This article discusses the topos of the bride in Hindi literature analyzing and discussing Citrā Mudgal’s short story Dulhin (The Bride). Citrā Mudgal (born 1944) is an established Hindi writer whose literary production has constantly mirrored changes in contemporary India. She has published three novels, thirteen collections of short stories, essays, journal articles, and literature for children. Published in 1980 with the title Zahar ṭhahrā huā (Poised Poison) in the eponymous collection, the short story under analysis was later revised and appeared in many anthologies with the title Dulhin. It been widely debated in the Hindi literary field, insofar it raises challenging issues, that are controversial particularly for the contemporary middle classes. The story revolves around a joint family where four generations live under the same roof, presenting the complexity of family relations trying to negotiate a balance between conditioning social conventions and new expectations deriving from changing lifestyle. Even if the focalization is on a male character ¬– Chotu, the youngest son– the true protagonists of the story are the family women, whose life is affected and shaped by patriarchal values. The text prompts not only a literary analysis, but also a sociological and psychological reading. The story contra poses the characters of two brides: one is Dulhin, ‘the’ bride of the household, who has turned into a middle-aged woman. The other one is Chotu’s wife Ani, who is situated in the household as the youngest bride, but must negotiate her position in relation to her mother in law, the elder sisters in law and other female relatives living in the house. Among the main issues raised in the short story there is the complex relation between mother and son, that has been investigated in the Hindu context by Sudhir Kakar (1983; 1993) and Stanley Kurtz (1993). In Dulhin, the youngest son, who has a privileged position compared to elder brothers and sisters, cannot accept to lose such special relation when his mother is pregnant again, even if he himself has been married for four years. Two more themes are relevant. First, the negation of aged people’s sexuality and the fact that the definition of ‘elder person’ does not depend on her age, but rather on her social role. In fact, one of the protagonists is a 42 years old woman who cannot think of herself as an aged woman until she loses her status of ‘bride’ inside the household, when her mother in law passes away. Only at that point does she consciously take over her role of mater familias, discarding the one of bride. This is linked to the second theme, that is pregnancy and abortion, which is dealt with in the story with a strong focus on a growing materialist and consumerist attitude in the younger generations. The older generation is represented as the guardian of established values: as long as the old mother in law is alive, the character of the protagonist’s mother insists on giving birth to the child she is pregnant with, that she considers as a divine gift. Her pregnancy appears to her as socially acceptable insofar she is still the bride in the household, no matter how many younger women have come to live there after marrying her sons. When she takes over the role of ‘elder’, the interruption of a pregnancy that witnesses her sexual activity becomes an acceptable solution; even more than that, it is desirable, as she does not want to appear socially improper, being now the matriarch of the household. In fact, as some studies show, middle aged women’s sexuality related needs are general discarded in India (Vatuk 1975, 1992, 1995; Lamb 2000). Adult womanhood is triggered by the onset of menarche, but it is marriage and motherhood that mark it in a woman’s life cycle. Marriage marks the transition into womanhood, then motherhood solidifies it. In India most women marry young, and an evolving and emergent womanhood culminates with the birth of the first child. Womanhood is thus heralded more by the status of motherhood rather than marriage, even if both are social statuses that also entail social responsibilities and rights. Marriage and motherhood are tightly connected, because a bride who does not bear children is inauspicious. Notwithstanding modernization, in the Hindu dominant culture of India the female body is often considered not as the site of pride and pleasure, but as a receptacle of impurity and sin. Female sexuality is perceived as threatening, and this creates a polarization of the feminine ideal between mother and whore, which of course is not an exclusive feature of India (Kakar 1989: 13, 17). The social context determines whether a woman is considered as a goddess, mother, partner in a liturgical ritual, or else as a prostitute. In the ritual context, the woman is sacred, honoured and respected; as an – effective or potential – mother, she deserves the utmost reverence. But when she is perceived merely as a female being, the patriarchal culture dumps its entire horror and despise on her. The husband is generally the principal protagonist of family choices linked to sexuality. Nevertheless, other family members can be as – or even more – influent as he, especially in the case of joint family structures. In Dulhin it is clear that the pater familias carries little weight on domestic life. In the short story he is almost totally absent, and the old mother functions as the real head of the family. In such a frame, pressures on a woman to carry on or interrupt a pregnancy can become very strong. In the short story under analysis it is clear that the younger generation is vocal in claiming that children should be put in a secondary position with respect to career and personal achievement. This brings about issues such as birth control and abortion, that must negotiated both at a more private, individual and family level, and at a wider social level.
Sex and The Bride: Citra Mudgal’s Hindi Short Story Dulhin as a Mirror of Changing Family Relations in Contemporary India
Alessandra Consolaro
2020-01-01
Abstract
This article discusses the topos of the bride in Hindi literature analyzing and discussing Citrā Mudgal’s short story Dulhin (The Bride). Citrā Mudgal (born 1944) is an established Hindi writer whose literary production has constantly mirrored changes in contemporary India. She has published three novels, thirteen collections of short stories, essays, journal articles, and literature for children. Published in 1980 with the title Zahar ṭhahrā huā (Poised Poison) in the eponymous collection, the short story under analysis was later revised and appeared in many anthologies with the title Dulhin. It been widely debated in the Hindi literary field, insofar it raises challenging issues, that are controversial particularly for the contemporary middle classes. The story revolves around a joint family where four generations live under the same roof, presenting the complexity of family relations trying to negotiate a balance between conditioning social conventions and new expectations deriving from changing lifestyle. Even if the focalization is on a male character ¬– Chotu, the youngest son– the true protagonists of the story are the family women, whose life is affected and shaped by patriarchal values. The text prompts not only a literary analysis, but also a sociological and psychological reading. The story contra poses the characters of two brides: one is Dulhin, ‘the’ bride of the household, who has turned into a middle-aged woman. The other one is Chotu’s wife Ani, who is situated in the household as the youngest bride, but must negotiate her position in relation to her mother in law, the elder sisters in law and other female relatives living in the house. Among the main issues raised in the short story there is the complex relation between mother and son, that has been investigated in the Hindu context by Sudhir Kakar (1983; 1993) and Stanley Kurtz (1993). In Dulhin, the youngest son, who has a privileged position compared to elder brothers and sisters, cannot accept to lose such special relation when his mother is pregnant again, even if he himself has been married for four years. Two more themes are relevant. First, the negation of aged people’s sexuality and the fact that the definition of ‘elder person’ does not depend on her age, but rather on her social role. In fact, one of the protagonists is a 42 years old woman who cannot think of herself as an aged woman until she loses her status of ‘bride’ inside the household, when her mother in law passes away. Only at that point does she consciously take over her role of mater familias, discarding the one of bride. This is linked to the second theme, that is pregnancy and abortion, which is dealt with in the story with a strong focus on a growing materialist and consumerist attitude in the younger generations. The older generation is represented as the guardian of established values: as long as the old mother in law is alive, the character of the protagonist’s mother insists on giving birth to the child she is pregnant with, that she considers as a divine gift. Her pregnancy appears to her as socially acceptable insofar she is still the bride in the household, no matter how many younger women have come to live there after marrying her sons. When she takes over the role of ‘elder’, the interruption of a pregnancy that witnesses her sexual activity becomes an acceptable solution; even more than that, it is desirable, as she does not want to appear socially improper, being now the matriarch of the household. In fact, as some studies show, middle aged women’s sexuality related needs are general discarded in India (Vatuk 1975, 1992, 1995; Lamb 2000). Adult womanhood is triggered by the onset of menarche, but it is marriage and motherhood that mark it in a woman’s life cycle. Marriage marks the transition into womanhood, then motherhood solidifies it. In India most women marry young, and an evolving and emergent womanhood culminates with the birth of the first child. Womanhood is thus heralded more by the status of motherhood rather than marriage, even if both are social statuses that also entail social responsibilities and rights. Marriage and motherhood are tightly connected, because a bride who does not bear children is inauspicious. Notwithstanding modernization, in the Hindu dominant culture of India the female body is often considered not as the site of pride and pleasure, but as a receptacle of impurity and sin. Female sexuality is perceived as threatening, and this creates a polarization of the feminine ideal between mother and whore, which of course is not an exclusive feature of India (Kakar 1989: 13, 17). The social context determines whether a woman is considered as a goddess, mother, partner in a liturgical ritual, or else as a prostitute. In the ritual context, the woman is sacred, honoured and respected; as an – effective or potential – mother, she deserves the utmost reverence. But when she is perceived merely as a female being, the patriarchal culture dumps its entire horror and despise on her. The husband is generally the principal protagonist of family choices linked to sexuality. Nevertheless, other family members can be as – or even more – influent as he, especially in the case of joint family structures. In Dulhin it is clear that the pater familias carries little weight on domestic life. In the short story he is almost totally absent, and the old mother functions as the real head of the family. In such a frame, pressures on a woman to carry on or interrupt a pregnancy can become very strong. In the short story under analysis it is clear that the younger generation is vocal in claiming that children should be put in a secondary position with respect to career and personal achievement. This brings about issues such as birth control and abortion, that must negotiated both at a more private, individual and family level, and at a wider social level.
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