishes her husband for placing his filial bond to Dukhiram over his romantic attachment to her.In her thoughts Chandara was saying to her husband , “I shall give my youth to the gallows instead of you.My final ties in this life will be to them.”(Galpaguchha,p.174). When Chidam tries to visit her on the eve of her execution ,she pronounces , “To hell with him!”(Galpaguchha,p.176).Chandara’s voice seems to echo the words of Sarah Grand in The New Aspect of the Women Question:

“O man! man! You are a very funny fellow now we know you! But take care.The standard of your pleasure and convenience has already ceased to be our conscience.”(Sarah Grand,p.274)

A more prominent note of protest characterizes Tagore’s Streer Patra(The Wife’s Letter,1914).The writer’s experimentation with the form is remarkable here.He departs from the conventional third person mode of storytelling to an incorporation of the female voice assuming a first person assertive tone.The entire tale is narrated in terms of a letter written by the protagonist to her husband.

The letter begins with the traditional reverential address “Sricharankamaleshu”, “Your revered lotus feet” but ends with supreme self-assurance as Mrinal signs off with the subscription , “Tomader Charantalasroychinno”, “Free from the shelter beneath your feet”Mrinal.By signing her own name rather than the descriptive chronological nomenclature attributed to her as ‘Mejo Bou’, that is,wife of the second son ,Mrinal is reborn as herself.(Dipankar Roy,2013)

The story encompasses Mrinal’s girlhood,her state of deprivation as a daughter,as a wife as well as as a mother.She develops a deep companionship with Bindu.Unable to put up with the ill-effects of a hasty marriage,against her will, with a mad husband Bindu commits suicide.In protest Mrinal leaves her husband after fifeen years of married life with him: “But I will never again return to your house at number 27,Makhan Baral Lane.I have seen Bindu.I have learnt what it means to be a woman in this domestic world.I need no more of it.”(Galpaguchha,p.614). Unlike Bindu she never seeks solace in death-bed.Rather she chooses a life that would be her own.Her self-realisation is complete with the declaration: “How trivial is this daily commerce of my life,how trivial are its set rules,set habits,set phrases,set blows.” (Galpaguchha,p.615).The concluding line of Mrinal’s letter is a re-scripting of Mirabai’s song that is quoted by the wife who has discovered herself and her identity: “I too shall live.At last I live.”( Galpaguchha,p.615)

Mrinal in her resistance seems to anticipate Satyabati of Ashapurna Debi’s Pratham Pratisruti(The First Promise1964).Like Mrinal Satyabati decides to leave her husband and home after thirty years of leading a married life.She experiences a rare sense of freedom as she tells her



husband, “For thirty years I have been looking at you for everything,now at the fag end I want to look at myself.”(Pratham Pratishruti,p.506)

Another embodiment of Tagorean modern woman is Kalyani of Aparichita(The Unfamiliar).Her marriage with the unnamed narrator of the story was broken on the selfsame day following some argument over the weight of the jewellery.But unlike women in general she is not a passive sufferer.She voices her protest in a different manner.She grows into a smart,refined lady full of life and laughter, learns the art of speaking Hindi and English fluently and decides not to marry.Instead she takes upon herself the noble task of educating women.The narrator was struck with wonder and filled with adoration at her smart personality during a chance meeting in a train.In fact the passive and sub-ordinate nature of the narrator provides a glaring contrast ,that helps to throw into greater relief the independent and self-sufficient nature of Kalyani.

Tagore’s representation of modern woman reaches a different height through the character of Sohini in Laboratory(1941).She is a young Punjabi woman with a penetrating analytical mind and razor sharp intellect.Her magnetic personality draws the attention of a Bengali scientist Nandakishore who marries her and wins her unadulterated regard.After her husband’s death she devotes herself to the mission of preserving and developing the laboratory of which her husband was very fond.Rebati Bhattacharya,a rising young scientist was entrusted with the responsibility of the laboratory. Her daughter Nila(conceived before marriage) is a wayward, wanton but beautiful lady.All that she wants is money and to live like a free bird.Her plan was tomarry inncent Rebati on the one hand and on the other hand to continue with her lavish life with Nandakishore’s money. She even consults the lawyers on how to get her share of Nandakishore’s money.When Sohini sees through her plan, she publicly declares unequivocally that Nila is not Nandakishore’s daughter.She has no inhibition in admitting her infidelity.She says that her husband was aware of it.

Not only publicly,Sohini had earlier disclosed her infidelity to Manmatha Chaudhury in private:

“ I feel ashamed to confess that I had been wanton.The very thought that I have been close to a number of men still ruffles me…Our temptations lie hidden under our flesh and bones ,but flares up at the slightest provocation.It does not inhibit me to to tell the truth that very early in my life I went to the bad.We women are not chaste all our life; pretensions are constantly killing us.Even women like Draupadi and Kunti have to behave like Sita and Savitri…Yes, my body has been tainted,but not my soul.”(Galpaguchha,pp.750-751)

It is certainly a bold statement not only about her ,but about womankind in general.Sohini’s forthright disclosure of infidelity was indeed startling and revolutionary.A child out of wedlock is a disgrace for a mother – this was the entrenched view at the time as it is today.For an Indian woman to admit her “sin” in public is a challenge to the establishment.Rabindranath probably intended to do that through Sohini.(Bharati Ray,p.78).



In this context Saudamini of Tagore’s short story Badnaam(1941) deserves special reference.She is an unusual character.In boldness,intelligence and deceptions ,she is no less than Sohini.Sohini’s mission in life is to save the laboratory; Saudamini’s is to strengthen the struggle for freedom movement. Saudamini loves her husband and yet deceives him in order to continue her life’s work.She tells her husband, “ I love you and have looked after you to the best of my ability,and I hoodwinked you for the sake of what I consider my duty.”(Gapaguchha,p.782). It has been the traditional Indian belief that husband is the supreme spiritual lord of a wife and the most trustworthy person.Tagore seems to attack this tradition through Saudamini.

Many other stories of Tagore like Postmaster,Haimanti,Khata ,Samapti etc are also marked by the presence of wonderful women characters.In Postmaster Tagore captures the innermost feelings and emotions of a small village girl Ratan brilliantly.Mrinmayi in Samapti,Uma in Khata also exemplify Tagore’s rare art of characterization but their brilliance lies elsewhere as they are not so boldly and forcefully portrayed as the ones discussed above.

So to sum up it can easily be said that Tagore shows great courage in endowing his women with bold traits.There is no denying the fact that almost all his female characters live a traditional life in a traditional society ,but they are yet very strong.With their protests ,with their bold assertion of their rights and feelings openly against the ills of the society,they seem to represent the ‘New Woman’.In fact Tagore’s campaign for women’s liberation can be said to be far ahead of its time, as evident in the characters of Damini,Binodini,Sohini,Mrinal and many others.

Works Cited:

1. Chakravarty,R. Novelist Tagore :Gender and Modernity in Selected Texts,Routledge,New Delhi,2013

2. Coleridge,Samuel Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,The Lyrical Ballads,1798.

3.Devi,Ashapurna.Pratham Pratishruti, Mitra & Ghosh Publishers Pvt.Ltd.,Calcutta,1964,rpt.2012,p.506

4. Grand,Sarah. The New Aspect of the Women Question,The North American Review,Vol. 158,No. 448,March 1894,pp.270-276

5. Ray,Bharati. “New Woman” in Rabindranath Tagore’s Short Stories: An Interrogation of “ Laboratory”, Asiatic,Vol. 4, No. 2, December,2010,p.78

6. Roy,Arundhati. The God of Small Things,IndiaInk,Thomson Press,New Delhi,India,1997

7. Roy,Dipankar. Women in Tagore’s ‘Domestic Novels’, Issue 51,September –October,2013,ISSN: 0975-1815



8. Showalter,Elaine. Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness , Mordern Criticism and Theory: A Reader, Eds. David Lodge,Pearson Education,Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.,Delhi,2008,p.340

9. Tagore,Rabindranath. Rabindra Upanyas Samagra, Vol.2, Subham,Kolkata Book Fair,2010

10. Tagore,Rabindranath. Galpaguchha,Sahityam,Calcutta Book Fair,2003

11. Tennyson,Alfred Lord. The Princess,The Collected Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson,Wordsworth Editions Limited,Hertfordsire,Great Britain,1994,p.261

12. Yeats,William Butler. The Second Coming,Yeats’s Poems,Eds. Norman Jeffares,Palgrave,Great Britain,1996,p.294



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Representation of Women in Tagore