See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/332190170

Portrayal of Women in Indian Fiction

Article · February 2019

CITATIONS READS

0 306

2 authors:

Ishita Pundir Alankrita Singh

Amity University Amity University
1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS    1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

An Impact Assessment of Skill Development Schemes for women Self Help Groups (SHGs) & Livelihood: A Study of Three Blocks View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Alankrita Singh on 04 April 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Ishita Pundir and Alankrita Singh, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences,
ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 09 Issue 02, February 2019, Page 137-141

Portrayal of Women in Indian Fiction

Ishita Pundir1 and Alankrita Singh2
1
(M.A. History, University of Delhi, India)
2
(M.A. Sociology, University of Kota, India)
Abstract: A woman is a dawn of light where all the darkness disappears. She is the sun that enlightens
everyone and beholds the ability to vanish all the fear that grows in darkness of mind. Women are essentially
the origin of life. No one can cast a doubt on the substantiality of women that they are the ultimate creators of
this very existence. The woman strengthens the foundation of family as a mother, daughter, sister, and wife
embracing everyone with the unconditional love. If allowed to grow their potential they not only enhance a
women’s world as writers, entrepreneurs, mystics, painters, counselors, scientists but can also provide a better
vision to the men’s world. The following paper highlights the transformation of women from the Vedic ages to
the Contemporary Era.
Keywords: Women, Fiction, Novels, Women Empowerment

I. INTRODUCTION
Literature is considered as the reality of society defined in words. It depicts the way societal beings
regard, understand, or interpret various situations and things in their everyday life. Literature is a medium that
influences the imagination and vision of the society that ultimately leads to the stereotypes and values that are
inbuilt in the system. Once someone starts reading it he/she has a reflection of another person’s mind, even the
one who is no more in existence. From the centuries, literature is conveying and mentioning clearly about the
scenarios and conditions of the world. It is therefore the greatest of human innovations, connecting people
together who never were aware of each other. Literature is an addition to physical existence, not a mere
description of it. It enhances the requisite capability and knowledge in daily life. Through literature, people can
traverse across the greatest and some insignificant aspects in the human continuance. As Ezra Pound said,
“Great Literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”
Ever since the beginning of human civilization, human societies have been inclined towards specifying
the separate parts, moral duties, rules about displaying a particular behaviour and shares of responsibility, and
even different feelings to men and women. By this, they used the biological distinction of sex (between male
and female) to formulate and apply the social differentiation of gender (between masculine and feminine).
Considering the example of conditions of women in the Victorian Era, the position of women in the Victorian
era is often regarded as a demonstration of the unusual incongruity between the Great Britain’s national power
and riches and treasures, then and now, contemplating about its awful social conditions. During the era
represented by the time in power of British monarch Queen Victoria, women did not have the right to vote, sue,
or own property. In the same time, women were indulged into the paid labour force in escalating numbers
resulting in the Industrial Revolution. Thoughts about feminism were widespread among the educated middle
classes, discriminatory laws were abolished, and the women's movement regarding the right to vote in the
political elections attained the strength in the last years of the Victorian era. In the Victorian era, women were
perceived to be affiliated to the domiciliary activities, and this stereotypical thought mandated them to arrange a
clean home for their husbands, cater food on the table, and nurture their children. The rights of women were
intensely restricted in this era; they were ceased from the possession of their payments earned from the work, all
of their physical goods and chattels, except from land property, and all the other hard cash they generated once
they were tied into the nuptial bond. When a Victorian man and woman married, the rights of the woman
legally designated to her better half. Under the law, the married couple was accepted as one entity represented
by the husband, positioning him superior and the proprietor of all property, earnings, and money. Furthermore,
from losing their possessions and physical property to their husbands, Victorian wives became property to their
husbands, providing them the rights to own their bodies and what they produced: children, sex, and domiciliary
exertion. Marriage rescinded a woman's right to acquiesce to establish conjugal relationship with her husband,
giving him "proprietary rights” over her body. Such differentiation of gender functions, subjecting to approach
the factors like education, experience, time and financial support, have had their impact on the ways in which
men and women could partake in literature as writers, readers and potentially even as characters. In the “The
Picture of Dorian Gray”, Oscar Wilde wrote, “My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative
sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over
mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.”
In a patriarchal society, women are expected to be very calm in general. They establish certain patterns
of life for her much before she steps into the world by formulating definite specifications. In addition to this,
the affiliation of pessimism with the elements such as puerility, sentimentalism, passivity, and insanity do great

http://indusedu.org Page 137

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Ishita Pundir and Alankrita Singh, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences,
ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 09 Issue 02, February 2019, Page 137-141

damage to the woman’s reputation, assessment of her character and progress. Even within the sphere of women,
the division is established through the classification such as; wife or seductress, ideal woman or prostitute, wife
or femme fatale. In order to win the veneration of society, women need to belong to the certain classifications
of wife, mother, or an ideal woman who is devoted, selfless, and sacrificial like Devi Sita (Ramayana) and
Draupadi (Mahabharat). According to author Anita Nair, “Literature has always been ambivalent in its
representation of women. Good women as in ones who accepted societal norms were rewarded with happily
ever after. Even feisty heroines eventually go onto find content and life’s purpose in a good man’s arms, be it
Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) or Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre). Alternatively, they are left to rue their lot
with a contrived courage as with Scarlett O Hara (Gone with the Wind) or have to take their lives like Anna
Karenina or Karuthamma (Chemmeen) or Emma Bovary (Madame Bovary).”
In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen illustrates a woman confined in the family:
Helmer: First and foremost, you are a wife and mother.
Nora: That I don’t believe any more. I believe that first and foremost. I am an individual, just as much as you
are.
(A Doll’s House, 330)
Women in Indian Fiction
Fiction in India, especially the novel, is an outcome of Western domination. As a literary form, novel
takes its readers into the chasm of poverty and patriarchy, thereby giving a written account of the immoral or
dishonourable actions and motives of power and the agony it releases. During the post-colonialism, there came
a swirl of novelists who wrote intensely about feminism. Up until the time connotation of such subject and
interest were however not mentioned in the writings of the novelists who began publishing their works before
independence such as Mulk Raj Anand, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai and R.K. Narayan before coming into
a climax of some prominent and critical writings of feminists like Nayantara Sehgal, Bharati Mukherjee, Shashi
Deshpande etc. In their view, a woman is unique when she has confidence in proclaiming her own character
and disposition positively upon her own rights as a woman. This kind of ‘woman’ evaluates and reflects upon
her position essentially as a woman in the strategy of things that includes the social, moral, and spiritual spheres.
In short, their writings tussle with more foundational and basic problems of women and intends towards higher
ideals of womanhood. Author Carolyn See once said, “Every word a woman writes changes the story of the
world, revises the official version”.
Kamala Markandeya’s first novel, “Nectar in a Sieve”, published in 1954 depicts a story of a South
Indian Village where life continues to be the same as it used to be in the traditional times, but now modern
science, technology and industry has permeated its air. Rukmani, the novel’s protagonist is confronted with
struggle after struggle with no sign that her circumstances will improve. Each time her situation worsens, she
endures quietly, holding on to the hope that things will soon be better. Her second novel “Some Inner Fury”,
published in 1957 connotes the story of Mirabai, a young woman from a partly westernized Hindu family in pre-
independent India. In this novel too, the author has mentioned about the tragic sufferings and struggles of an
Indian woman. In “A Silence of Desire”, published in 1963, Markandeya takes up the same issue but with a
different plot and conclusion. The story deals with the anguish and affliction of the female protagonist Sarojini
who seems to be dealing effectively but quite with certain set of problems with the male dominance and
patriarchal supremacy in her domestic circle. The novel holds a reflection of the society that has been
manipulated for centuries together by the flagrant tyrannizing mindset of man, with the strong support from the
patriarchy. In the process of its ongoing exercise of its powers, it is losing the perception of moral values that
are diminishing; creating room for man’s jeopardized actions.
Anita Desai in her novel, “Cry, the Peacock”, published in 1963, introduces Maya as the rebellious
female who fights against three traditional stereotypes in her life: male authority asserted by her husband; her
female friends who play stereotypical compliant roles of wives; and her religious beliefs in karma and
detachment. The traditional Indian values placed on sons was not part of Maya’s interaction, so that she has
difficulty in establishing compatibility with her husband Gautama’s diminution of her with her own feelings of
self-worth inculcated by her father. Maya’s feminist perception protests against a society that undervalues
women and expects them to realize that their socialization was not representative. Maya is battling to
authenticate her own values and self-worth, while contemplating on the larger issue of what forms a balanced
world, one that accepts her values. It discloses the inner dispute of a woman in a time of intense difficulty, by
dealing with the theme of marital disturbance and the concomitant alienation that occurs in the life of a
neglected wife. Maya’s besotted visions and amateurish desires reveal the deep-seated sanctums of human
heart. It is elaborately scrutinized through this novel that the pure and pristine heart of Maya with a plaintive
shriek for Gautama’s love who fails to bestow the passion she dreams of in her marital bliss. There seems to be
a sense of frustration prevailing in her. Maya fails to develop this consciousness and kills her husband before
committing suicide. Maya blames herself for Gautama’s death, though there is no evidence to prove that Maya
had killed Gautama responsively. Just like a virtuous character, she gets into the incorrect proportion, not
physically like Gautama, but mentally. She dies heartbroken.

http://indusedu.org Page 138

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Ishita Pundir and Alankrita Singh, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences,
ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 09 Issue 02, February 2019, Page 137-141

Desai’s another novel titled “Fire on the Mountain”, published in 1977, won her the prestigious Sahitya
Akademi Award. The book narrates the story of Nanda Kaul, an elderly widow who lives in an isolated house
called Carignano, situated in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh. She is one of those protagonists who have experienced
a life-long of adversity caused due to her husband’s inclination towards infidelity. All through her life, Nanda
has complied with the wishes of her husband and has responsibly submitted to the requirements of his social
status. However, she never received the love she deserved. Another character of the story, Raka, Nanda’s
granddaughter arrives in Carignano in the second part of the novel. In the beginning, both stay away from each
other. Raka is uncommunicative, reticent, and quite submerged in her own world. Her strange and odd actions
may be ascribed from the fact that she comes from a shattered family. She has an alcoholic father and a mother
who has always been in poor health. Due to this behavior, Nanda tries to communicate with Raka by telling her
some stories. Ila Das, Nanda’s old friend comes to visit her in Carignano. She has a high-pitched voice that has
made her a subject of joy and happiness wherever she goes. She had been raised in splendor and magnificence
but was left poverty-stricken after her brothers misspent their family money and died. However, she meets a
terrible end in the novel. She is raped and murdered because she has raised a voice against patriarchal norms by
trying to stop the marriage of a seven-year-old girl to a widower. The novel successfully breaks the stereotype of
selfless and self-abnegating woman, through the character of Nanda Kaul and in her denial to live with the
memories. Winding up, Fire on the Mountain will always be reminisced about the strong and powerful
depiction of female characters that leave ineradicable marks on the memory of people.
“The Old Woman and the Cow”, published in 1960, is the only one of Mulk Raj Anand’s novels to
have a woman as its central character. It is also his only work that demonstrates women’s issues and hardships.
The principal character of the story is Gauri, who during the course of the events that occur in story revamps
from an acquiescent, humble, and obsequious person to the one who stood with a pertinacious resistance to
misdemeanors. The author’s great concern for the sex that was a subject to harsh and authoritarian treatment
finds a sympathetic and empathetic expression in this novel. Gauri’s disconsolation aggravates her inability to
act effectively and emotional suffering. Having lost her mother and father early in life, she remembers them and
sobs silently. A girl with such a past of emotional humiliation and exasperation obviously gravely wishes for a
husband who can make her forget about the matters of sadness by bestowing umpteen love and affection.
However, Panchi is unlike her expectations. The marriage of this type narrated in the novel is an unemotional
and dispassionate action in which love, the strength of marriage, is submerged into the deep sea of settlement for
dowry. In these kinds of nuptial bonds, parents simply force a wife or husband upon their children who are
unaware of their personal likes and dislikes. The hindering character of such marriages often leads to male
atrocity on the very first day. The expectation of Panchi about his wife, even before marriage, itself displays the
conventional idea of a husband about his to-be-wife. Even before the marriage, Panchi had the traditionalist
view of a husband that a wife should always be under the dominance of her husband. The custom of inculpating
the wife for any misfortune or trouble is common among husbands. Panchi wants his wife to lead a
traditionalistic life. He forces Gauri to be compliant to his ruthlessness and enslavement without any
complaints. He even rationalizes his point of view to Gauri that the husband has to severely reprimand his wife
if she disinclined to acquiesce to his request. Gauri has been ignorant of affection from her strong-headed
husband ever since her marriage. Panchi finds it beyond the bounds of possibility to relieve himself of
anachronistic customs and social taboos against women strenuously vigorous in his society and so out of his
vulnerability he swings between his love for Gauri and the dictatorial supremacy of Kesaro (Gauri’s mother-in-
law). Gauri outlines the character of Sita (Ramayana). Gauri is like a cow in her benevolence and keeps up her
credulity, immaturity, and purity of character that are considered as the characteristic of an Indian woman. Her
character is drawn with skilled smites and her gradual beginning into disregarding the established male-
domination is indeed an act of self-realization. She shows her real strength in the circumstances when they
become seemingly disagreeable. She stands at the fore of the elders of village and courageously withstands the
social authorizations and their inflexibility. She decided to live in solitariness and privacy, rather than naively
obeying to the spineless social traditions.
At the end of the novel, Anand successfully evokes a distressing truth about the maltreated life of
Gauri. Gauri represents the attributes of Sita and is one of the most memorable female characters of the Indian
Fiction.
“The Dark Holds No Terror” by Shashi Deshpande, published in 1980, narrates the story of the
protagonist Saritha who is a successful Doctor. Through her novel, the author tries to outline feminine
sensitivity and subtlety. Usually women want the absence of subjection to dominance and get liberation and
freedom in all its perspective, just as men have the power and right to act, speak, or think, as they want. Women
too want their rights and identity. Generally, Shashi Deshpande’s novel deals with the subject of the pursuit of
female identification. The Indian women have been a tight-lipped victim of male dominance for centuries.
While she plays different roles as a wife, mother, sister, and daughter, she has never been able to win her own
identity. Shashi Despande’s novel ranges over the difficulty of women illiteracy, traditional indoctrination in
patriarchal societal structures, then the issues of dowry, the obstacles of the caste system and financial status.

http://indusedu.org Page 139

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Ishita Pundir and Alankrita Singh, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences,
ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 09 Issue 02, February 2019, Page 137-141

Saritha is a new age woman, who is educated, intellectual, and financially independent; she could not accept her
destiny as an end-result of whatever happens and about to happen in her life. The message which author finally
wants to deliver is that there is no need to run away from the darkness or imprecate the darkness, the women’s
liberation lies neither in suffering quietly and someone who believes outcomes are determined in advance and
cannot be changed nor in renouncing all claims of the family and society like a rebel. She must believe in her
inner strength, which her education and knowledge has embellished her personality with and bring about
conciliation between tradition and modernity without losing her own individuality.
The protagonists of R.K. Narayan’s too highlight the emergence of the new age woman. Whether it is
Savitri in “The Dark Room” (1938), Rosie in “The Guide” (1958) or Bala in “Grandmother's Tale” (1992),
Narayan's female characters grow powerful and iron-willed who mark the lasting impressions on the minds of
readers. She has strong roots of traditional Indian values and has ensconced herself with honesty, principles,
and worth that are an exclusive representation of an Indian woman. Narayan's protagonists are fearless,
independent and are conceited with assertiveness and dogmatism. She fights for her liberation, demands
equality, and claims for her individuality. In this process, she uplifts not only herself but also her children,
parents and husband.
In the novel “The Guide”, Rosie is the central character of the story, embodying the worth and essence
of an ideal woman. Rosie is the daughter of a dancer and therefore entrenching her roots to a lower caste. She
did not love Marco but married him because of his social status. However, she displays the role of a traditional
Indian wife who is submissive and places her husband equivalent to God, but the marriage has been a cause of
misery for her. Marco is completely occupied in his profession and is undisputedly dispassionate and impassive
to her. Though she is fond of dancing, she sets it aside when married to him because he detests this form of art.
Their relationship is an odious example of marital dysfunction and soon Rosie begins to have a love affair with
Raju. When Marco learns about his wife’s involvement into infidelity, he disowns her.
She then starts living with Raju and his mother. Raju encouraged her to follow her passion for dancing
again. With her painstaking devotion to the artwork and Raju's commercial management skills, she becomes an
admirable and popular figure.
Rosie is a woman of independent thoughts and ambition. At times, she acts like a sagacious artist who
appears to avoid any outright confrontation, but at others, she displays a childish side of her personality. She is
a true artist in every meaning who is a dreamer and unattached to the materialistic world. After Raju's serious
impediment with the law and learning about his real character, she decides to pay their financial obligations and
leave him. She lives singly, content and satisfied with her achievements.
Her virtuous and righteous behavior brings out the sympathy in the minds of readers. She demonstrates
the Feminine values of ideal womanhood.
Bharati Mukherjee’s works shows particular outlook of recognition and isolation. In her novel
“Jasmine”, published in 1989, the leading character unfolds the concept of Indian womanhood and how it goes
through countless variations as she progresses from her rustic upbringing of her Lahori Jaat, poor, agriculturally
laboured family in Jalandhar district. It tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl widowed after her husband's
murder in a bomb attack. The novel is about dislocation and relocation of Jasmine, continuously leans to live
into the other roles, moving forward to Western country while continually discarding pieces of her past. She
gradually explores herself during the journey to America and by changing names:
Jyoti//Jasmine/Jazzy/Jase/Jane/Jasmine. She is called different names throughout her journey from India to
Iowa, each name illustrating pivotal moments in her life. Every place she visits and each time she changes her
name, she finds an all-new personality of her. The author’s own set of experiences of dislocation and
displacement in her life helps her in recording the non-native experience of the protagonist in this novel.

II. CONCLUSION
Literature is the only place in this sphere, where within the privacy of our own thoughts, we can
interact with the people that can speak only through the printed words. As Jorge Luis Borges quotes, “The
things that are said in literature are always the same. What is important is the way they are said.” Literature is
submissive to truth. It is the expression of the thoughts of society. Literature is the background of the cause and
effect of social progress. It strengthens our natural sensitivities and deepens our intellectual potential. It records
the experiences that we accumulate in our daily lives, connecting our past and present into a rational unity: and
with this record, it nourishes the coming generations, giving them the account of traditional aspects, perceptions,
and values.
Literature being part of society, rescripts, and amends credibility in compatibility with the evolution of
society. However, it is a sad and sobering reality that women continued to be deprived of basic and fundamental
rights. Gender distinctions in education and life have influenced the lives and works of several women authors.
For example: Jane Austen (1775-1817), spent less than two years in a school for young women (while two of
her brothers went to Oxford). She was paradoxically playing with the well-established image of the ignorant
female writer when she declined the advice on what books she should write. Lack of a solid classical education,
http://indusedu.org Page 140

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
 Ishita Pundir and Alankrita Singh, International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences,
ISSN 2250-0588, Impact Factor: 6.565, Volume 09 Issue 02, February 2019, Page 137-141

she was deprived her of proper knowledge of “science and philosophy” as well the “quotations and allusions”
that were considered as the privilege of masculine knowledge. As Elif Shafak in “Black Milk: On Writing,
Motherhood, and the Harem Within” truly said, “Male writers are thought of as "writers" first and then "men".
As for female writers, they are first "female" and only then "writers.”
The tradition of women being portrayed in literature as submissive and docile has been due to the
inferior position women have held in male-dominated societies. However, the wave of feminism in the '70s and
'80s sparked resurgence in forging a place for the age of women. Writers began writing about the strong women
in their works. Women founded presses that dedicated themselves to publishing their rejected novels. In recent
years, a greater emphasis on convergence has encouraged exploration into the relationship between race, gender,
religion, and class to further improve the importance of the acknowledgment of marginalized groups in
literature. The times are changing and women are becoming the source of inspiration to many writers now.
Therefore, it would be interesting to see the more feminist writings that display the truest essence of
womanhood. As Anne Frank in “The Diary of A Young Girl” quotes, “Women should be respected as well!
Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn't women have their
share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs
are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?...Women, who struggle and suffer pain to
ensure the continuation of the human race, make much tougher and more courageous soldiers than all those big-
mouthed freedom-fighting heroes put together!”

III. REFERENCES
[1] Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Victorian_era
[2] Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2014)
[3] Kamala Markandaya, Nectar in a Sieve (Penguin India; 2009)
[4] Kamala Markandaya, Some Inner Fury (Penguin India; 2009)
[5] Kamala Markandaya, A Silence of Desire (Penguin India; 2009)
[6] Anita Desai, Cry, the Peacock (Orient Paperbacks; 1980)
[7] Anita Desai, Fire on the Mountain (RHI; 2008)
[8] Mulk Raj Anand, The Old Woman and the Cow (Bombay, Kutub-Popular;1960)
[9] Shashi Deshpande, The Dark Holds No Terror (Penguin India; 2000)
[10] R.K. Narayan, The Dark Room (Indian Thought Pub.; 2004)
[11] R.K. Narayan, Grandmother's Tale (INDIAN THOUGHT; 2002)
[12] Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine (Perseus Books Group; 1999)
[13] Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (Fingerprint! Publishing; 2014)

http://indusedu.org Page 141

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

View publication stats