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| Vaishali Suyal |
Abstract
Kamala Das, being
one of the pioneers in Indian feminist writings, has advocated for
women’s identity and rights. Her works, especially short stories, offer a
powerful medium to examine women’s issues concerning personal autonomy and
patriarchal expectations. Her short stories are poignant narratives elevating
grave issues of human trafficking, prostitution, sexual assault, betrayal and
adultery.
The paper is an
attempt to highlight the body struggles faced by women and the associated
marginalization. It also investigates the absence of choices and agency for
these women, often arising due to societal silences.
Keywords: Kamala Das, Short Stories, Marginalized Women, Husband-wife, Prostitute.
Introduction
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| Kamala Das Surayya |
Kamala
Das, also known as Madhavikutty, was born in a conservative Hindu (Nair) family
on March 31, 1934, in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur district, Kerala. Hailing from a
well-known family, she was the daughter of a celebrated poet, Nalapat Balamani
Amma, and V.M. Nair, an automobile company executive. Her childhood traversed
between Kerala and Calcutta, where her father worked. She was just 15 years old
when she was wed to Madhava Das, a banking executive. Although the marital
alliance wasn’t a fruitful one. She writes in My Story:
“My cousin asked me why I was cold and frigid. I did not know what
sexual desire meant, not having experienced it even once. ‘Don’t’ you feel any
passion for me?’ he asked me. ‘I don’t know,’ I said simply and honestly. It
was a disappointing week for him and for me. I had expected him to take me in
his arms and stroke my face, my hair, my hands, and whisper loving words. I had
expected him to be all that I wanted my father to be, and my mother. I wanted
conversation, companionship and warmth. Sex was far from my thoughts. I had
hoped that he would remove with one sweep of his benign arms the loneliness of
my life…” (80).
The
short stories of Das— “The Princess of Avanti”, “Padmavati the Harlot”, “A Doll
for the Child Prostitute”, “The Young Man with a Pitted Face”, and “A Little
Kitten”, analyzed in the paper—paint the canvas of the repressive social
structures and their functioning. These short stories collectively frame her
anthology Padmavati the Harlot & Other Stories, first
published in 1994. Jai Shankar Tiwari states Das discusses Indian womanhood
through the network of her short stories by deftly utilizing the confessional
mode (38). The characters of Das celebrate womanhood, question self-identity,
and demand a personal space for themselves. Thus, Das becomes the flag bearer
for these destitute women through her bold yet empathetic writings.
The
oppressive patriarchal norms rooted in the society affect and control the women
all across in their own way. The women in these stories struggle not only with
their bodies but also have a tough time handling the silenced approach of
the society. “The Princess of Avanti” isn’t the story of a princess or her
magnificent palace but of an old woman who identifies herself as the ‘Princess
of Avanti’. The woman is a nameless character who is greeted by three imposter
men, and as the story moves further, they exploit her sexually to the extent
that she dies.
Throughout
her life, the old woman attended to the needs of her family. She only desired
love and attention from her daughter-in-law, but all she did was pack her lunch
and send her to the park. The false sense of dignity and abandonment takes
hold of the old woman as she completely trusts three unknown men. She interacts with them for the first time “‘Have I met you before?’ the
old woman asked. ‘No, we are new here,’ said the man. ‘This young man is the
king of Vangarajya. The other is the king of Kerala. I am the ruler of Kalinga.”
(11).
With growing age, the old woman is not able to come in terms with the
reality but she finds an escape through it by acknowledging herself as ‘Princess of Avanti’. The young men who were befitting
to be her sons appear before her as husbands. They dupe her into believing that
they have travelled all the way just to attend her wedding “We want you to
select one of us as your husband.” (11).
The men were sane enough to prevent the heinous task of ripping off a
woman’s dignity, though the old lady suffered from an
identity crisis; keeping this in mind, the men
hatched a plan. Under the pretext of celebrating her wedding, they asked
her “‘This evening you must not go home. Remain hidden behind a bush.
After the park is locked we shall climb over the wall and come to you. We can
celebrate your wedding quietly inside this beautiful park.’” (11).
The bout of madness took over the woman as soon as she heard of getting
married. The men knew what they were about to do was ethically incorrect; however,
they were endowed with animal instincts. They discussed the future implications
of their callous actions “‘Suppose she cries?’ asked the tall one. ‘I can
prevent that,’ said the second. ‘She desires you,’ said the third.” (11).
With
the fall of dusk, the young men reunite again to plunder the soul and purity of
the old woman. Unaware of the things happening, she informed them about
her not being the princess and her disinterestedness in getting married. Still,
nothing stopped the perverts from forcing themselves on the old woman. In a
vulnerable tone she requested them not to hurt her further but her loud shrieks
of pain made no impact on them “‘Oh, you hurt me
terribly,’ the woman cried out. ‘I cannot bear this pain. Do not bite me to
death.’ She struggled to free herself from their grip.” (12).
The old
woman was sidelined by her family when she expected their love and support the
most, but to them she had no feasibility. The self-assumed identity of Princess
Avanti shows that she craved importance and dignity, which everyone around her
failed to give.
Padmavati,
the middle-aged prostitute, is the eponymous character in “Padmavati the
Harlot”. Standing at the brink of her life, she realized that she devoted
thirty-three years to looking after her family. Firstly, she tended to the
paralyzed mother for seven years, and after her death, she met the expenses of
her brothers’ education and her sister’s marriage. It all came as a bundle of
responsibility for Padmavati. The brothers got good jobs in other cities and
never bothered to remember her. Sister, after settling well in her married
life, never stayed in touch with her.
She never complained to anyone about anything in her life for she
believed “Who can blame them? Who will want to consort with a woman like me?”
(17). The
profession of selling her body to strangers landed her in the world of
loneliness, although everything she did was for the sake of her own family. But
no one really bothered for her as a woman, and she felt lovelorn throughout her
life. Love and acknowledgement from loved ones and respect from society were
her only expectations, yet all she got was contempt and hatred. The world failed to understand her efforts, and she finally submitted
herself to the Lord:
“She felt the warmth of His body against her own. She closed her eyes in
ecstasy. At dawn, she left the precincts of the shrine and walked down the
steps with her hair dishevelled and her blouse torn in places. She blushed like
a bride when the young men at the foot of the hill came near her and looked at
her face. There were bruises on her cheeks and on her white throat. Her lips
were swollen and blue. There was fatigue in her eyes. She hid her face behind her
long hair and walked fast. The young men let her pass, bowing before her and murmuring,
Mother, go in safety, give us your blessings and go your way…” (19).
Rukmani
was very young when she was left to the care of her mother and stepfather.
Childhood is the most delicate phase of a child; unfortunately, this phase of
Rukmani turns out to be the scariest nightmare in “A Doll for the Child
Prostitute”. Abandoned by her father, she is raped by her stepfather and
further exploited by the Inspector sahib “‘Come to
me, my moppet,’ he pleaded, his
voice thickening with lust.” (86).
The
condition worsens when Rukmani is sold by her mother at a brothel that is owned
by Lachmi Bai, aka Ayee. Prior to her marriage, Anasuya, the mother of Rukmani,
was also one of the residents of the brothel. She holds an extramarital affair
with a man younger than her age and this illicit relationship with the younger
man becomes the cause of her daughter’s molestation “‘You ought not to have sent away the good man I married you off to,
Anasuya,’ said Ayee. ‘He was a steady fellow and he never drank. But you lusted
for a younger one. Are you satisfied now?’” (59).
Frequent
molestation, harassment, and rape attempts on Rukmani compel Anasuya to sell
her daughter in a brothel, though the primary reason is the newborn baby of
Anasuya. Due to her poor financial condition, Anasuya is not able to raise the
child properly “Anasuya rolled the dirty currency notes in a paper and
tucked the roll into her waist. ‘I would not have taken any money from you,
Ayee,’ she said, a sob rising in her throat, ‘but we are practically starving
at home. The baby is given nothing but tea and maybe a banana at noon.’” (59).
Sita,
Mira, and Saraswati are the other inmates who accompany Rukmani in the brothel.
Rukmani, as a child, was helpless to decide her future; her only desire was to
get love from her family. It is clearly reflected in the story when
she embraces the Inspector Sahib, addressing him as Papa. She feels the warmth
and affection in his presence that she fails to get otherwise “Then Rukmani for the first time after her friend’s death, broke down.
She rushed towards the man and hid her sobbing face in the bushy growth of hair
on his deep chest. ‘Papa, Papa,’ she called out, sobbing, while the man,
stupefied beyond words, kept stroking her curly hair. ‘Oh papa, take me away
from here,’ she said, ‘Otherwise I too will die…’” (86).
Sita was the go-to person who made Rukmani happy; however, Sita’s
untimely death left her soul shattered. Cholera devoured Sita’s family long
ago, leading her to be sold at the brothel by one of the villagers. The
frequent exploitation by the visitors leaves her pregnant, although she hoped
for a natural life away from the world of fleshmongers, desiring freedom “Leaning
against the bars of the porch, Sita said to her friend: ‘Look at the sky this
afternoon, it is like a whitewashed wall. Once upon a time I lived in a house
with white walls. Every year during Diwali, my father whitewashed our walls
with lime and powdered sand.’” (70).
Mira,
just like Rukmani, longs for a dignified life and love. She falls in love with
a college student whom she addresses as Krishna. Although the poor fellow has
no money, he sells his pen to meet her. Then one fine day they get married to
each other and elope. When they are caught, the boy is beaten brutally. Later,
Mira is abandoned by the boy. The affair is short-lived, as the story,
which blossomed with love, ended on the verge of lust being fulfilled. Vinothkumar and Daniel note Das’ opinion on love and lust in the system
of marriage:
“Kamala Das has admitted that there
is ‘lot of love’ in her poems. She wrote, Love is beautiful, whatever
four-lettered name the puritans call it by. It is the foretaste of paradise. It
is the only pastime that involves the soul. She is not a poet of free love. On
the contrary, she upholds the sanctity of domestic love and marital
relationship. But she is disheartened when marital love degenerates into lust,
when marital relationship turns into one of domination by the male over the
female. Her poems are fierce expression of the emotionalism caused by
frustration when love turns into its opposite solely because of male
insensitivity and self-centredness.” (14).
Inspector Sahib and Lachmi Bai
were instrumental in the oppression of Rukmani and Sita. The protector of the law had become the
predator, even though he should have been concerned about the safety of all the
women in the brothel. But instead, he was searching for young girls to satisfy
his own thirst. Mira's abandonment by her lover after marriage signifies that a
prostitute is never meant for marriage, which is asserted by the Inspector
“‘Why would a decent boy marry a prostitute?” (78).
“The Young Man with a Pitted Face” is the story of a dying woman, a
young man, and their one-month-old relationship. He was the most charming man
she had ever come across. The woman lay in the hospital battling with all sorts
of diseases, though her deteriorating health scared her at times:
“She had during the past fortnight two major operations and the cardiac
condition which had worried her doctor, had remained. Her womb, that had lain
fallow, had grown fibroids just as a desert may grow cacti and carnivorous plants.
Her liver had adhesions. Her intestines, not to be outdone, had developed
tuberculosis. All this and the weak heart had in those recent months drained
her of whatever beauty she had left. The chloroquine that was administered
regularly made her colour as dark as quinine.” (26).
The man used to visit her in the hospital after the evening visitors’
departure. She knew she wouldn’t be able to live long so she thought “If she
survived she would return to the narrow confines of her brown body and the
little flat with the blue brocade curtains and her favourite bronzes but if she
slipped out of the surgeon’s hands silently, beautifully, she would be free;
she would have the universe with its celestial furnishings as her home.” (26-27).
Vinothkumar
and Daniel comment with regard to the poems of Das that it not only centralizes
on love and lust but it also covers the other aspects of human life, i.e.,
death, decay and illness. Lust is the parameter which affects woman and man,
creating resentment in the former and brutality in the latter, ultimately
destructing the inner spirit (15).
The young man was the only blessing in the woman’s life. His presence
made her feel so comfortable that she fell in love with him. Although the man
wasn’t sure about his feelings, as he was a married man. Moreover, what could
he get from an ailing and diseased woman? He never showed that he loved her but
was simply concerned, or maybe not. The dialogue delivered by Dev Mathur in Jalebi
movie released under Vishesh films is apt to describe the situation of sick
woman “Unse mohabbat kamaal ki hoti hai, jinka milna mukaddar mein hi nahi
hota” (“That love
is out of the world…Those who are never supposed to be together”; my trans.;
0:07-16).
The
only things desired by the woman were love and attention, and the promise on
behalf of the young man to meet was the only hope keeping her alive, albeit he
had no time to spare for her. With all the illness and ugliness followed with
the procedures and treatment, she wanted to feel beautiful and to be loved so
she never failed to adorn herself as a woman “And yet,
being a woman, nothing but a woman, she rubbed lipstick on her blue lips and
washed her hair every day to leave it smelling sweet.” (26).
The man never turned up to her; though lying on her deathbed, she only
hoped to see him once. He should have known his limits before
approaching the woman and coaxing her with false hopes. She hadn’t envisioned life without him even after death, as she imagines
“She would be in the wind, in the sea, in the rain, in the sand on the beach
where the young man walked with his wife. And at night, the young man would
tell his wife the winds are cold and sharp today, close the window, and without
knowing that she was at the window the wife would shut it and lie against his
body.” (27).
The
man’s response was everything that she should have understood long ago;
however, she was too na├пve to interpret it. He meant what he said to her, as
not even pity moved him an inch towards her. He started ignoring her under the
pretext of being busy instead of conveying it was only sympathy rather than
love. The man was a shallow person who visited her aimlessly in the hospital
despite having a wife. When she questioned him, he replied in vagueness “If he could love her, her eyes full and her mouth pale, he would look
down at his shoes and say, you know what you mean to me.” (27). She died
without acknowledging that he never wanted to continue with the relationship.
“A Little Kitten” is the tale of a happily married couple living in a
small flat at Dadar. The husband is a working man, and the wife is a homemaker.
Staying at home made the wife feel miserable and lonely in his absence. She
demands a little kitten, but her demands are overlooked. It seems as if the
husband is only concerned with his satisfaction and happiness “And, he threw
back his head and laughed. What a sweet and innocent creature he had married!
He tickled her until she rolled over on their double bed and screamed out for
mercy. You are killing me, please stop, PLEASE STOP. Then, he began to lick her
toes, mumbling, you see, I am your kitten, I am your little kitten.” (31).
The
essence of the relationship soon faded and paved the way for frequent quarrels.
The husband’s involvement with his secretary, Miss Nadkar, added further spice
to it. The unanswered questions and the unspoken silences drove the woman
crazy. It started affecting their relationship badly as Miss Nadkar became an
indispensable part of it. The intricacies of the husband-wife relationship are
expressed in the poem “The Testing of the Sirens”:
“I
am happy. He really was lavish with words.
I am happy, just being with you.
But you . . . you love another,
I know, he said, perhaps a handsome man,
a young and handsome man.”
The
wife only longed for affection and extra time from her husband, albeit Miss
Nadkar was showered with all the attention by the boss morally, which was the
wife’s right. Not only this, he even started comparing Miss Nadkar with
his wife “He gave for the first time a birthday gift to his
secretary because he had begun to compare her with his petulant little wife.”
(32). When all the attempts of the wife failed to get her husband on her side,
she gave up on him and found solace in some other man.
Conclusion
In the
story “Princess of Avanti”, an old woman is brutally killed in the society’s
park; strangely, neither did anyone pay attention nor was she rescued.
Ironically, law and order didn’t exist for either the victim or the accused, as
the men killed the woman with no remorse after raping her. The society where
she lived turned a deaf ear towards her helplessness; no one safeguarded her,
not even her family. The only crime committed on the part of the old woman
was that she failed to reckon with her true self.
“Padmavati
the Harlot” shares the age-old saga of women trapped in the cobwebs of family
responsibility. Padmavati, with no formal education in hand, takes up the job
of selling herself to the strangers unwillingly. Owing to her profession,
everyone resents her, including the family for whom she didn’t even hesitate to
trade her dignity. Throughout, she struggled with the stigma attached to her
profession; her decision to quit the old ways of living wasn’t welcomed by the
society, as for them, she was a prostitute who had a past but no future.
“A Doll
for the Child Prostitute” draws attention to the absence of choices not
only for the women but also for the children. Rukmani and Sita, at a tender age
of playing hopscotch, are sold to Lachmi Bai, where Sita had little agency,
unlike Rukmani. Sindhuthai and Koushalya were aware of the consequences of
subjecting a minor to the life of prostitution; still, there was little they
could have done about it.
The act
of Anasuya is sufficiently satirical, being a mother, where she drags Rukmani
at the doorsteps of a brothel to deter further exploitation caused by her
lover. Rukmani became the source of earnings to meet the expenses of Anasuya’s
other child. Only if Anasuya had no other child would she have raised
concern for her daughter’s molestation, or who knows, even then she could have
bargained for her. Anasuya would have looked for deviant ways for her
daughter’s safety, but she found it easier to sell her
daughter. Emphasizing the short stories of Kamala Das, K. T. Sunitha
remarks:
““A Doll for the Child Prostitute” and “Padmavathi, the Harlot” are both
stories of considerable importance insofar as its materialist emphasis makes
visible the embodied existences of mainly deprived women, and highlights the
ways in which those existences have been, and continue to be, largely framed by
masculinist assumptions and patriarchal agenda which must be questioned if
women are going to accrue the right to self-determination. Kamala Das has by
the gradual accretion of detail and resonance reveals a deep engagement with
some of the most profound questions regarding the place of the woman in the
patriarchal world” (177-78).
“The
Young Man with a Pitted Face” explores the thoughtless and selfless love
between a dying woman and a young man. The woman needed her husband the most
during her crucial time, but his neglect makes her vulnerable. Due to her state
of illness, the woman falls passionately in love with the young man and dies.
“A Little Kitten” criticizes the fraudulence of a husband who enjoys himself by
ignoring his wife. The wife, who was dependent on him, had no autonomy of hers.
The
middle-aged woman, old woman, sick woman, married woman, and young woman find a
resolute place in Kamala Das' short stories that leave behind readers to ponder
over certain things. She painstakingly captures the images of these women to
mark their struggles, ostracization shaped by the silences of society.
Works Cited
Das, Kamala. “A Doll for the Child Prostitute.” Padmavati the Harlot
& Other Stories. Aleph Book Company, 2020.
---. “A Little Kitten.” Padmavati the Harlot & Other Stories.
Aleph Book Company, 2020.
---. “Padmavati the Harlot.” Padmavati the Harlot & Other
Stories. Aleph Book Company, 2020.
---. “The Princess of Avanti.” Padmavati the Harlot & Other
Stories. Aleph Book Company, 2020.
---. “The Young Man with a Pitted Face.” Padmavati the Harlot &
Other Stories. Aleph Book Company, 2020.
---. My Story. Harper Collins Publishers India, 2019.
---.
“The Testing of the Sirens.” Summer in Calcutta. Poetry Nook. www.poetrynook.com/poem/testing-sirens. Accessed 1 May, 2025.
SUNITHA,
K.T. “POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE SHORT STORIES OF SUBHADRA SEN AND KAMALA
DAS.” Indian English Literature, 2007, vol. 5, pp. 166-79. Google
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Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
Tiwari,
Jai Shankar. A Study in the Short Stories of Kamala Das. Shanlax
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https://doi.org/10.34293/english.v8i3.3225.
Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
Vinothkumar, G., R. D. Nelson Daniel. “LOVE-LUST-FRUSTRATION
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Publications, 2023, pp. 13-19. Google Books, www.google.co.in/books/edition/Hankering_in_Literature/m6C9EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%E2%80%9CWhile+her+sensibility+seems+to+be+obsessively+preoccupied+with+love+and+lust,+it+finds+love+invariably+petering+out+into+lust,+and+lust+merely+eating+itself+to+the+point+of+nausea%E2%80%9D&pg=PA13&printsec=frontcover. Accessed
1 May, 2025.
Vishesh Films. “Jalebi | Official Trailer | Rhea | Varun | Digangana | Pushpdeep Bhardwaj | 12th Oct.” YouTube, 10 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=exF94JTVy8k. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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