Indian English Literature Assignment
A
comparative study of Nalini from the Fakeer of Jungheera by Henry Derozio and
Binodini from Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore
Abstract:
Talking about the freedom of widows, who
have been suffering the most since the writers’ times, Tagore and Derozio have
dealt with the issue in their own unique ways. On one hand where Derozio’s
Nalini, becomes a victim of the tradition of Sati, Tagore’s Binodini becomes a
victim of entangled relations, deceit, and marriage politics. Apart from being
just complicated love stories, as they appear on first hand reading, these
texts deal with complex issues such as inter-caste marriages, the socio
religious orthodoxy of Bengal of their time, and above all, the condition of
women.
Tagore and
Derozio (the rebel and the Guru):
Expelled from his post as a professor, for
asking the question WHY, Henry Derozio became the initiator of the Renaissance
in Bengal and ultimately India. He began his career as a poet, at the age of
14. By the age of 22, Derozio started questioning the evil traditions of the
Hindu society and demanded reformation. Later appointed as a faculty at the
Presidency College, Derozio’s students were also influenced by his teachings
and learned to advocate rationality and scientific temper at a time when people
blindly followed traditions and didn’t even realize the social evils emerging
out of them. He was accused of ‘injuring’ students’ morals, provoking them to
oppose traditions, and turning them ‘atheists’. Derozio’s ideas are clearly
reflected in his works whether it is Fakir of Jungheera or The Harp of India.
We can consider him the first notable modernist of the Indian Renaissance.
Building up on Derozio’s foundations,
Rabindranath Tagore is popular for his works full of humane characters,
realistic settings and portrayal of psychological conflicts arising out of the
socio-religious conditions of his times. In contrast to Derozio, Tagore’s
English appears more Indianized for obvious reasons. The nationalistic feeling
is also consequently higher. However, the hope that the reformation would bring
positive results remains the same. Fortunately for Tagore, the political
upheavals of the country provided a great help. By the time he started writing,
various evils such as Sati were abolished, and thus there was no need for to
popularize Christian Enlightenment which in Derozio’s case was the only tool.
Thus, Tagore’s works remain Indian at core and revolutionary at the same time.
One can consider this as a reason for people to call him Gurudev.
Fakeer of
Jungheeera:
The tragic love story of the widow Nalini
and the Fakeer is what forms the base for Derozio to talk about his views on
the prevalent socio religious hypocrisy. He advocates the need for equality
among people by portraying the two lovers belonging to two different religions.
Married to a man much older than her, Nalini becomes a Sati at a very young
age. It is her lover, the Fakeer, who saves her from the funeral pyre. Their
happiness of being together, however, is time bound. In the last of his loots,
after which he promises Nalini to leave the profession, the Fakeer battles with
his beloved’s father, losing his life in the process. Left all alone, Nalini
grieves over her lover’s death and is found lying dead, next to her Fakeer, the
next morning.
The poem divided into two cantos is
considered a masterpiece of Derozio’s short literary career. Often considered
as being influenced by the Romantic poet, Lord Byron, Derozio’s work is full of
Christian allegory and natural descriptions. Nature is used as a medium to
express the various moods of the poem. For example, the wind’s movement becomes
a storm when the Fakeer decides to leave for the last battle. Words like
‘Elysian’, ‘Phoenix’, etc as well as the various references to the angels like
Seraphim etc can be considered as influence of the Christian Enlightenment
ideals prevalent during those times.
Chokher
Bali:
The meaning of the
title Chokher Bali, “A grain of sand” or “An irritant to the eye”, explains
itself through the plot line of the novel. The complicated relationships
surrounding two friends, lead to them to become irritants of each other’s eyes.
The protagonist here, is Binodini, a girl widowed at a very young age. She
decides to take revenge against Mahendra(Mohin), who refused to marry her as
she was “not of a marriageable age” and was consequently widowed at an early
age and deprived of all the love and a wealthy, comfortable life. Almost the
same fate is that of Mahendra’s friend Bihari who loves Ashalata but couldn’t
marry her because of Mahendra’s marriage to her. Binodini gets jealous of
Ashalata who she believes doesn’t deserve the love and wealthy life she’s
receiving from Mahendra. And yet she pretends to be her friend as she plans to
attract Mahendra towards her. Chokher Bali is the name playfully given by
Ashalata to their friendship. It is Ashalata’s love for her husband and trust
over Binodini which leads her to become a victim of betrayal and deceit.
Mahendra, the man in question,is an immature and self-obsessed person and
neither cares for Asha nor for Binod. Binodini’s efforts for receiving love
from Bihari also remains futile as he swears to lead a life of celibacy and
also because widow remarriage was not allowed during the time in which the
novel is set. However, the end of the novel, leaves Bihari, who continues to
stay on the path of celibacy when he realizes the reason behind Binodini not
marrying him, with Binodini’s memento, a lock of her hair and Binodini with a ‘scar’
on her arm and ‘the pious life of a widow in solitude’.
Nalini and Binodini:
Whether it is
Nalini or Binodini, widowhood made a victim out of both of them. No matter how
strong Binodini’s character appears with her efforts to break down the married
life of the man who left her in such a state, she is still left with nothing
but solitude. Nalini’s victimization is stronger since she doesn’t even have
the freedom to make efforts which Binodini possesses. When she escapes from the
funeral pyre of her dead husband, she is solely on the mercy of the Fakeer,
who’s own life is full of unsurity. The selfish motive with which Binondini can
act is not a liberty given to Nalini. The fact that widows, whether they
belonged to the time of Derozio or of Tagore suffered the same fate, is what
the comparative study of both these works would conclude. A woman once widowed
is either made a Sati, as in the case of Nalini, or is expected to live a life
of penance, as if it is her fault that her husband died, as in the case of
Binodini. One more inference which can be made is that of the theme of “Man as protector
and provider”. On one hand where Fakeer becomes a Protector and Provider for
Nalini, neither of the man in Chokher Bali helps Binodini on those grounds,
instead they are more seen as enemies as they leave her alone when she needs
them the most. In this sense both Bihari and Mohin appear self centered. A
feminist approach would also like to look at the relationship of the other
women characters with the protagonists. This approach would lend interesting
results. It is quite intriguing to note that when talking about widows, both
the writers chose to add married women as their counterparts and not other
widows. In Nalini’s case the women come as voices of the society and defend the
tradition of Sati instead of comforting Nalini if not helping her escape the
tradition all together. Binodini is in somewhat a better condition since she
is able to deal with the women characters according to her need. For example,
Ashalata easily gells up with her when she’s her friend but then, when Binodini
succeeds in attracting Mohin towards her, she also suffers almost the same
amount of victimization as her friend.
She is also left with an unfaithful husband and the societal criticism which
results from it. In a way, Tagore has given Binodini the liberty to at least make
efforts, on her own and without anyone and especially a man’s help, to come out
of the situation which Derozio couldn’t even imagine Nalini would be able to
do. Anyways, the other important aspect is that neither of the writers could
bring up the idea of how would a widow’s life would be apart from the man-women
relationships. Neither of the protagonists come out of the house hold conflicts
and the relationship politics and intrigues. They just appear as if they don’t
have a life outside the struggle for getting love and support from someone.
Neither of them can even think of creating their own individual identity. But,
given the context, either of them are not even expected to do so. The language
also plays a vital role. If we look at the way Derozio portrays Nalini, we can
notice how the amount of idealization of women prevalent in literature of those
times is reflected in his work. Similarly, the first reading of Chokher Bali
would render Binodini as an enchantress, a beautiful woman, easy for a man like
Mohin to get attracted to. Interestingly enough even the secondary women
characters of the work such as Ashalata are fair, innocent and so on and so forth, basically, typical pictures of
women man have in their in their minds. It is not new for the canonical writers
of a particular era to portray their ‘heroines’ as ideals of beauty and
innocence.
Bibliography
Ainy. A commemorative postage
stamp on the Birth Bicentenary of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio. 3 June
2016. web. 23 October 2018. <http://www.istampgallery.com/henry-louis-vivian-derozio/>.
Majumdar, Bishakha. What made
Rabindranath Tagore say that 'I regret the ending of the story' for his
classic novel 'Chokher Bali'? 21 January 2018. web. 23 October 2018.
<https://www.quora.com/What-made-Rabindranath-Tagore-say-that-I-regret-the-ending-of-the-story-for-his-classic-novel-Chokher-Bali#>.
Seema. Rabindranth Tagore's Norm
Defying Novel: Chokher Bali. 6 June 2017. web. 23 October 2018.
<https://owlcation.com/humanities/Rabindranath-Tagores-Great-Fiction-work-Chokher-Bali>.
Comments
Post a Comment