Pant Maam Draft 1

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INTRODUCTION
SARRC Literature
The Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature is the only apex body in the SAARC region,
working under the SAARC banner, projecting, nurturing and strengthening cultural connectivity
through literary and cultural interactions among the SAARC countries, for peace and tranquility
in the region, through people-to-people contacts and dialogue.
FOSWAL launched its vision of cultural bonding among the neighbouring SAARC countries in
1987, and emerged as the first and the only non government organization working in the specific
area of culture, for creating cultural connectivity through a think tank of intellectuals and writers,
creative fraternity and peace activities, who have common sensitivities and common concerns for
the socio-cultural-political-economic-tribal-gender issues of the region. FOSWAL organises
variety of art, literature and culture related festivals ensuring participations of eminent writers
and scholars from across South Asian region.
The horizon of English literature is ever expanding. It no longer means British literature or
American literature or Commonwealth literature; it refers to a number of literatures prospering
under its umbrella and is always receptive to new entries. Just a few decades back Canadian
literature, Australian literature, Caribbean literature and New Zealandian literature were
nonentity. Even Commonwealth literature as a new body of literature got recognisation around
1960 with the introduction of a course in Commonwealth literature at the School of English in
the University of Leads under the guidance of A.N. Jeffares, followed by the establishment of a
Chair of Commonwealth literature and the publication of The Journal of Commonwealth

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Literature edited by Arthur Ravenscraft. (Narasimhaiah, 16)
This context takes me to the main issue of making a plea for SAARC literature. Here lies a
good opportunity for India, to be precise for Indian universities to play the role that the
University of Lead in England played in the formation of Commonwealth literature. Indian
University must take a lead to form a Chair for SAARC literature in English, collect all the
scattered materials at one place and initiate a course in it. It may be a good point to take off
SAARC literature and make a strong case to be recognized as a distinguished body in New
Literatures. This one act alone would give tremendous boost to the creative talents in SAARC
countries and would certainly promote the objectives with which SAARC was formed. As we
know the acronym SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation which
is a political organization of eight countries namely India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan founded on common cultural and historical ties
besides geographical proximity. Cultural and literary exchange among member countries is on
the agenda of SAARC. Keeping historical, geographical, cultural, racial and linguistic proximity
in mind and the sheer bulk of literature produced in these countries make a strong case for
SAARC literature. What is significant is the recent spurt of creative writings in English from
these countries particularly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The
contemporary writers consisting mainly of South Asian Diaspora have many issues in common
like ethnic strife, subaltern condition of women, minorities and Dalits, socio-economic problems
gripping their motherlands besides diasporic sensibilities. The paper examines it as a paradigm
shift and explores possibility of a new literary group with greater homogeneity than what exists
in Commonwealth countries. It attempts to present a creative contour of these countries from a

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historical perspective.
Five of the SAARC countries have been the ex-colonies of Britain and they still sustain the
common colonial after-effects. Their commonalities can be seen in culture and tradition,
religion and philosophy, history and folk lore apart from inter connecting geographical
boundaries. From religious point of view Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and
Sikhism is practiced in all the SAARC countries in different proportions. Linguistically
Urdu is common to Pakistan and India, Bengali to India and Bangladesh, Tamil to India and
Sri Lanka, and English with all the SAARC countries as an acquired language. And more,
these languages belong to the Indo-European language group. English in India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh is virtually a naturalized language. In India alone people using English
outnumber those in Britain itself. They have an exclusive branch of creative writing like
Indian writing in English. It's a fact that creative writing in English in the SAARC countries
is much more than in the British colonies in European countries. (CN. viii).
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have gone through the same trauma of colonialism and
partition. Despite political partition, emotional, cultural and spiritual bond still exists. Above all
creative writers and artists know no boundary.
India's proximity with Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka is well known. In Sri Lanka both Tamil
and Sinhalese are of Indian origin. Similarly the early settlers in Maldives were Dravidian and
Sinhalese people who practiced Buddhism. Islam was adopted only in 1153 A.D. As for
Afghanistan it was a part of Mauryas kingdom. The inference is that all these countries have
been a part of cultural India. Consequently the oral tradition of literature, myths and legends and
even the creative writing today has several things in common. It is unfortunate that except
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India, no other SAARC country has got due space for their literary contribution. A brief outline
of creative writings in English in each member country excluding India would suffice the
purpose here.
Faced with turmoil, political uncertainty and a constant surge of violence Pakistan could
produce only two novelists worthy of the name in the first three decades of Independence. The
first one is Ahmed Ali, the author of Twilight in Delhi (1940) and Ocean of Night (1964). The
second is Zulfikar Ghose whose novel The Murder of Aziz Khan in (1967) brought him close to
Pakistan though he never lived in Pakistan. He settled in Brazil. However, Pakistan lays claim on
them as Pakistan national writers. In Bhutanese society women are more permissive and
Premarital sex is not considered disgraceful as it is in India. The Republic of Maldives consists
of about 1300 small coral islands of which only 202 are inhabited. It has ethnically mixed
population of races like Dravidian, Sinhalese, Arab and Chinese. It got independence from the
British rule in 1965 and joined this British Commonwealth in 1982. I have no information of
Maldivian's novel in English. However, there are a few poets who merit critical attention. It is the
Gestures : An Anthology of South Asian Poetry published by Sahitya Akademi in 1996 that
familiarizes us with the poetry written in SAARC countries.
The important Maldivian poets are Abdulla Fahumy Didi, Adbulla Sadiq, Adam Abdurrahrnan,
Muhammad Jameel, Saeed Ali Falhu, Yosuf Mohamed Falhu and Farah Didi.
Sri Lanka's cultural, historical, linguistic, mythical and geographical proximity with India is
Too obvious to be deliberated here. Buddhism is the greatest of all links. Interestingly Sri Lanka
Is next to India among SAARC countries that has produced such a rich corpus of fiction and
Poetry and is marching fast towards an independent identity in Commonwealth literature. It has a
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Long list of writers in English published from reputed publication houses like Penguin. Carl
Muller, Jean Arasanayagam, Kamala Wijieratne, Premini Amarasinghe, Ashaley Halpe, Tissa,
Rajiva Wijesinha, James Goonawardene to name just a few have explored the Sri Lankan
Psyche, ethnic strife, violence, anger, fear and suspicion in narratives and poetry in English and
They are getting international recognition and critical attention.
Indian literature in English with thousands of writers in every genre, one Nobel prize, (and
in the second India has its share;) five Booker Prizes, the Booker of the Booker several
Commonwealth Prizes and millions of readers need no introduction here as elsewhere. India has
To play a key role if SAARC literature is to acquire its own entity. India can be both a cementing
And a dispelling force. No doubt India is trying hard to develop greater social, economic and
Cultural ties among member nations. Others also claim the same.
Homogeneity and proximity why has it not evolved as a cohesive group? To me reason lies in
India's natural position as a big brother economically, culturally, politically, strategically or in
Terms of literature. Other countries of the group fall too short of India. This breeds a feeling of
Apprehension, suspicion and fear. Political disturbances in these countries and the political
Relation among them has hampered the growth of the sub-continent and of a literary group.
Rajiva Wijesinha, a Sri Lankan novelist, investigates the reasons behind the poor growth of the
Sub-continent. He refers to the partition of India, cosy relationship of Sri Lanka with the British
Ruler, Sri Lanka government's measure to disenfranchise the Indian Tamils from the tea estates,
Indo-Pak wars, India’s hegemonic ambitions in the subcontinent and finally the 1987 Accord
Between Indian and Sri Lankan government gave rise to the feeling of apprehension and
Suspicion in the people of the subcontinent.

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Indian Literature
Indian literature, writings of the Indian subcontinent, produced there in a variety of vernacular
languages,
including Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Bengali, Bihari, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayala
m, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Lahnda, Siraiki, and Sindhi, among others,
as well as in English. The term Indian literature is used here to refer to literature produced across
the Indian subcontinent prior to the creation of the Republic of India in 1947 and within the
Republic of India after 1947. The earliest Indian literature took the form of the canonical Hindu
sacred writings, known as the Veda, which were written in Sanskrit. To the Veda were added
prose commentaries such as the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. The production of Sanskrit
literature extended from about 1500 BCE to about 1000 CE and reached its height of
development in the 1st to 7th centuries CE. In addition to sacred and philosophical writings,
such genres as erotic and devotional lyrics, court poetry, plays, and narrative folktales emerged.
Because Sanskrit was identified with the Brahminical religion of the Vedas, Buddhism
and Jainism adopted other literary languages (Pali and Ardhamagadhi, respectively). From these
and other related languages emerged the modern languages of northern India. The literature of
those languages depended largely on the ancient Indian background, which includes two
Sanskrit epic poems, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as the Bhagavata-purana and the
other Puranas. In addition, the Sanskrit philosophies were the source of philosophical writing in
the later literatures, and the Sanskrit schools of rhetoric were of great importance for the
development of court poetry in many of the modern literatures. The South Indian language of
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Tamil is an exception to this pattern of Sanskrit influence because it had a classical tradition of
its own. Urdu and Sindhi are other exceptions.
Beginning in the 19th century, particularly during the height of British control over the
subcontinent, Western literary models had an impact on Indian literature, the most striking result
being the introduction of the use of vernacular prose on a major scale. Such forms as
the novel and short story began to be adopted by Indian writers, as did realism and an interest in
social questions and psychological description. A tradition of literature in English was also
established in the subcontinent.
Articles on individual literatures of the Indian subcontinent not specified above include Pali
literature, Bengali literature, Gujarati literature, Hindi literature, Kannada literature, Punjabi
literature, Tamil literature, Telugu literature, Urdu literature, and Sindhi literature.
Kunzag Choden
Choden was born in Bumthang District. At the age of nine, her father sent her to school in India,
where she learned English. She is the first Bhutanese woman to write a novel in English. Her
parents were feudal landlords. She has a Bachelor Honours in Psychology from Indraprastha
College in Delhi and a Bachelor in Sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She has worked for the United Nations Development Program in Bhutan. The Circle of Karma,
published 2005, is her first novel. lieutenant takes place in the 1950s, the initial period of
imperially regulated modernization in Bhutan. The main character, a Bhutanese woman and
road-builder by occupation, is forced to deal both with the traditional, restrictive gender roles of
pre-modern Bhutan and the new kinds of sexism developing as men gain economic freedom.
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This is, apparently the first novel to be published by a female Bhutanese writer and a very fine
novel it is. It tells the story of Tsomo who, while not fully based on the author, certainly shares
some characteristics and experiences of her creator. It is set in the 1950s, when the Kingdom of
Bhutan had started to modernize, but attitudes towards women remained resolutely old-fashioned
and, as Choden shows, the lot of women was not generally happy. We first meet Tsomo as a
teenage girl. She is the oldest girl (and third child) of twelve (though several of the children die
young). Her mother’s family was comparatively well-off by local standards. Her father was
much older than her mother. He was a gomchen (a lay monk) and a very well-respected scholar,
who had remained single till middle age and then suddenly, decided he needed a wife and
selected Tsomo’s mother. He remains remote to his family, immersing himself in his studies as
well as providing religious services for the community. Tsomo is clearly an intelligent woman
though, as a woman she cannot expect to receive education (unlike her creator, who did). Her
father teaches some of the local boys (but not girls) in religious matters and Tsomo hides behind
the paper thin walls and listens to the classes. However, she is unable to learn to read and write
(and will never do so). Her role, as a woman, is to help in the house and she has to assist her
mother, which she does. The background is very religious. Spirits, the idea of karma, fate and
destiny all play a key role in their lives. Tsomo’s fate was decreed by an astrologer when she was
born. She would always be restless and travelling. At the beginning of the novel, we follow
Tsomo’s life as she becomes more and more immersed in household duties, while wishing to
follow the religious/scholarly life of her father, a path which, of course, is not open to
women. You are a girl. You are different. You learn other things that will make you good woman
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and a good wife. Learn to cook, weave and all those things. A woman does not need to know
how to read and write, her father says to her.
Tsomo is exposed to sex fairly early on. The local boys and girls seem to have rough games
which involve the boys exposing the girls’ breasts, while the girls expose the boys’ genitals.
When Tsomo’s friend, Chimme, gets pregnant – he had, of course, promised to love her but now
denies everything – she realizes how hard it is for women. Fortunately for Chimme, a man comes
into her life who accepts her and her baby daughter. Tsomo’s mother becomes pregnant again
but this time things do not go so well and she dies, without having given birth. Tsomo has to take
on some of her mother’s duties, till her father marries again, a woman not much older than
Tsomo. When she goes off to the shrine, several days distance, on the first anniversary of her
mother’s death, she meets a man, Wangchen, and they have an affair. She gets pregnant and
finds out that he is already married with a child. However, he agrees to come to her home after
she returns and he does, eventually, come. But things get worse. The baby is still-born and
Wangchen starts an affair with Tsomo’s sister. He sees no problem in sleeping with both women.
When Kesang, her sister, gives birth to a healthy baby, she knows that it is time to go.
As the astrologer foretold, Tsomo travels around. Her life is not easy. She works breaking up
rocks and as a weaver. She finds her brother but, while he is sympathetic, he is more interested in
spiritual matters than the life of his sister. A man forces himself on her as a husband and she
more or less accepts him but he turns out to be even worse than she imagined and she is glad
when he finally goes off with a younger woman. She travels around Bhutan, Nepal and India,
meeting people, making friends, working and visiting shrines. Her life is not easy. When things
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seem to be going right, something goes wrong. She has health issues, with an distended stomach,
which is finally cured by Western medicine (it was a tumour). But much of her troubles are
caused by men, particularly her husband, though there is no doubt that some men do help her out.
Choden tells an excellent story of a woman who is resilient, intelligent and kind-hearted but is
trapped in a male society, where men make the rules to their benefit. This means not only that the
women cannot get an education or decent work, but are subordinate to their fathers and
husbands, subject to continual sexual abuse, including rape, and, as they tend to be the more
impoverished people, subject to the usual problems the poor face, such as frequent eviction and
other administrative abuse. There is no question that, with his novel, Bhutan is now on the world
literature map.
For personal reasons, Tsomo runs away from her family home when she is in her early 20s.
When she arrives in Thimphu, she has no money, so she takes a job on a road-building crew,
breaking rocks into gravel for long hours every day. As an illiterate, uneducated rural woman
with few profitable skills and nowhere to call home, this job is the best she can hope for. But she
doesn’t mind it, and because she is a friendly and garrulous person she manages to make friends
that help her endure the hardship. Not wanting to stay on the road crew, she saves money and
keeps moving, first arriving in Kalimpong, a Himalayan city near Darjeeling in India, and later
going on pilgrimages farther to the west. While she moves frequently, she never really
consciously decides to move: she is invited to travel with friends, or to stay with friends, or she
likes a place and decides to stay. Because she is poor and homeless, there is no reason for her not
to move to another place. In this unconscious way, she becomes relatively free of material
attachments even before she becomes a nun.

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Throughout her travels, Tsomo finds that her skills of weaving, gardening, and brewing the
Bhutanese liquor are are a constant source of employment. She is able to keep herself fed and
clothed with these basic skills, learned during her childhood in Bhutan. She is not rich, but she
doesn’t need to be rich; she just needs to have enough to get by, and that’s what she is able to do
with these village skills. The novel moves from giving a general glimpse of Bhutan’s cultural and
social aspects from a child’s (Tsomo’s) perspective at the beginning to the more specific events
of Tsomo’s life and journey.
Through her family, Tsomo learns several gender roles (doing household chores, gardening, and
weaving, to name a few) and gender myths namely that of female suffering and endurance. From
her father, she learns the cruel truth that girls, because of their gender, are not supposed to get
educated and learn to read and write.
Tsomo suffers a terrible loss during her childhood and consequently, she runs away from her
home to free herself from the restrictions of belonging and relationships. Her bold decision is a
major turning point of the novel. It puts her on a bumpy path of severe trials and tribulations.
However, those very trials also give her the independence to grow and stand on her own two feet.
To sustain herself during her days of struggle, Tsomo becomes a road construction worker. The
reconstruction of the Thimphu Dzong and the construction of the roads provide a sense of the
setting, which is around the time when Bhutan had chosen to modernize and open up to the
world, slowly but surely.

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Tsomo meets many women sharing the same dreams and struggles. She finds a new sister in
another fellow worker, Dechen Choki. She also embarks on many pilgrimages which broaden her
way of thinking by giving her exposure to several other cultures and peoples. At the same time,
these travels also force her to face a pressing conflict that has consumed her since she ran away:
whether to have a ‘normal’ life (with a husband and children) and be a good wife and a good
woman as her parents had taught her or to pursue a life of religion.
The next set of events takes her away from her religious desires at the end of which she learns
how the patriarchal society has taught women to always have hatred and suspicion towards each
other and not to hold the men accountable. She realizes that she must relearn everything that
society has taught her about gender roles. This is the other major turning point that portrays an
epiphany and self-realization on Tsomo’s part.
By tracing Tsomo’s growth from childhood to adulthood and finally old age, The Circle of
Karma, can be called a female bildungsroman as it depicts both Tsomo’s physical and
psychological journey. The story highlights girls’ experiences of the world and how from an
early age itself, both boys and girls internalize gender roles and expectations. In making Tsomo,
someone who has chosen to not be defined by relationships that burden a women’s identity, the
author has deftly questioned those gender roles. She has depicted the conflict that Tsomo faces in
wanting to fit in to society’s expectations from a woman, yet at the same time trying to carve her
own identity.
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The novel showcases female friendships and solidarity and how women can support each other
in times of need and deed which is the exact opposite of the internalization of the predominant
idea about women being enemies to each other.
The other important themes are religion and the idea of karma. The latter permeates the story and
is reflected in the title of the novel. The idea of karma is present in everyone’s thoughts. This
religious concept is used to rationalize one’s fortunes or misfortunes, but karma as a journey is
what stands out as Tsomo’s life comes to full circle at the end of the novel.
The Circle of Karma employs several nuanced interpretations of travel as a motif – be it in
Tsomo’s actual physical journey, or her spiritual and mental growth, or in the abstract concept of
karma itself which travels and walks together with you in the present and in the afterlife. The
Circle of Karma is the story of a quest to be loved. Tsomo pursuits for a love in which she will be
valued and get thee sense of belongingness instead of romantic and physical love. Thus Tsomo
when she met Wangchen she felt that he was her soul mate, who valued her as he left his
previous wife for her. “She had never known such happiness. She found herself laughing more
easily and often had to consciously stop herself from humming long forgotten tunes” (82). Yet,
over the course of the book, Tsomo taste a bitter side of love not once but twice. It is only at the
end when she starts valuing herself rather than seeking acceptance from exterior, she glows in
her own warmth. Since the writer of the novel is Buddhist, the theme of religion is unavoidable.
Throughout the novel any occurrence is made reference to religion. Tsomo‘s father is a devoted
monk and he makes sure that he makes aware of religion to his kids through various anecdotes.
He narrates them the story of miraculous women, Machig Lhapdron, a great saint, who sacrificed
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her own body to feed every conceivable kind of being. During Tsomo‘s pilgrim to India she
encounters with eminence Rinpoche who plays a great role in changing her life. It is because of
his tender and affectionate preaching she at last led her to the path of enlightenment. What we
are today is the result of what we were in the past. All physical and mental conditions and
circumstances are either accidental or due to past karmic action. Karma can be described in the
simplest form as “Cause and Effect”. "What goes up must come down" or "what goes around
comes around” are the fundamental understanding of how it works. A good deed is always
followed by good results and vice versa. The Karma theory is an overriding element in the novel
The Circle of Karma. Each and every event in the novel is associated with karma. It is used a
tool to subjugate women as it is believed or made to believe that female birth are inferior to male
birth. The fact can‘t be denied that the happenings in our life is due to our own deeds but the fact
that female are born because they have not accumulated ample of good deeds in their previous
life is rather too much to digest. ―If only she had been born a boy- but she had not accumulated
enough virtue to be born as a boy‖ (22). Everything which is happening now in our life is simply
because of the events happened in the earlier life and so on, everything will repeat the course.
According to Determinism, whatever or however it is happening now is because it is determined
to be like that. Every event in the life is inevitable. Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace, in the
18th century in his thesis states “For him, the present state of the universe is the effect of its
previous state and the cause of the state that follows it. If a mind, at any given moment, could
know all of the forces operating in nature and the respective positions of all its components, it
would thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity, large or small”
(Britannica 2016). Every events that happens in the life of the characters are given credit to
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Karma, be it illness, fortune, or misfortune. “Aum Choizom who sat on her porch sunning herself
day after day because she hoped her racking cough which exhausted her and brought out blood in
her spittle would be cured, was suffering her ‗Laey ney‘ Karmic illness” (12). What we are
today is the result of what we were in the past. All physical and mental conditions and
simplest form as ―Cause and Effect‖. A good deed is always followed by good results and vice
versa. Every living creature is dependent on this very aspect and no living shall be freed from
this very clutch. In Buddhism the theory of Karma is an essential guideline. The main figure who
articulated and explained the philosophy of Karma, which we have it today, is none other than
Buddha. Being born as a woman is often considered bad karma in most of the religion and
cultures. In Indian culture, daughter is considered burden to family, while son is a blessing.
Likewise in the novel The Circle of Karma, women were treated inferior to men as women didn‘t
accumulate enough good deeds in their past deed hence born as girl. ―She had not accumulated
many virtues in her previous lifetime. She will not have riches‖ (2). Ritual is one of the important
features of human life and it has substantial aspect of Buddhist practice since the time of the
Buddha. In Bhutan, ritual is a sacred practice, practiced by generations and generations for many
decades. According to Catherine Bell in the book Ritual, Theory, Ritual Practice, ritual is defined
as, “particularly thoughtless action routinized, habitual, obsessive, or mimetic and therefore the
purely formal, secondary, and mere physical expression of logically prior ideas” (19). For ages
traditional religious rites has been manipulated in a wrong concept to dismiss the involvement of
women from acquiring political and religious authority. Women were constantly reminded and
taught about the inferiority of being woman by a variety of ideologies like rituals intended to
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keep them weak and, especially under control of man. The novel The Circle of Karma also
portrays oppression of women using various ritual tools like– marriage, ceremonies of
purification, food, birth, physical power and domestic violence. The novel The Circle of Karma
is a strong disapproval against the vehemence practiced by the macho society. It is an objection
in contradiction of the use of various tools to keep women under the feet of men. In presenting
Tsomo as a round and dynamic character, Kunzang Choden gives a serious view of the various
kinds of manly activity - commandment maker, domestic violence and compassion. By the end
of the novel feminine supremacy out shadows the masculine power. Women consists half of the
world‘s population yet ironically are not treated on equivalence with men in all walks of life.
They are constantly downgraded, suppressed and disregarded in obtaining equal opportunities for
contentment of their lives; instead woman has to slave all long day for the benefit of her family,
spouse and children. Slave all day for them and at the end get a beating for small to no reason as
a reward for loyalty. ―Tsomo endured his beatings in silence, after all he was a man and she was
only a woman. Now she understood why so many women said, ‗being born a woman is to
suffer‘‖ (92). De Beauvoir‘s claims that men basically dominate women by portraying them, on
every level, as the ‗Other‘, defined absolutely in opposition to men. Man declares the role of
self, or subject and woman as the object, the other. According to men, he is important, outright,
and superior. She is unnecessary, imperfect, and disfigured. He is born to command the world
and execute his will; on the other hand woman is condemned to immanence, or introvert. He is
the creator, maker, designer, on the other hand she is handicapped on her own, therefore waits for
him to rescue her. De Beauvoir agrees that it is natural for human to feel in conflict other humans
but, this becomes a problem when this rule is applied with gender difference. In describing
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woman absolutely as ‗Other‘, man is trying to dehumanize the woman. In the novel The Circle
of Karma, Tsomo is always put to the threshold where she had to prove of being individual and
not just ‗Other‘. In your condition it will difficult to travel. It is a rough journey. One has to be
quick and nimble to get in and out of trains and buses, which are always crowded. (174) She is
forced to accept that her life will be difficult without assistance of a male counterpart, therefore
after seeing her alone Ap Thinlay tries to patch her up with a man whom he thought will rescue
her from her loneliness. You are a woman, alone and so far away from home, I am concerned for
you. I feel like a parent to you and I feel I have to advice you. You should have a husband.
Gomchen Lhatu is a good man and he is quite well educated too. I must tell you that his
parentage is clean, tax payers on both his parents‘ sides, like yourself. He doesn‘t have a drop of
serf blood. Now he is lonely and he has asked me to find a wife. He has been begging me to help
him to find a mature, older woman who is simple and humble. I told him that you are woman he
is looking for. (196-197) From the above lines it is very clear that love doesn‘t matter to Lhatu,
he just needs camaraderie or a servant to serve him. Another renowned feminist theorist, Kate
Millett‘s wrote Sexual Politics, in which she closely analyzed the patriarchal bias that triggers in
literary works. In her book she highlights a matter like gender inequality, and patriarchal society.
The book is an ―examination of how thoroughly culture and society are dominated by men‖
(Napikoski 2014). In the novel The Circle of Karma, the female gender is considered inferior
because of which they are deprived of basic right like education. Tsomo struggles with the
conventions constructed by the male oriented society. She is trapped between her desire and
rules. She is a girl and hence has to surrender her life to daily household chores and being a good
wife. You are a girl. You are different. You learn other things that will make you a good woman
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and a good wife. Learn to cook, weave and all those things. A woman does not need to know
how to read and write. (21)
A Karmic Illness
One of the most interesting and poignant aspects of this book is the “karmic illness” that Tsomo
struggles with for many years. After a premature stillbirth, Tsomo’s stomach never returns to her
pre-pregnant state: for years, she continues to look eight months pregnant. Her huge stomach
causes her to have enormous difficulties getting around and working. This is particularly a
problem when she tries to take up weaving because she can no longer fit into the backstrap loom!
But even worse is the psychological part of her illness. She gets constant comments about her
"pregnancy," and most people refuse to believe her when she tries to explain that she is actually
ill. When she visits a hospital in India, the doctors even laugh and tell her to come back when the
contractions start. This takes an immense toll: not only does she have trouble accomplishing the
most minor tasks and consider herself deformed and ugly, but no one believes her when she tells
them she is sick. For the educated reader, this “karmic illness” shows all the hallmarks of cancer.
But for uneducated Tsomo, it is a real mystery. The fact that no doctor believes her just
exacerbates the problem; without a doctor actually listening to her, how will she get a diagnosis?
She finally is taken to an American missionary hospital, where the doctors believe her and
perform surgery to remove the mass from her stomach. But in one of the most heartbreaking
moments in the novel, Tsomo is unable to find out what her illness actually was:
Singh 19
When the doctor came to check on her she asked him what had been in her belly and he
explained in great detail what it was, but all that the Tibetan interpreter said was, ‘It was a
disease, an illness.’ She never learns what it was that plagued her for so long, just that it had been
a disease and it had been taken out and discarded. While it is good that she finally got the much-
needed medical care, it is terrible that the doctor and patient were prevented from
communicating so much as the name of her disease. This highlights the great disadvantages that
the illiterate Tsomo faces when navigating through modern-day India.
The Circle of Karma by Kunzang Choden has several themes such as theme of men dominating
women, quest for identity, love and religion. The novel ponders on theme men dominating
women as one of the recurrent themes of the novel. The men take pride in exerting a power over
women which indirectly is connected primarily to their maleness. Wangchen‘s action of abuse is
the most life-changing event that Tsomo under goes in the novel is the clear indication of serious
instance of male domination over a female. After miscarriage Tsomo becomes ill and so is not
able to satiate Wangchen‘s lust because of which he goes on having relation with her younger
sister. Even though she knew the fact there was nothing she could do to get out of the hell.
―Tsomo felt that she was neither a frog nor a bird. She didn‘t belong in a pond, so she could not
stay in it, or she could she fly away like a bird and get out of the marriage. But one reason for
men overpowering women is their passivity toward men‘s dominance. ―Tsomo endured his
beating in silence, after all he was a man and she was only woman. It is with such kind of
thinking that men think it‘s their right to dominate women. Even after knowing the fact that
Lhatu is using Tsomo for his benefit, she silently accepts her fate and fulfills all the duties like an
obedient wife. Quest for identity in the novel gives one more step to view Tsomo from in
Singh 20
different perspective. From the starting of the novel till end we find female characters confused
with their own identity; as a daughter, sister and wife. Tsomo wondered with a thought that she
never saw her mother do anything that she liked. She always cooked what her husband and
children want to eat. And did what others liked. She lost her own likes and self-identity in the
midst of duty towards her family. Like her mother Tsomo also lose track of her own life. She
feels displaced ‘and unanchored ‘trapped with the obligations towards her family up till and until
she finally finds homage in prayers, ―Eventually she only heard her own breath, in and out and
she concentrated on that. She saw nothing and heard nothing. She only felt the peace within. The
Circle of Karma is the story of a quest to be loved. Tsomo pursuits for a love in which she will
be valued and get thee sense of belongingness instead of romantic and physical love. Thus
Tsomo when she met Wangchen she felt that he was her soul mate, who valued her as he left his
previous wife for her. She had never known such happiness. She found herself laughing more
easily and often had to consciously stop herself from humming long forgotten tunes. Yet, over
the course of the book, Tsomo taste a bitter side of love not once but twice. It is only at the end
when she starts valuing herself rather than seeking acceptance from exterior, she glows in her
own warmth. Since the writer of the novel is Buddhist, the theme of religion is unavoidable.
Singh 21
simplest form as ―Cause and Effect‖. "What goes up must come down" or "what goes around
comes around are the fundamental understanding of how it works. A good deed is always
enough virtue to be born as a boy. Everything which is happening now in our life is simply
18th century in his thesis states ―For him, the present state of the universe is the effect of its
would thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity, large or small”
(Britannica 2016).
By the end of the novel feminine supremacy out shadows the masculine power. Women consists
half of the world‘s population yet ironically are not treated on equivalence with men in all walks
of life. They are constantly downgraded, suppressed and disregarded in obtaining equal
Singh 22
opportunities for contentment of their lives; instead woman has to slave all long day for the
benefit of her family, spouse and children. Slave all day for them and at the end get a beating for
small to no reason as a reward for loyalty.
“Tsomo endured his beatings in silence, after all he was a man and she was only a woman.
Now she understood why so many women said, being born a woman is to suffer.”
De Beauvoir agrees that it is natural for human to feel in conflict other humans but, this becomes
a problem when this rule is applied with gender difference. In describing woman absolutely as
‘Other’, man is trying to dehumanize the woman. In the novel The Circle of Karma, Tsomo is
always put to the threshold where she had to prove of being individual and not just ‘Other’.
In your condition it will difficult to travel. It is a rough journey. One has to be quick and nimble
to get in and out of trains and buses, which are always crowded.
The Circle of Karma is the story of a quest to be loved. Tsomo pursuits for a love in which she
will be valued and get thee sense of belongingness instead of romantic and physical love. Thus
Tsomo when she met Wangchen she felt that he was her soul mate, who valued her as he left his
previous wife for her. ―She had never known such happiness. She found herself laughing more
easily and often had to consciously stop herself from humming long forgotten tunes‖ (82). Yet,
over the course of the book, Tsomo taste a bitter side of love not once but twice. It is only at the
end when she starts valuing herself rather than seeking acceptance from exterior, she glows in
her own warmth. Since the writer of the novel is Buddhist, the theme of religion is unavoidable.
Singh 23
simplest form as ―Cause and Effect‖. "What goes up must come down" or "what goes around
comes around‖ are the fundamental understanding of how it works. A good deed is always
enough virtue to be born as a boy‖ (22). Everything which is happening now in our life is simply
18th century in his thesis states ―For him, the present state of the universe is the effect of its
Singh 24
would thereby know with certainty the future and the past of every entity, large or small‖
(Britannica 2016). Every events that happens in the life of the characters are given credit to
Karma, be it illness, fortune, or misfortune. ―Aum Choizom who sat on her porch sunning
herself day after day because she hoped her racking cough which exhausted her and brought out
blood in her spittle would be cured, was suffering her ‗Laey ney‘ Karmic illness‖ (12). What we
simplest form as ―Cause and Effect‖. A good deed is always followed by good results and vice
versa. Every living creature is dependent on this very aspect and no living shall be freed from
this very clutch. In Buddhism the theory of Karma is an essential guideline. The main figure who
articulated and explained the philosophy of Karma, which we have it today, is none other than
Buddha. Being born as a woman is often considered bad karma in most of the religion and
cultures. In Indian culture, daughter is considered burden to family, while son is a blessing.
Likewise in the novel The Circle of Karma, women were treated inferior to men as women didn‘t
accumulate enough good deeds in their past deed hence born as girl. ―She had not accumulated
many virtues in her previous lifetime. She will not have riches‖ (2). Ritual is one of the important
features of human life and it has substantial aspect of Buddhist practice since the time of the
Buddha. In Bhutan, ritual is a sacred practice, practiced by generations and generations for many
decades. According to Catherine Bell in the book Ritual, Theory, Ritual Practice, ritual is defined
as, ―particularly thoughtless action—routinized, habitual, obsessive, or mimetic— and therefore
the purely formal, secondary, and mere physical expression of logically prior ideas‖ (19). For
ages traditional religious rites has been manipulated in a wrong concept to dismiss the
Singh 25
involvement of women from acquiring political and religious authority. Women were constantly
reminded and taught about the inferiority of being woman by a variety of ideologies like rituals
intended to keep them weak and, especially under control of man. The novel The Circle of
Karma also portrays oppression of women using various ritual tools like– marriage, ceremonies
of purification, food, birth, physical power and domestic violence. The novel The Circle of
Karma is a strong disapproval against the vehemence practiced by the macho society. It is an
objection in contradiction of the use of various tools to keep women under the feet of men. In
presenting Tsomo as a round and dynamic character, Kunzang Choden gives a serious view of
the various kinds of manly activity - commandment maker, domestic violence and compassion.
By the end of the novel feminine supremacy out shadows the masculine power. Women consists
half of the world‘s population yet ironically are not treated on equivalence with men in all walks
of life. They are constantly downgraded, suppressed and disregarded in obtaining equal
opportunities for contentment of their lives; instead woman has to slave all long day for the
benefit of her family, spouse and children. Slave all day for them and at the end get a beating for
small to no reason as a reward for loyalty. ―Tsomo endured his beatings in silence, after all he
was a man and she was only a woman. Now she understood why so many women said, ‗being
born a woman is to suffer‘‖ (92). De Beauvoir‘s claims that men basically dominate women by
portraying them, on every level, as the ‗Other‘, defined absolutely in opposition to men. Man
declares the role of self, or subject and woman as the object, the other. According to men, he is
important, outright, and superior. She is unnecessary, imperfect, and disfigured. He is born to
command the world and execute his will; on the other hand woman is condemned to immanence,
or introvert. He is the creator, maker, designer, on the other hand she is handicapped on her own,
Singh 26
therefore waits for him to rescue her. De Beauvoir agrees that it is natural for human to feel in
conflict other humans but, this becomes a problem when this rule is applied with gender
difference. In describing woman absolutely as ‗Other‘, man is trying to dehumanize the woman.
In the novel The Circle of Karma, Tsomo is always put to the threshold where she had to prove
of being individual and not just ‗Other‘. In your condition it will difficult to travel. It is a rough
journey. One has to be quick and nimble to get in and out of trains and buses, which are always
crowded. (174) She is forced to accept that her life will be difficult without assistance of a male
counterpart, therefore after seeing her alone Ap Thinlay tries to patch her up with a man whom
he thought will rescue her from her loneliness. You are a woman, alone and so far away from
home, I am concerned for you. I feel like a parent to you and I feel I have to advice you. You
should have a husband. Gomchen Lhatu is a good man and he is quite well educated too. I must
tell you that his parentage is clean, tax payers on both his parents‘ sides, like yourself. He doesn‘t
have a drop of serf blood. Now he is lonely and he has asked me to find a wife. He has been
begging me to help him to find a mature, older woman who is simple and humble. I told him that
you are woman he is looking for. (196-197) From the above lines it is very clear that love
doesn‘t matter to Lhatu, he just needs camaraderie or a servant to serve him. Another renowned
feminist theorist, Kate Millett‘s wrote Sexual Politics, in which she closely analyzed the
patriarchal bias that triggers in literary works. In her book she highlights a matter like gender
inequality, and patriarchal society. The book is an ―examination of how thoroughly culture and
society are dominated by men‖ (Napikoski 2014). In the novel The Circle of Karma, the female
gender is considered inferior because of which they are deprived of basic right like education.
Tsomo struggles with the conventions constructed by the male oriented society. She is trapped
Singh 27
between her desire and rules. She is a girl and hence has to surrender her life to daily household
chores and being a good wife. You are a girl. You are different. You learn other things that will
make you a good woman and a good wife. Learn to cook, weave and all those things. A woman
does not need to know how to read and write. (21)
Karma and Social Apparatus in the novel The Circle of Karma
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap”
(New Testament Galatians 6:7, 350)
The word Karma originated from the Sanskrit which means "actions" or "deeds. The law of
karma can also be referred to as the law of cause and effect: in a very simple word every act
erupts into a plausible result. In the book The law of Karma, karma is discussed as
Each character or personality is the grand total result of previous mental actions,
and is also the cause of future changes in the character ... It is our own Karma that
produces its results in the form of joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain, happiness or
Singh 28
unhappiness ... Everything that we possess in this life, is the effect of our previous
Karma or action, both mental and physical. Our present character is the resultant
of our past and our future will be determined by our present acts ... We cannot
arrest our external work so long as there is mental activity. (Reichenbach 49)
If the act is driven by the greediness, abhorrence, or misbelief, we are actually sowing the seed of
suffering; but when our actions are inspired by kindness, love, or knowledge, indirectly we are
creating harmonious environment.
Sogyal Rinpoche states in his The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying:
Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a
spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain. Do not overlook
tiny good actions, thinking they are of no benefit; even tiny drops of water in the
end will fill a huge vessel. Karma does not decay like external things, or ever
become inoperative. It cannot be destroyed by time, fire, or water. Its power will
never disappear, until it is ripened. (96-97)
The law of karma keeps people on track so that they don‘t abuse the thoughts, words and actions.
Especially, the elders try to boil down every activity with the concept of karma linking
everything in context to religion as it made people discipline their thoughts, action and words.
The effect is going to be positive if people are pure in their motive and in case people don‘t
watch their actions the effect for the causation is ultimately going to follow them. Tsomo‘s father
narrates infinite religious stories so that his children will be aware of the effects of karma and act
Singh 29
accordingly in their life. He believes that everybody are the way they were because of the way
they had lived their previous lives. He narrates an incident about aum Choizom to make his
children understand the concept of cause and effect;
Aum Choizom who sat on her porch sunning herself day after day because she hoped her
racking cough which exhausted her and brought out blood in her spittle would be cured,
was suffering her ‘laey ney’ karmic illness. Aum Choizom and her family had barely
anything to eat in the house. She went around begging and borrowing. The villagers
always gave her something, because she couldn‘t help her situation. It was her karma.
Years later, when her children grew up, everything changed. Their family became
prosperous. That was also karma (12).
It seems aum Choizom was suffering from hemoptysis which could be cured upon proper
treatment but it is convenient to put everything on one‘s karma. They kept her sunning and
begging until finally one day her illness got cured on its own, to which again they thanked her
karma.
Basically the idea of karma is same despite the differences in religion. In all the religion its
believed that the action, thought and speech of people contribute a positive or negative reaction
in this life or the next, on a basis of what seed they have sown in their life. All religion preaches
on gaining deliverance by escaping the death and rebirth cycle. Even the Greek people were very
much believer of the cause and effect- karma, they believed that life of human is under the
control of karma and all souls are only puppets in the hands of it. They strongly believe that
Singh 30
karma is the fiercest and terrifying fact from whom no individual can escape. In the play Oedipus
Rex by Sophocles the theme of fate is very prominent, “Fate is pre-determined and
unchangeable. People cannot deny it either they agree with it or not. As Oedipus` fate was
already written so how can he deny it?” If something is written in our fate it will happen like in
Oedipus Rex. When fate is pre-dominant than all things support it consciously or unconsciously.
Nature, our conscious, incidents and man himself help fate and then whatever is written in our
fate becomes true because “what will be, will be” (Sand et al.52).
David Lewis in his The Journal of Philosophy causation defines causation as we may define a
cause to be an object followed by another, and where all the objects, similar to the first, are
followed by objects similar to the second. Or, in other words, where, if the first object had not
been, the second never had existed‘ (556). In the novel The Circle of Karma the protagonist is a
girl who has not accrued ample of good deeds hence she has to bear the consequence in her
current life with sufferings. The astrologer declares that “it was written in her horoscope that she
had not accumulated many virtues in her previous lifetimes” (2), therefore she has to lead hostile
life. The protagonist, Tsomo, will suffer agony and anguish all through her life and only way out
of her sufferings is to practice religion and get rebirth as a man. Being born as man is considered
one having accumulated ample of merits in their past life. But the irony in the novel is women
are not given an opportunity of practicing religion or studying scriptures hence reducing the
chance of better next life. Women in the novel are suppressed with the notion that they are born
because of their bad karma and the plight is that many women are easily convinced that they bear
a bountiful of negative karma and accept their dominance without complaint. Physical or mental
mistreatment has been vindicated on the basis of karma, and has therefore been accepted as the
Singh 31
expression of religious norm. Women belong to the kitchen. That was the accepted truth and
belief. No women were educated and a girl from a very young age was trained for the household
chores and is reminded at all times to be gentle and submissive. Tsomo since a little girl was
trained to do household chores by her mother depriving her of childhood moments with her
friends, “Why do you waste your time with such spectacles? Now start preparing the vegetables
for dinner instead” (5). On the other hand men needed to be tough and take care of all the work
outside. There are beliefs that the women are the heart of the family and term as “Nang gi aum”
which means that the whole family is dependent on the woman who has the keys to all the
possession of the family. This kind of notions makes women in the novel feel inferior about them
and blame for the outcome of their lives. It makes them more susceptible to accept whatever
gender based discrepancies that they experience, since it is directly linked with their bad karma
having been born a woman. After the death of Tsomo‘s mother, she being an eldest daughter has
to shoulder all the responsibilities of the house and taking care of the younger siblings. Her
father was so detach and aloof from his children and barley talks with them. Tsomo unknowingly
acts as per the karma prescribed in her horoscope. As per Tsomo‘s wheel of birth or horoscope
she will travel away from her village which was impossible according to her mother.
Where is the furthest I can travel to Mother? Tsomo asks her Mother dreamily Where? I
don‘t know. Where can a girl travel to? Her old thoughts are stirred by the childish
questions. (2)
Her circle of karma starts when she leaves for Trongsa to offer butter lamps for her mother‘s first
death anniversary. She goes to lite a butter lamp for her mother‘s swift rebirth. Rebirth is an
Singh 32
essential theory of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Rebirth, or saṃsāra, is the notion
that all living being undergoes a cycle of reincarnation; that is a chain of births and rebirths.
Sogyal Rinpoche in his Tibetan Book of Living and Dying said that
Since the dawn of history, reincarnation and a firm faith in life after death have occupied
an essential place in nearly all the world's religions. Since the advent of interest in
Eastern religions that began at the end of the nineteenth century, a remarkable number of
Westerners have come to accept the Hindu and Buddhist knowledge of rebirth. (86-87)
Choden has not failed to constantly remind the readers about the death throughout the novel as
this gives epiphany to the readers that the death for all is certain and the rebirth will be
determined by the deeds done in the current life. Therefore it keeps the readers on track with
their action and intention. Instances which talks about the death and rebirth in the novel The
Circle of Karma are, for example Kincho Thinlay was said to be the rebirth of monk’ (70) which
suggest he had accumulated ample of good deeds in his previous life. The fact and the
motivating element behind rebirth called karma. The death of Goempola makes readers think
twice before they cheat on others, which result to painful and terrifying death. One dies and
someone is born, this circle keeps continuing forever, except for those who determinedly break
this cycle by achieving enlightenment like Buddha. If one wants happy and prosperous life in
next life one should watch their actions in current life. It is the action of present that will
determine the state in next life. No one escapes the death, “Increasingly as one gets older, death
becomes an ever present reality. Tsomo and her colleagues spoke of death daily. Nobody is
spared from dying” (306).

Singh 33
The law of karma functions as a moral guide. The realization of one‘s death helps people restrain
from unethical and immoral acts and instead divert their focus towards benevolent deeds which
helps them not only in their present life but in next life as well. “Our lives are that lamp on the
altar. We are born and we live for a while like the lamp. We can either shine brightly of flicker,
but we all must die. Life is transient. We are just passing by. Think of yourself as a pilgrim on
earth and in your own body because that too you must surrender” (145).
Tsomo unconsciously takes steps toward drawing a full circle of her life. In her journey towards
Trongsa she meets with a man named Wangchen who initially showers his love on her but later
leaves her for another woman. When Wangchen returns for Tsomo leaving his first wife, she is
so happy for herself and her unborn baby as her child will have a father.
Tsomo‘s pregnancy was no longer a mistake. Her child has a father. It was not her karma
to be mother to a koktey, she thought happily. The shame and humiliation that had been
hanging over her head were averted and they were all grateful for this good fortune.
Tsomo was happy to be with the man she loved and bear his child. (82)
Tsomo mistakes all these happenings in her life as a good fortune unaware that this good fortune
foreshadows her forthcoming sufferings. ‘What goes round comes round’, is a basic
understanding of a karma. Ethicization starts with the principle that every action has a
consequence, which will come to completion in either this or a future life; hence ethically good
acts will have affirmative consequences, whereas immoral acts will produce undesirable results.
An individual's current state is thus expounded by reference to actions of his present or in

Singh 34
preceding lifetimes. Karma is a judge to reward and punish, but it‘s the law constructing
consequence. “Every physical, verbal or mental act must have a result. Often the results are
visible, but frequently they are not” (Reichenbach 87). Tsomo gets what she has sown and in her
case the effect of her ill-action is very much visible. Earlier she stole somebody‘s husband,
Wangchen, unaware of the sufferings she has caused to that lady and now she has to bear the
same sufferings. Tsomo bears a grave anguish when she gives birth to a premature stillborn baby
boy that leaves her belly bloated as if she is still pregnant. Initially after the mishap Wangchen
took care of her but eventually he got wary of nursing her as he has to work in the field. Tsomo
carve and yearn for his love and care to overcome the depression and chaos she is undergoing.
But the warehouse of her happiness seems out of stock of happiness. Series of sufferings lines
for her comfort. Tsomo‘s recovery paces at snail speed and she finds difficulty in healing both
mental and physical depression. One night Tsomo wakes up from her sleep to find that her
husband is missing from the bed. She rushes out to search him thinking he must have fallen out
somewhere as he was drunk but suddenly Tsomo was taken aback when she comes to a
realization that her husband is with her younger sister Kesang. The theories of karma are also an
ethical theory; as it is indirectly linked with intention and action to the virtue, incentive,
drawback and penance. In ethics, one's attitudes, desires and intentions matter in the assessment
of one's action. Karma theory not only considers the action, but also individual‘s attitudes,
desires and intentions pre and posts the action. Therefore the concept of karma inspires every
being to pursue and live a moral life, and avoid an immoral life. Tsomo despite knowing the fact
that Wangchen was a married man advances her relation with him and gets married with him,
compelling him into leaving his first wife. The immoral life she led causes her the same misery
Singh 35
that she had caused to Wangchen‘s first wife. “She knew it was now her turn to bear the
suffering she had caused another woman not so long ago. This was her karma, the consequence
of her actions, she could not escape from it”(90).
Everything that is said and done regulates what‘s going to happen to individual in the future.
Whether one is honest, dishonest, benevolent or malevolent, it all reveals as a karmic reaction
either in this life or a future life.
Tsomo‘s bad action bore her a bad consequence; her chain of bad karma eventually catches her.
Tsomo‘s father narrates an incident to his kids on the consequences of one‘s deed. It is not
necessary that our bad or good deeds will be manifested only in next life but so of the actions can
be instant. Reichenbach in his The Law of Karma explain the terms used for immediate effect
and gradual effect as phalas and Samskara.
Phalas include all the immediate effects, visible and invisible, which actions produce or
bring about. They are often referred to as the results or fruits of an action. Samskara are
the invisible dispositions or tendencies to act, think, experience, or interpret experiences
in ways which are conducive to one's happiness or unhappiness, produced in the agent as
a result of the action. They constitute, in effect, special modifications of the agent. (25)
Ap Goempola in the novel depicts the example of the phalas, whose bad action bore bad effect in
his immediate life. Goempola was an elderly bon in the village. He was an expert scripture
reader and he went to most of the houses for reading the holy texts. But he was not honest to
what he was doing and he mocked the God and the religion. He instead of reading the scriptures,
Singh 36
he just mumbled and muttered. And his sin of mocking religious scripture fell upon him and it
took his life.
For two days before his death, Goempola was moaning and groaning, begging anyone
who came near him to lift the heavy scriptures that were crushing, pressing and
suffocating him to death. Of course, nobody could see the books except himself, so
nobody could help him. He had died crying out in pain and making as if to push the
heavy books off his body. (13)
Goempola has dishonored the scriptures and lied to the people who trusted him. His actions,
thoughts and discourse were not pure therefore he accumulated plenty of bad deeds and was
punished in his current life itself. The law of karma is absolutely beneficial for every individual
as it guards our soul‘s progression. Tsomo‘s father narrates these anecdotes to his children so
that they will be guarded with their actions, thoughts and speech. But no amount of advice or
anecdotes will help when one‘s karma hovers around them. Despite Wangchen and Kezang‘s
open illegitimate relation and his ill-treatment towards her she endured his harassment in silence
after all “being born a woman is to suffer” (92). David R. Loy in his The Karma of Women said
that
Often times, the monk will say that karma is the cause of her suffering, so she has no
choice but to accept and deal with the situation, and continue to be kind to her husband
so that one day the karmic force will subside and everything will be fine. We found that
this kind of thinking is not only the belief of the monks themselves but that it is also
Singh 37
prominent among the followers of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, including women…. It is
one of the factors that keeps a woman in a marriage even though her life may be in
danger, and it explains why neighbors and community leaders choose not to intervene.
(5)
After bearing enough of insults Tsomo finally decide to leave the place with her swollen belly,
some of her belongings and a hope that Wangchen will come searching for her begging and
repenting his mistakes. She goes to Thimphu in search of her elder brother Nidup Tshering. Her
karma has had not enough of causing her enough sufferings. Nidup Tshering, her brother is long
gone to Kalimpong. This pushes Tsomo to menial job like being housemaid at her relative‘s
house and breaking stones at the road construction site. Her life seems to never take a turn of
happiness, rather every step she takes pushes her into a painful series of journey depicted through
various places; Thimpu, Kalimpong, Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi.
Despite a bitter experience in love she still believes in silver lining. Her fate thrust her one more
man in her life, Lhatu. He claims himself to be her husband only for his personal gains like;
physical and monetary. He doesn‘t show a slightest affection to Tsomo. Tsomo during her olden
days gravely recollects, “Men and sex have caused me enough sufferings to last many lifetimes.
Enough men, sex and suffering to last for nine lifetimes”(ix). Tsomo endures yet another betrayal
and heartbreak, Lhatu also leaves Tsomo for a younger girl leaving her totally devastated and
exhausted both emotionally and financially.

Singh 38
Karma can be understood in positive and negative energy. If one evokes positive vibes from self,
all the positivity is going to follow him, like Chinua Achebe said in his Things Fall Apart that,
“When a man says yes his chi says yes also” (20). Here ‘chi’ refers to personal God, so if one is
positive; no negative things are going to follow him.
Finally Tsomo had it enough of her sufferings and decides to say yes to herself, yes for to her
chi. She renounce the worldly things and devote herself to religious practice proving her
horoscope to be right; she lacked worldly riches but she dedicated herself into religious practice
thus completing the circle of her karma. Her intentions were pure unlike in the beginning where
she wanted to avenge on Wangchen and Kelsang by proving herself, so that one day she can
return home and proudly declare, “Look what I have made of my life all on my own” (164). She
didn‘t achieve any material success which she can pompously boast of but she has gained one
thing which is very much invaluable- self-respect. She stops brooding over the shortcomings in
her life and making the karma culprit for lack of happiness in her life, doing so she was neither
leading a pleasant life nor was able to create a better life for her next life. Tsomo finally learns to
treat karma as a greatest instructor, as it makes her aware of her account and give opportunities
to learn from mistakes and make amends. Tsomo learns a lesson from the sufferings that she
encounters in her life. She comes to an awareness that materialistic world is full of sufferings and
if she keep involving in such a chaotic samsara, she can never come out of the suffering hence
accumulating more sins and having a bad consequence. Any kind of attachments can drown her
into more emotional pool which can refrain her from spiritual practice. “It had taken her lifetime
to get away from all the attachments” (310). Though she had fumbled and tumbled throughout
her life she eventually discovered the essence of her life and found peace with herself.
Singh 39
Tsomo shaves her hair off and wears a maroon dress opting divinity over material world. She
finally accomplishes her childhood aspiration to practice religion. She pledges to reform her life
and forsakes all sorts of attachments. When she finally settles emotionally and spiritually, she
finds a joy in detachment and lightens up her heavy and a vengeful heart by forgiving the old
injuries. She “could now smile a smile free of all memories and free of all malice”(296).
Owing to the above perspectives, it can be concluded that karma plays pivotal role in
determining state of individual in the successive lives. Whatever we do, with our speech, body or
mind, will have an ultimate result. Action no matter how minor or major bears its consequences.
It is said that even a tiny seed results into huge tree and slight poison can cause death therefore
people have to watch their discourse, action and intention to avoid undesirable happenings in
near future or in next generation. But the concept that women are born due to negative karma
doesn‘t have any concert findings, but it might have arisen as the women are the one who land
up taking more responsibility in the household as compared to their male counterpart. Tsomo‘s
mother never thought anything for herself in her entire life. Her whole life was dedicated to her
family. “Tsomo never saw her do anything for herself or even cook something she liked. She
always cooked things that other people liked. When she cooked pumpkin she said, ‘Your father
likes pumpkin’. She didn‘t use ginger in soup even though she herself liked it very much”(56).
Women are so indulged in caring her family that she loses her own identity. Like her mother
Tsomo was also busy taking care of her husband weaving day and night for some income
whereas her husband just wasted away his time and the money she earned in gambling. Lhatu
least bothered about Tsomo and her illness. It is women‘s selflessness attitude that makes men
think of women as inferior and docile creature giving them misconception of being a better sex
Singh 40
and superior birth. As women get more involved in domestic chores and her family she loses her
own identity and hence she loses the power over herself also. Maslow in Motivation and
Personality states that if one sees selfactualization one can
… Accept their own human nature in the stoic style, with all its shortcomings, with all its
discrepancies from the ideal image without feeling real concern. It would convey the
wrong impression to say that they are self-satisfied. What we must say rather is that they
can take the frailties and sins, weaknesses, and evils of human nature in the same un-
questioning spirit with which one accepts the characteristics of nature… so does the self-
actualizing person tend to look upon human nature in himself and in others. This is of
course not the same as resignation in the eastern sense, but resignation too can be
observed in our subjects, especially in the face of illness and death (156).
Women are subject to pains and sufferings due to biological reason like; menstrual cramps,
pregnancy and other hardships. But there is no rational justification for women bearer of bad
karma. The agony and adversity of women are the causes which motivate men to belief women‘s
birth owed to bad karma. It is just a stereotypical belief. Women are barred from making their
own decisions hence lacking freewill and selfactualization. Once Tsomo started valuing herself
as an individual and giving importance to her own decisions, everything was clear to her, she
could easily make decisions for herself without having to think what other‘s might think of her.
Portrayal of Ritual and Sexism in the novel The Circle of Karma

Singh 41
Choden in her novel The Circle of Karma makes the women a scapegoat of ritual and religion.
Religion has been an easy weapon to keep anyone subjugated and this was done through
numerous rites, rituals and vows. Tsomo comprehends that a woman has almost no command
over their life as it was predestined by the existing rituals coined by the male society. She spends
her childhood observing the rich ritualistic life, the gender biasness, the culture of night hunting,
the humiliation that a girl has to undergo for bearing illegitimate child and the joy of consensual
wooing. Through her keen observation in her pre-teens Tsomo surpasses in the mundane
customaries and becomes a good homemaker who earns her praise from her mother and
neighbors. In the book Gender Roles it says that
Religious imagery is used to maintain injustice, suffering, and oppression-of nation
against nation, men against men, and men against women. Institutionalized religion-
whether pagan, Hebrew, Christian, or Islamic- not only helped maintain hierarchies of
domination and oppression but also functioned to alleviate part of the suffering caused by
these very hierarchies. (Lindsey 333)
Religion has always been an easy defense especially for men to hold their responsibility on, as it
is considered impolite to disapprove opinions and practices that arise from religious belief, no
matter how malevolent or repulsive they are. Encyclopedia Britannica ritual is defined as the
performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by tradition or by sacerdotal decree. Ritual is a
specific, observable mode of behaviour exhibited by all known societies. It is thus possible to
view ritual as a way of defining or describing humans” (Penner 2016). The fact that women are
Singh 42
being oppressed cannot be simply brushed off; it is a social custom present in every cultures. The
way women are repressed may vary, but their intentional degrading of Other gender so that the
men can claim their power economically, socially, or religiously is identical. The mental,
physical and emotional consequences of the gender degrading are shattering. The ritual itself is
male dominated or it‘s patriarchal in nature. It was an aged old ritual that religious education is
meant for boys. Tsomo has always wanted to learn scriptures but studying scripture or education
is rightful claim of boys, girls were deprived of such opportunities and rather focus on how to
handle the house and raise a family. Tsomo squeezes behind the kitchen door from where she
can peep into the altar room where the boys were taught by her father. It was a plight that despite
her keen interest she was denied from getting education as it has been tradition of educating only
the boys. She pressed her face against the wall “watching the boys in class, until she hears
Mother call her to do a chore or until the pins and needles in her legs, compel her to move” (20).
Being born as a girl was like having done a great crime as they are deprived of all the
advantages. Tsomo‘s father is overshadowed by the old traditions that he is not able to have a
broader perspective of how education can benefit not only men but also the women. It can
strengthen Tsomo and women in general to help reason out so that they can control their
emotions and make them stronger as a person. In A Vindication of Rights of Woman it says;
By individual education, I mean, for the sense of the word is not precisely defined, such
an attention to a child as will slowly sharpen the senses, form the temper, regulate the
passions as they begin to ferment, and set the understanding to work before the body
Singh 43
arrives at maturity; so that the man may only have to proceed, not to begin, the important
task of learning to think and reason. (Wollstonecraft 20-21)
Her father takes pride in being a great learned man in village, but he never considered to educate
his daughters. Tsomo tries many a times to persuade her father to agree upon educating her like
her brothers but he won‘t relent. Being a patriarchal society there was nothing she would do then
to bury her dream of studying religion “deeper and deeper, until it becomes a distant unfulfilled
dream. If only she had been a born a boy- but she didn‘t accumulate enough virtue to be born a
boy” (22).
Patriarchal civilization condemned woman to chastity; the right of man to relieve his
sexual desires is more or less openly recognized, whereas woman is confined within
marriage: for her the act of the flesh, if not sanctified by the code, by a sacrament, is a
fault, a fall, a defeat, a weakness; she is obliged to defend her virtue, her honor; if she
‘gives in’ or if she ‘falls’, she arouses disdain, whereas even the blame inflicted on her
vanquisher brings him admiration. (Beauvoir 443-444)
The ritual of marriage portrayed in the novel is an act of hegemony by the men. They feel they
have the right over female body so they just so in search of women as their prey and if they like
certain women, with or without consent they spent their night with woman. Choden had
discussed the marriage ritual commonly known as night hunting or bomena. This kind of wooing
involves where a boy quietly enters a girl‘s house at night for courtship with or without prior
Singh 44
discussion. It is through this kind of meeting young people find their partners and some get
married and some end their relation when the day breaks. Initially there will be disbelief and the
girl will try to shoo the boy but upon the boy‘s persistence the girl hesitates and gradually give
in. When the young girls go to guard the maturing buckwheat they yell and hollered echo
through the hills and valleys to chase the animals. The animals visit seldom but the boyfriends
never miss the chance. Once the crops were harvested and the grains were to be milled, the
young women had to again go to mill overnight. These isolated and away places from their home
give opportunity for the romances to brew and intensify. Marriage is imposed upon a girl
comparing to boys. Man they will come in the middle of the night making fall promises and
when the day breaks their promises and themselves disappears from the life of the girls leaving
girl shattered and humiliated. And the worst horrendous thing happens to girl when she gets
pregnant. She is force to announce her pregnancy and organize a purification ceremony called
tshangma. Purification ceremony is must to do ritual for pregnant woman as pregnancy is
unclean unless purified. In their tradition it is believed that;
Unpurified pregnancies disturbed the gods and the locality gods. Until the woman had
performed the ceremony, she was accountable for all severe weather conditions, illness
and deaths among humans and even cattle. Whenever there was an unusual hailstorm,
people immediately suspected a pregnant girl. (36)
It‘s very ghastly norm that even the natural disaster was blamed on women. The believed that the
disaster was likely to be the manifestation of God‘s will: it is when the gods get aggravated with
Singh 45
human‘s undesired act the god cause great affliction on mankind. But why cast the blame only
on women, when the act was done by involvement of two adults? The blame should equally go
to man, because of who the girl is in this condition. But since the men are the image of God he
can never be wronged or judged. During the purification ceremony if the father of the unborn
child denies marrying the girl, she has to either hire a man to represent the father of the unborn
child or make a dough effigy representing a man. Chimme‘s mother protest to her idea of having
dough effigy but Chimme adamantly says, “A dough effigy is good enough. This is also our
custom” (39). In the name of custom, tradition and rituals women are being humiliated forcing
them into a notion of inferiority. Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedigh justifies the reason of the increase
earthquakes in Iran during his prayer sermon;
Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity
and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes. What can we
do to avoid being buried under the rubble? There is no other solution but to take refuge in
religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes. (The Telegraph 2010)
Despite the advancement of world in science and technologies it‘s astonishing to digest the fact
that people are still widely orthodox. For a natural cause also they have to blame innocent
women. The inclination to look for a probable explanation for mysterious natural disaster
depends on human mind rather than a divine will. Men try to explore the reason behind the
disaster and when they can think of nothing else blame the women in the name of religion.
Singh 46
Tsomo‘s both the marriages also takes place through night hunting. The first marriage with
Wangchen transpires when they were sleeping in the open fire. Wangchen silently creeps into
her bed and Tsomo doesn‘t resist rather she was thrilled with Wangchen‘s touch and it seems
perfect under a twinkling starts. Tsomo‘s second marriage was also like the first one. After
several days of odd relation, on cold night Lhatu crawled in her blanket and suddenly she feels
the stirring inside her. “Tense and expectant, she turned towards him. Eventually he turned
towards her and in an awkward, fumbling and passionless manner their marriage of sorts took on
physical aspects” (203). Only if Tsomo knew that by surrendering her body to the man she was
indirectly accepting to be dominated.
Polygamy or the custom of having more than one wife at the same time was acceptable ritual.
After giving birth to still birth baby, Tsomo is caught by an unexplainable disease which inflict
her with pain and sorrow both mentally and physically. Because of her slow recovery her
husband starts having an illicit relation with her younger sister and upon Tsomo‘s discovery,
instead of apologizing on his misbehavior he suggest Tsomo to accept her younger sister as his
second wife. “Ay, why complicate matters? I will be a husband to both of you. This kind of
arrangement works”(91). Tsomo leaves the two upon realization that her husband prefers her
younger sister over her. Polygamy is boon for man as it is certified and very easy way to divorce
from the wife without any hassle.
Men have always felt the superiority over women and one of the reasons is the strength, stamina
and the valor he possess. Owing to this concept till now men are bestow with a work that
requires physical strength and it has become kind of ritual to give easier work to woman and
taking up of difficult work by man. Choden illustrates the ritual of buckwheat cultivation in
Singh 47
which man exhibits their strength and power over woman. The work begins three to four months
before the cultivation of the buckwheat, they prepare the land. By eighth month the whole village
gets busy with reciprocal labor exchange for digging followed by heaping and burning. This
really eased the work of all the villagers. They will take turn in helping out each other and
whosoever‘s land they work on, that person is responsible for food provisions. On the day of
working when the day breaks, the people gathers to the designated place with their hoes. The
men take in charge and start dividing the field, “women keep to this side of the field and men
keep to the other side” (31). It is woman who actually gives the man the impression of him being
powerful and she being powerless, “the ground is so hard, I can feel blisters in my hands just
looking at it‖ (31). When women have this kind of attitude it is obvious that man will take
advantage of the situation. There isn‘t anything a woman can‘t do if she tries. For example like
Chimme, she challenges the menfolk and digs the field equally with them proving the concept of
women having less strength deceitful.
Men‘s responsibility is to go out and win bread for his family members, educate children about
the religious obligations required by their faith. Tsomo‘s father is known for his service for
which many villagers sought his help and during his free time he narrate religious anecdotes to
his children so that they will revere the religion. Whereas the women are confined to household
chores, looking after the wellbeing of her husband, children, performing minor religious rites,
such as wading as spirits and helping men in cremation rites. Tsomo‘s mother has spent her
entire life looking after her family members without any complain. She has to do all the chores
on her own so that her husband can concentrate religious practice. It was also a culture whereby
Singh 48
women should be stay within their territory i.e. within their village. The androcentric dogma is
also found in the Bible, which states;
And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper
comparable to him. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a
woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
(Genesis 2: 18-23)
The belief that woman are made as the other half of a man, helper and server from the religious
point of view makes woman believe to be inferior blinded by religion. The conception of Eve
being created second to Adam gives a justification for man‘s domination over woman. Religion
and rituals has always proved to be a powerful instrument of gender dissimilarity. As Karl Marx
said, “religion is the opium of the people” (Karl Marx and Religion, 83), he alleged that religion
had certain features like an opium in the society where sick or injured person are treated from
their suffering providing them with agreeable illusions, but at the same time the effect of the
opium weakens their immune system to fight back gradually making them weak to confront the
repressive, cruel, and subjugation by the capitalist. Man is the capitalist and woman is the
proletariat; every oppressive activity is linked with religion hence woman willing agree upon
being subjugated. The Circle of Karma discusses a great deal of the specified gender issues in
society of twenty century Bhutan. Tsomo is raised to exhibit the proper protocol of being a
woman, loving sister, wife and a mother; of course Tsomo can never harvest the joy of
Singh 49
motherhood. Tsomo tries with all her might to love her husbands but despite her best attempts,
she fails to keep her marriages. Both her husbands ultimately betray her once their lust is
fulfilled. Human are born with biological differences but the gender differences are invented by
the men in order to claim their birth superior. Lindsey defines sexism as “Perpetuated by systems
of patriarchy, male dominated social structures leading to the oppression of women. Patriarchy,
by definition, exhibits androcentric- male centered norms operating throughout all social
institutions that become the standard to which all persons adhere” (Gender Roles 3).
Tsomo or the women in the novel The Circle of Karma are portrayed as an oppressed
characterizing them, as the Other, in opposition to men. Men in the novel hold the great role be it
at home or outside exhibiting themselves as master and woman the slave. Tsomo‘s father, her
two husbands and her elder brother have a notion about themselves as of great importance,
complete, and superior. On the other hand Tsomo, her mother or any woman, are considered
unnecessary, incomplete, and disfigured. The man goes out into the world to do what he wishes
whereas woman is destined to be introvert and obedient slave of a man. Simon de Beauvoir
denies the claim made by man that, “Humanity is male, and man defines woman, not in herself,
but in relation to himself; she is not considered an autonomous being” (The Second Sex 26).
Woman may be very well different from man when it comes to biological but when it comes to
psychological, linguistic and cultural woman possess same power and skill like man do.
Men have the superiority complex of being a God, and the misconception that the world is
owned by them. Whenever there are oppositions like; man vs. man, orient vs. occident, civilized
vs. uncivilized, man vs. woman at a same time and territory, one will always strive to subject or
dominate the other to its rule. And the dominating process becomes easier when the other
Singh 50
opponent feels inferiority complex. Female body being prone to larger pain and suffering like
menstrual cycles, pregnancy and nurturing of baby let women abstain from activities such as
hunting and fighting gradually leading to a concept of women being inferior to men. “Thus an
existential perspective has enabled us to understand how the biological and economic situation of
primitive hordes led to male supremacy” (The Second Sex 100).
The roles that Tsomo carry out as a daughter and wife is not endowed to her during her birth
rather it is socially constructed. Since a little girl she is taught what she is supposed to be in life,
what kind of roles she can or can‘t perform in benefit of being of the second sex. Tsomo is
constantly reminded of the fact that she is a girl and so inferior to boy. In The Second Sex it is
stated that;
One is not born, but rather becomes, woman. No biological, psychic, or economic destiny
defines the figure that the human female takes on in society; it is civilization as a whole
that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch that is called
feminine’. (Beauvoir 330)
As per her horoscope she is supposed to be named Pema Tsomo, but as her elder brother‘s name
is Pema Namgyel, she was simply named as Tsomo, demeaning her being a girl and providing a
privilege to her brother as a boy. Despite having two elder siblings, Tsomo has to do all the
household works since she was the eldest from girl siblings. “Any failure was met with reprisal.
You are the oldest girl, you have to learn to take responsibilities of the household” (8). The 1969
Singh 51
“Redstockings Manifesto‘‘ mention the women to be an oppressed class whereas men to be
capitalist:
Women are an oppressed class....We identify the agents of our oppression as men. Male
supremacy is the oldest, most basic form of domination. All other forms of exploitation
and oppression (racism, capitalism, imperialism, etc.) are extensions of male supremacy:
men dominate women; a few men dominate the rest. All power structures throughout
history have been male-dominated and male-oriented. They have used their power to
keep women in an inferior position. All men have oppressed women. (3)
Being a girl there is always a conflict between want of being oneself and having to be the other.
Tsomo is taught to please and listen to others smothering her own wishes and desires renouncing
her independence. Gender discrepancy or male domination is illustrated in the novel. Everything
is determined from male‘s perspective. Even the education is prejudiced and women have no
right to be educated. Tsomo longs to be educated and begs her father to educate her but she is
bluntly rejected by her father saying, ―You are a girl. You are a different. You learn other
things that will make you a good woman and a good wife. Learn to cook, weave and all those
things. A woman does not need to know how to read and write‖ (21). Tsomo‘s father is a true
misogynist. Instead of encouraging his daughter to be equal with a man he degrade her by saying
she is different, different not in a grander way but different in an inferior way and her only job is
to learn to be good wife and woman. The family is the most important agent of girl‘s overall
growth. Although various factors attribute to shaping a girl child‘s life but family plays a primary
Singh 52
pivotal role. It should be taught at home how being a girl one should have self-respect and self-
esteem and to be proud of whom they are. But instead of instilling positive perspective in her
life, if her family member accuses her of being girl, she can never learn self-respect. Beauvoir
states;
She first discovers the hierarchy of the sexes in the family experience; little by little she
understands that the father‘s authority is not the one felt most in daily life, but it is the
sovereign one; it has all the more impact for not being wasted on trifling matters; even
though the mother reigns over the household, she is clever enough to put the father‘s will
first; at important moments, she makes demands, rewards, and punishes in his name. (The
Second Sex 349)
In the novel, Choden describes the quality of an ideal wife as a woman who is submissive,
obedient and always devoted through Tsomo‘s mother. The novel also states women taking the
accountable for the happiness of men. Choden exposes the experience of Tsomo‘s feeling in a
series of catastrophic choices she makes but gradually overcomes it to search her ‘self’. The
protagonist Tsomo is restricted by gender system formulated by the community. There are lots of
invisible shackles that tie up Tsomo from living her life. She is deprived from being educated,
traveling and also living her life as a child. Being a girl she has no childhood, she has to grow
mature before the time as being an elder daughter she has to help her mother perform household
work and get trained in domestic work as it is trait of a good woman. Since young age Tsomo is
taught the art of weaving by her mother as it is also considered as one of qualifying traits of
being a good wife. Tsomo is tied up by the tentacles of the hegemony and throttled as she can‘t
Singh 53
enjoy the equal facilities that the men enjoy. She is forced to accept her ill fate of being girl. She
comforts herself by repeating a phrase; “I am only a woman”(23) which is positively approved
by older women with encouragement; “Yes, we are women, Tsomo. We are different. We must
be less ambitious and more subdued. We are not like the men” (23).
“It is interesting that many women do not recognize themselves as discriminated against; no
better proof could be found of die totality of their conditioning” (Millett, 56). Tsomo also
succumbs to her fate of being girl not realizing that she is being dominated and discriminated by
male chauvinist. Men in the novel try to put down the women portraying their masculinity and
strength. They mock and condemn the women for their lack of strength and assign a menial
work. And no one but women is to blame for such kind power and superiority air these men have
achieved because women give them this privilege by acting meek and docile. They enjoy the
inferior status men enthrust upon them and gleefully accept their submissive quality. “The
ground is so hard, I can feel blisters in my hands just looking at it” (30). Pem Lhadon, who
represents many women doesn‘t want to give a try of knowing their aptitude rather glad that
because of their weakness they get menial job. While Chimme challenges the men Tsomo
realizes it quick that she will take her own pace after all, “she didn‘t have to prove herself better
than the men” (32). Tsomo did recognize her self-worth very early but due to the norms of her
community she was clouded with illusions.
Marriage is yet another shackle in which Tsomo gets entangle, both her marriages give her
immense pain resulting from betrayal. ―Marriage incites man to a capricious imperialism: the
temptation to dominate is the most universal and the most irresistible‖ (Beauvoir, 566). As a
young, feeble and of inferiority complex, Tsomo come across men of good, wicked, moral and
Singh 54
immoral character during her journey. However, no matter what their eventual objectives are,
they all gradually try to institute some form of power and control over Tsomo.
Wangchen, Tsomo‘s first husband, loves her zealously initially so much so that he left his first
wife and child for her. Wangchen as expected undertakes the position of the master in their
relationship as well as in the house. He was able to win the heart of all the people gaining their
trust, thus Tsomo‘s father decided to handover the house and land to Tsomo and Wangchen so
that he can leave for hermitage. In order to hand over the property, her father wanted to draw a
letter of agreement to which Tsomo for the first time questioned her father, “Why Father, don‘t
you trust Wangchen? We don‘t need letter of agreement. I trust my husband completely?” (82).
Little did she know that her excessive trust towards her husband is just an illusion which can
break any soon. Gradually Wangchen took over all the decisions in the house by taking the role
of master as Tsomo was confined inside house due to her pregnancy. In the book Personality;
Classic Theories and Modern Research the theorist explains the reason behind male being more
oppressive and claim to master-hood as;
According to the (male) functionalists, most of a woman‘s energy was to expended on
pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation; as a result women had no remaining resources for
developing other abilities. These concepts were used to both explain and justify the
dominant position of men and submissive position of women in the contemporary
society. (Friedman and Schustack 382)

Singh 55
Tsomo after giving birth to stillborn baby gets physically and mentally ill. Her recovery is very
slow which exasperated Wangchen as he had to go work in the field, “He couldn‘t afford the
luxury of staying home to nurse her” (89). Due to her illness Tsomo was not able to fulfill his
lust therefore his love for her vanished. And he seeks his solace in Tsomo‘s younger sister,
Kesang and deceives Tsomo when she needed him the most. Upon Tsomo‘s discovery of the
fact, Wangchen instead of feeling apologetic, he starts physical violence upon Tsomo, before she
can understand that matter, his hand strike across her face causing stars in her eyes.
“Traditionally, patriarchy granted the father nearly total ownership over wife or wives and
children, including the powers of physical abuse and often even those of murder and
sale”(Millett, 34). He instructs Tsomo to agree upon the arrangement he has made i.e. he will be
husband of both the sisters. Tsomo, however, does favor to herself giving importance to her self-
respect, and endeavors to maintain it despite her inner turmoil and decides upon leaving the
house. She came to Thimphu with the plan of staying with her elder brother only to find that he
was long gone to Kalimpong. Her hope was shattered and lack of knowledge of the place
unnerves her and curse herself for taking an impulsive decision and wish she never left the
village but soon she get hold of herself and consoles, “No, it was better to be lost than to be
humiliated” (96). She searches for people from her village and finally tumbles with Tseten Dorji
and his wife Ugyen Doma. They let her stay in their hut, and she in return she did menial job like
collecting firewood, cooking their meal and doing dishes. But this is not what she came for,
being a maidservant. So Tsomo leaves the house and gets a work at a road construction site.
During which she meets with lots of women, who plays a pivotal role in her life; they directly or
indirectly motivates her to work harder and fulfill her lifelong dream of practicing religion, “Just
Singh 56
let me make a little money to pay for my journey to look for my brother and then I will practice
and get out of this cycle of suffering” (105). One more woman comes into her life with whom
Tsomo gets the bonding of sisterhood. “The term sisterhood is used among feminists to express
the connection of women who are not biologically related but are bonded in solidarity”
(Napikoski 2016). Dechen Choki, twenty-one years old shares a similar kind of fate, both
destroyed by men.
Our stories are so similar and yet so different. Everything happened because we are
women. You loved a man and suffered. I hated the man and suffered. (109)
Dechen Choki‘s father dies when she was six and her mother brought a step-father for her who
never failed to humiliate her referring her as ‘an eating mouth’, ‘a waster of grain’ and ‘that
whore’. But as Dechen grow older his attitude towards her changes and he starts giving her
special attention. Dechen‘s step-father is also an epitome of patriarchy society, a colonizer and a
master. He threatens Dechen forcing her into obeying him since he feeds them and make them
able to walk in the society. “We were very poor and he really did work hard and we were
dependent upon him” (109). It is because of this kind of helplessness nature in women that
makes man take advantage. Once her step-father got the clue of Dechen and her mother‘s
submissive quality, he started sexually molesting Dechen every day and night. Though her
mother knew of this happening, she could not do anything to safe her daughter as they were
dependent on him. So one day Dechen takes up a decision to abscond from her house as she was
willing to die of starvation and suffering rather than to live in a hell. Since both of them went
Singh 57
through same sufferings and both of them left home for betterment two of them feels bonded.
Choden has portrayed the problems faced by women at the work site and how female laborers
are demoralized at work place denying salary and demanding for sexual favors in return,
“Dechen Choki, if you want your wages, come and get them from me personally, otherwise I
won‘t give them to you” (122). Dechen Choki is very pretty and lively girl and every man at the
site desired for her, but their lajab thought that he deserves her and he tries to sexually harass her.
Lajab feel like he own her body and so he can have her whenever he feel like after all “women
had always been taught to condone such behavior, especially from men in positions of power”
(121). Tsomo however consoles and instruct Dechen that there‘s nothing they can do as they are
woman except to stay strong. One day lajab‘s wife came hearing the rumors of her husband‘s
doings at the site. She attacks Dechen who was standing droopily ashamed of what was
happening with her. Suddenly the suppressed woman inside Tsomo woke and she pushed the
woman who was abusing Dechen and said, “Enough now. Why don‘t you look after your
husband better?” (123).The sexual molestation by lajab and physical attack totally changed. “She
cried a lot and did not speak unless she was spoken to. Her shoulders stooped and she hung down
her head” (126). Lajab harass woman for his enjoyment and fulfillment of his lust that he never
realize its adverse impact both physically and psychologically that other‘s undergo.
Tsomo‘s second husband is also a man of patriarchal outlook who suppresses the intellect of
Tsomo and try and to prove her as irrational and ignorant. When Tsomo is attending a religious
initiation in Tso Pema out of nowhere a man called Ap Thinlay, who is from her same village
comes up to her and starts showering his concern on her.

Singh 58
You are a woman, alone and so far away from home, I am concerned for you. I feel like
parent to you and I feel I have to advise you. You should have a husband. Gomchen
Lhatu is a good man and he is quite well educated too. I must tell you his parentage is
clean, tax payers on both his parents‘ sides, like yourself’. (196)
Ap Thinlay plays a sexual politics with Tsomo by making her believe that she is vulnerable
without man‘s company. But instead of conforming to Ap Thinlay‘s proposal Tsomo makes her
point clear that she will not “let the marriage obstruct my way to religion” (197). But Ap Thinlay
prejudices that Tsomo is being coy and resisting the proposal because it is part of matchmaking.
One day Lhatu just shows up unannounced and starts taking in-charge of the hut and Tsomo‘s
life. She apparently declines to be overwhelmed by his presence but as Tsomo was drilled to
respect the man, she cooks food for him, does his dishes and eagerly waits for him to return
home. “Waiting can be a joy; for the woman who watches for her loved one, knowing he is
hurrying to her, that he loves her, the wait is a dazzling promise” (Beauvoir, 794). Tsomo is
living with a deception that Lhatu loves her; She feels ecstatic when he utters kind words to her,
she loves seeing him sleeping and listening to his loud snore. Though he doesn‘t contribute even
penny for home, Tsomo is still glad to have him around, his presence makes Tsomo happy and
gradually she was getting used to having him around her. “Love has been assigned to woman as
her supreme vocation, and when she addresses it to a man, she is seeking God in him” (Beauvoir,
802) and granting him the supreme power over her. Although he was surviving under her
welfare, he acted as if he was doing everything for her. Tsomo‘s willing submission shows her as
meek and innocent which ultimately gives power to Lhatu to hurt her. Lhatu in all walks of life
Singh 59
proves to be unreliable, impractical, irresponsible, immature and insensible husband yet in spite
of all the shortcomings, anguish and the torments she undergoes, Tsomo, always look up to
Lhatu with great pride and hope, as being a woman she is not supposed to be disobedient or
noncompliant according to the community she hails from. Though he never did any work both
inside and outside, he likes being in command, and if ever Tsomo has query or question he
dismisses her concern by saying “Everything is under control. I have arranged for everything like
I always do” (240).
Choden portrays Tsomo as a woman who submissively consents patriarchy as the mandate of
their life and suffer from it. Choden basically portrays the sufferings of the women in the novel
and makes the readers sympathize with them. The novel depicts how men like Wangchen, Lajab
and Lhatu abuse the women bodies for their pleasure and needs. Tsomo sensing that Lhatu is
cheating on her follows him to Phuntsholing and sees him with a young pregnant girl. Feeling
helpless she returns to hotel where she was staying and decides to let go Lhatu. But the next day
when someone from her village tells her that Lhatu‘s new wife calls her ‗old woman‘, the phrase
hurts her esteem and makes her immeasurably aggravated. “If tears are not sufficient to express
her revolt, she will carry on in such incoherent violence that it will disconcert the man even
more”(Behavior, 735).
Tsomo clutched her knife in her hand and walked towards her husband‘s apartment. Her
body seemed to have a life of its own, beyond her control, and she felt herself being
propelled by some energy totally unfamiliar to her. She felt like a gust of wind, the sole
chant in her mind was ‗a piece of her nose, a piece of her nose‘. (268)
Singh 60
Tsomo is actually “not fighting with matter but with life” (Beauvoir, 725). Choden‘s female
characters are usually obedient against the practice of oppression but Tsomo‘s rebellious trait is
exposed through the outburst of her anger. She has pent up her rage for so long; her rage is not
only because of Lhatu and his new wife but also her old wound from her first husband,
Wangchen and her sister Kesang. So far all the failure regardless of the agent, Tsomo took the
blame on her silently:
Women internalized their problems and grief and believed that they were all at fault.
Women were the thieves, stealing husbands from each other, living in suspicion and in
hate. We had it all wrong. We have to learn to rethink our roles and obligations. Our
obligations to ourselves and to each other‘. (270)
Tsomo is so determined to revenge on Lhatu‘s young wife that she is blinded from rational. But
at the right moment Gaylong Sherab seizes her from doing a heinous act and pleads Tsomo to
think calmly. Tsomo finally realize the blunder she was about to cause had it not been Gaylong
Sherab. “Not only is she unaware of what real action is, that is able to change the face of the
world, but she is lost in the middle of this world as in the heart of an immense and confused
mass. She does not know how to use masculine logic well”(Beauvoir, 726). It is noted that after
Sherab‘s assistance Tsomo handles the issue tactfully. The reason for her brutal act is very
primitive because as a woman she is always taught to take the blame and be submissive in the
sphere of man, women‘s brain is utilized only for domestic chores and does not harbor for
Singh 61
anything intelligible. Finally Tsomo is able to smile and “her smile came naturally, neither of
vengeance nor in malice. It was a smile of reconciliation and humour at the image of Lhatu
getting up early every morning to make tea for his young wife. Nobody is unchanging,
everybody can change” (271). Though she can now remember Lhatu without any retaliation, she
still feels the void in her “physical world as well as her life” (282). She does whatever she can to
erase the memory of Lhatu from her mind and the house. She pulls out the nails on which Lhatu
used to hang clothes but the holes left by the nails still bothered her until one day she plasters the
hole and completely erase the memory from the wall but it takes time to erase it from her mind.
Tsomo‘s this act shows her effort to be independent but she is so habituated to depending on
someone that she finds it difficult to accept the fact of being alone.
As a result of her indecisive and submissive hamartia, she is put in a perfect spot where she can
now withdraw from worldly pleasure and fulfill her lifelong dream of practicing religion.
Tsomo‘s freedom (freedom from any masculine oppression) was the vital key to her growth. By
the end of the novel without much ado she plunges herself in the spiritual salvation after
enduring violence, infidelity, exploitation and poverty at the cause of men. Tsomo finds
selfactualization through her religious pursuit and determines to become a nun. She says, “I want
to devote the rest of my life to religion. I have always wanted to learn religion but because of my
female body I was denied that privilege” (145). Tsomo shaves her hair and decides to wear a
maroon garb indicating submission of her soul and body to religion choosing divinity and
detachment from worldly things. As Rinpoche ordains Tsomo to be a nun she pledges to
transform her life and pursue a better route.

Singh 62
I have made the offering of your hair and now I have ordained you. You are nun now. We
have waited too long and now there is no time for the usual preliminary stages you would
normally have to go through. Isn‘t this what you always wanted but you kept forgetting,
because you were busy living your life? Ningche Achi, you are now Ani Samphelma. Om
Ah Hung. (286)
As Tsomo grasps the end of her life, she becomes more philosophical, forgiving and detach from
all worldly possession and her relatives. Tsomo realizes that all the relationships are arbitrary
prone to change, but “the only relationship that doesn‘t change is the relationship with yourself”
(308). It becomes possible for Tsomo to endure any obstacles in a composed, peaceful and
serene manner unlike during her younger days where she used to panic with little things. She
loves her new lifestyle; she spends her time fruitfully by praying, circumambulating, prostrating
and lighting butter lamp. She becomes independent and selfreliant and receives a stipend from
the government on an obligation of chanting a number of prayers every month. Tsomo wants to
live her rest of the life in dignity and so die in dignity. She doesn‘t want her relatives to dispute
over who is to bear the expense for her death rituals.
Death rituals cost the living severely, and it can turn out to be an economic disaster for
many. Tsomo did not want her relatives to bear the financial responsibility for her death.
She wanted to be able to bear her own expenses even when she was dead. (305)
Singh 63
She wants to be cremated in dignity and want to avoid being the cause of quarrels and in the
family. So she sells the zis that has hung round her neck for many years. Though Lhatu coaxed
her many times to sell it, she never agreed with him. But now she neither felt any attachment to it
nor did she needed it. So she sells it and deposits the money in the bank so that her relatives can
use it for her decent cremation.
Mary Wollstonecraft in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman states that if the women
are to be wise and judicious then they must be set free of oppression, for when they are free they
can take better decisions.
Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as men become more
so; for the improvement must be mutual, or the injustice which one half of the human
race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of men will be
worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his feet. (186)
The escapade of Tsomo is blessing in disguise. Had she not taken up a decision of leaving
Wangchen and Kesang, she must be still suffering the torture both physically and mentally. Her
journey from her village to Thimphu, Phuntsholing, India and back to Bhutan despite full of
suffering and struggle; she is able to retrieve her identity and purpose of her being.
Critical Analysis
Singh 64
Not much of a research work has been done on Choden‘s The Circle of Karma and some of the
works that are done have focused on the cause and effect of Karma, the role of the Karma in
one‘s birth and explained the novel from Buddhist point of view.
Nazneen Khan in her Articulating Women's Experience: Kunzang Choden's The Circle of Karma
observes that;
The novel The Circle of Karma attempts to expose the patriarchal practices that exist in 20th
century Bhutan. Patriarchy is a system formed by male in which male possess the prime and
fundamental power and overpowers important decision making, privileges such as political,
social and property and also life of the other sex-female. The head of the family is always the
male and he holds authority over women and children. Though all the women are not same
around the world the plight they are going through are same. Girls are tagged as well disciplined
and mannered if they are docile and submissive to male desires. The man will decide what she
should do and what she shouldn‘t. The novel is Choden‘s attempt to give voice to the voiceless
women across the globe.
Kunzang Choden‘s The Circle of Karma portrays the numerous facets of women‘s
experience emphasizing in particular the trials and tribulation of being a woman in a
patriarchal society. It tells the story of Tsomo, a young Bhutanese woman, who embarks
on the difficult and lonely journey of life. Tsomo's travels, which begin after her mother's
death, take her away from her family and lead her across Bhutan and into India. All the
while, Tsomo attempts to break out of the pre-ordained, pre-defined shackled roles and
seeks to find herself and grow as a person and woman. (2)

Singh 65
Mohini Gurav in her Eco feminist study of Kunzang Choden‘s The Circle of Karma focuses on
similar domination on women and nature. The women characters in the novel simply don‘t bare
the humiliation rather they erupt as strong fighters and venture to avoid violence and dominance.
Gurav relates women to the nature and find comfort in the nature. Gurav states that the novel
conveys a message loud and clear for all humans to save women, nature and non-humans.
It throws light on interconnectedness of women and nature and how they search
happiness, peace and solace in nature. It also focusses on the association between
oppression of women and the exploitation of nature by the dominance of Patriarchy. The
protagonist goes a slow transformation and refuse to be a victim. She identifies herself
with nature and finds solace in nature. (3)
Abhishek Kumar Jaiswal in his The Circle of Karma: A Realistic Approach to Bhutanese
Gender, Culture and Religion observes that the book is purely based on Buddhist philosophy of
Karma: cause and effect. The book creates awareness that every human being has to deal with
the consequences of karma whether good or bad based on accumulation deeds in their past life,
in one or other way, it affects the current birth. There is no escape. Jaiswal points out gender
difference to be one of the problems of Bhutan. All the decisions are determined by male even
the basic rights like education is partial, females were not allowed to be educated. Though he
finds Bhutanese culture to be simple and restrictive in nature, the tradition of courtship and
marriage system are far more liberal than in European and Asian countries.
Singh 66
It is explicitly a Buddhist novel but one that concentrates on the everyday struggle of the
protagonist- Tsomo‘s life. The writing is rich with Buddhist imagery but the story is
firmly grounded in mundane realities of gender and cultural issues, in short an excellent
novel about a woman‘s hard life, set against vivid gender, cultural and religious
background. The novel applies the theory of nemesis in practice. It deals with the
importance of karma/action. There is a message that each human being will experience
the consequences of karma whether good or bad, in one or other way, in this or other
birth. There is no escape. The novel is a story of Tsomo the central character, a fat girl
compelled by her own restless spirit and later by circumstances to leave her family and
go on series of endless travels. Hope and tragedy mark her path in equal measure as her
story gives a look of microcosm of Bhutanese society. (2)
The novel The Circle of Karma is a good example of Feminist literature as it addresses issue of
subjugating women through various tools like rituals and karma and how the protagonist frees
herself from all these clutches. Women have been scapegoat of ritual since ages. Since religious
plays significant role in Buddhist religion it is very easy for the men to fool the women into
believing that Buddha himself claims to male superiority in birth. Whereas in actual Buddhism
never consider women as being inferior to men. There will always be the biological and physical
differences between the two sexes, but that does not make men greater than women. Both the
sexes can be equally useful to the society.
The purpose of this research is to explore the status of women in rural and urban Bhutan and
women in general. The dissertation will discuss entirely new perspective on the book through
Singh 67
feminist point of view. The novel illustrates the difficulty of a woman, who is brought up under
patriarchy. The main protagonist suffers in the hands of series of male; her father and her two
husbands. Choden talks about different rituals prevailing in different corners of Bhutan and also
the orthodoxy of people especially regarding female birth. The main objectives of this
dissertation are to: to analyze the role of ritual, to study the concept of Karma and to analyze the
traditional gender role stereotypes and in the inherent inequality between men and women.
This research aims at discovering a better understanding of the topic through qualitative research,
and the methodology used shall include library search, online journals, other internet articles and
feminism approach.
Library searches shall focus on books that are related to the research question. Focal point of
online journals shall be to look for any articles that have already been written on the book. Using
these research methods, the researcher intends to collect all possible sources like books, articles,
journals, essays, and all kinds of written materials supporting the study.
This area of study has not been done before. Writers have mostly focused on the themes of cause
and effect Buddhist philosophy, and some critical studies about the book and little or no attempt
have been made to explore the theme of karma, ritual and sexism.
To deal with the issues in the novel, this work is allocated into two chapters. The first chapter
aims at exploring the effect of karma on individual‘s and general misconception of treating birth
of woman to the accumulation of less merit in previous life.
The second chapter is devoted to ritual and sexism in Bhutanese culture and how these
perspectives affect the Bhutanese society.

Singh 68
Conclusion
The novel explores about the male hegemony using various tools like Karma, ritual and sexism.
Different societies have subjugated, oppressed and tortured women by different ways. But, in the
present context, the protagonist has suffered the cultural and social despotism of Bhutanese
society. Tsomo, representing women in generally is socially and culturally fabricated, rather than
shaped biologically. “Gender stereotypes are formed at an early age with men and women beings
identified with particular occupations” (Gender Studies, 230). Stereotyping depicts wrong
impression to the society as to what women can do or cannot do, and how women should be or
shouldn‘t be. Women in the novel are expected to do all the domestic works, care for her family
and be obedient to her husband. Whereas men have privilege to education, go out for work and
command over his family. Tsomo is the echo of the society and symbolic of the women crushed
at the extremity of society. Tsomo‘s horoscope predicts her life line to be a disastrous where she
is doom to struggle especially in the hands of men. Her misfortune is generated when she goes to
lite butter lamp for her mother‘s first death anniversary. Wangchen and Lhatu are those men who
came into Tsomo‘s life as a sorrow. They are the personification of misogynist society who
claims a rightful possession over female‘s body and soul. Though these two men never
encounters in the entire novel but their purpose in Tsomo‘s life is same; leaving her devastated
and shattered. By depicting the situation of female condition and feeble protagonist, Choden
reveals feministic approach in her novel.

Singh 69
Tsomo never heard her Mother complain. She was a big strong and brave woman and she
did not complain about anything. Sometimes Tsomo thought she had strange fixed
expression on her face. It was funny expression, a smile that verged on sadness. When
she had this expression she would stare into space as if she missed something and Tsomo
thought that she would complained if she could. (6)
Through the above lines it is clear that undervaluation of femininity prevalent in the novel.
Tsomo‘s mother locate her identity and meaning of her live through her husband and children so
much so that she loses her own identity. Though she is described as a brave and strong lady, she
is never really able to complain and protest to her husband‘s demand. It is because of the culture
of man being treated superior and equivalent to God. Mother bears the pain of bearing child year
after year giving birth to thirteen kids silently because Tsomo‘s father believes “that large
numbers of people were a great blessing” (56).
The old gender stereotypes prevails in the novel but gradually Tsomo is able to breakdown
several stereotypes as she evolves from a timid, submissive and dependent girl to bold and
independent woman. First stereotype that she breaks is the social stereotype; that girls can‘t
travel further from their village. Tsomo travels not only within her own country Bhutan, but also
she pilgrims over several places in India like Kalimpong, Bodhgaya, Himachal Pradesh and
many more. The protagonist embarks a journey to an unknown destinations and this expedition is
not a mere happy voyage, visiting of a places, but it symbolizes Tsomo‘s indepth discovering her
own identity; when Tsomo decides to stop being a dummy in the hands of her husband she
leaves her village and her old life behind. It is later that Tsomo realizes when how oppressed and
Singh 70
unfair life she has led for so long. She initially treats herself as a mere puppet in the hands of
husbands and her karma bearing no power over her own life. Her excursion proves to eye-
opening experience for her which helps her to redeem power over her life.
Tsomo was also able to overcome the sexual politics that was played in education, the right to
education which was limited only to boy. This type of stereotype bared women from learning
and widening their outlook towards the understanding of the world. But Tsomo emerged out of
this convention also and towards the end of the novel, she dedicates her life for religious
practices.
Tsomo achieves self-hood and so she doesn‘t need a husband or brother or any man to support
her. She is independent, in charge of her own life, which is essentially a rejection of the role of
wife and mother, that women are expected to play in a patriarchal society. Instead of depending
on others Tsomo believed that she has “to do something to earn some money” (150) so that she
can be self-reliant. Tsomo nullifies the notion of a man being a bread earner and woman as a
home-maker. After marrying with Lhatu her life gets worse again. She had to weave to earn
money, manage the house hold chores and she the primary care giver of Lhatu. Their financial
sources were dwindling and her husband does not make the slightest effort to do anything to
better the situation she forces Tsomo to tirelessly weave day and night. Through her obstacles
Tsomo emerges as a stronger woman who is handling not only the domestic work but also
working to earn money for living. Finally Tsomo is able to renounce the worldly pleasure to join
Buddhism as a nun. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Mary Wollstonecraft says, “I do
not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves” (66). And at the end Tsomo
Singh 71
achieves power over herself; she is finally able to celebrate her being as an individual soul who
need not depend on any man.
Choden‘s novel The Circle of Karma is representative of how women have to tussle to survive in
the male-dominated society. Unless a woman transforms herself into a bold, gallant and self-
reliant person she shall continue to be puppet in the hands of a man. The novel is positive in tone
although the exposition of the novel is quite murky. Tsomo‘s starts a journey in a state when she
has totally lost faith in life, shattered and devastated both physically and psychologically. Her
life kept on testing her patients and perseverance by thrusting her with endless sufferings; two
bad marriages, miscarriage and life long illness. But Tsomo never gave up. She continued to
fight her way back no matter even if the whole world turned against her. Finally her life long
quest fulfills, being religious practitioner, and Tsomo is liberated from the oppression from the
patriarchal society
Singh 72
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in the region, through people-to-people contacts and dialogue.

the socio-cultural-political-economic-tribal-gender issues of the region. FOSWAL organises

and scholars from across South Asian region.

American literature or Commonwealth literature; it refers to a number of literatures prospering

Chair of Commonwealth literature and the publication of The Journal of Commonwealth

Literature edited by Arthur Ravenscraft. (Narasimhaiah, 16)

University of Lead in England played in the formation of Commonwealth literature. Indian

in Commonwealth countries. It attempts to present a creative contour of these countries from a

Sikhism is practiced in all the SAARC countries in different proportions. Linguistically

creative writers and artists know no boundary.

familiarizes us with the poetry written in SAARC countries.

They are getting international recognition and critical attention.

India's natural position as a big brother economically, culturally, politically, strategically or in

Suspicion in the people of the subcontinent.

its own. Urdu and Sindhi are other exceptions.

established in the subcontinent.

College in Delhi and a Bachelor in Sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

how to read and write, her father says to her.

attachments even before she becomes a nun.

of Tsomo’s life and journey.

educated and learn to read and write.

world, slowly but surely.

woman as her parents had taught her or to pursue a life of religion.

epiphany and self-realization on Tsomo’s part.

idea about women being enemies to each other.

The Circle of Karma employs several nuanced interpretations of travel as a motif – be it in

According to Determinism, whatever or however it is happening now is because it is determined

how to read and write. (21)

the illiterate Tsomo faces when navigating through modern-day India.

According to Determinism, whatever or however it is happening now is because it is determined

small to no reason as a reward for loyalty.

According to Determinism, whatever or however it is happening now is because it is determined

as, ―particularly thoughtless action—routinized, habitual, obsessive, or mimetic— and therefore

does not need to know how to read and write. (21)

Karma and Social Apparatus in the novel The Circle of Karma

(New Testament Galatians 6:7, 350)

creating harmonious environment.

never disappear, until it is ripened. (96-97)

children understand the concept of cause and effect;

prosperous. That was also karma (12).

spared from dying” (306).

An individual's current state is thus expounded by reference to actions of his present or in

of her actions, she could not escape from it”(90).

either in this life or a future life.

and gradual effect as phalas and Samskara.

the invisible dispositions or tendencies to act, think, experience, or interpret experiences

took his life.

heavy books off his body. (13)

prominent among the followers of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, including women…. It is

various places; Thimpu, Kalimpong, Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi.

exhausted both emotionally and financially.

positive; no negative things are going to follow him.

Personality states that if one sees selfactualization one can

Portrayal of Ritual and Sexism in the novel The Circle of Karma

neighbors. In the book Gender Roles it says that

Religious imagery is used to maintain injustice, suffering, and oppression-of nation

these very hierarchies. (Lindsey 333)