Women claim centre stage

The last four decades can safely be called the Age of the woman writer in Karnataka. The history of women’s writing in the state dates back to the vachanakarthis in the 12th century, who challenged gender and patriarchal norms in a big way.

But women writers have really come into their own in the past two decades, representing their world in multi-voiced narratives.

Though oral folk narratives are generally attributed to women, they cannot be ascribed to one person.

Throughout Karnataka’s history, patriarchy has held absolute power over every institution in the political, cultural, social and domestic space. Notwithstanding the sidelining of women’s voices in every sphere, folk artists and writers have critiqued these patriarchal structures and tried to find their own foothold.

Most feminist historians now agree — it wasn’t that women did not write or express themselves; their creative and cultural expressions were unheard and sidelined.

During the early 20th century, pioneers like Nanjanagudu Tirumalamba and R Kalyanamma were at the forefront of discussing the women’s question. Tirumalamba was one of the first women’s voices in Kannada fiction, publishing her novel in serial form in the monthly magazine Maduravani.

In 1913, she began the publication of a book series Hitaishini. It is clear from the writings of Tirumalamba and others of her generation that they took the task of improving the status of women seriously.

Another important pioneer in the field of publishing was R Kalyanamma, whose monthly magazine Saraswathi first published in 1921, continued for 42 long years. R Kalyanamma not only wrote articles pertaining to politics, law, religion among others but was also instrumental in inspiring a generation of women to take to writing.

More than anybody else, Saraswatibai Rajawade (1913-1994) was the one who explored patriarchal structures in society and criticised them openly during the first half of the 20th century.

Her tumultuous but fiercely independent life is captured beautifully by Vaidehi — who interviewed Rajawade during the last few years of her life.

These and other pioneers like Kodagina Gauramma, Lakshmamma, Padukone Sitabai laid the foundation for the powerful body of women’s writing. These writings have shaped outlooks and are giving rise to passionate debates — not just about the women’s question but all the issues pertaining to Kannada society and culture.

During the last two decades of the 20th century, women writers in Karnataka asserted their identity and explored multiple aspects of womanhood in a conservative, patriarchal set-up.

Dismissed as kitchen literature, women writers continued to write and their writings — even while talking of domestic, familial structures and politics — resonated strongly with feminist concerns.

In her short stories, Vaidehi explored the woman’s voice with astounding clarity. Her Shakuntala asserts that she did not lose Dushyanta’s ring, rather she wanted Dushyanta to remember her for herself.

She finds it humiliating that he should remember his ring and not her. On the other hand, Saugandhi is cursed to remain silent and her desires just become unvoiced soliloquies amidst the brutal morality of her middle class family. At the same time, writers like Sara Abubakar were exploring patriarchal strongholds and their effects on Muslim women through their short stories and novels.

This social-feminist concern was balanced by the deeply personal poetic explorations by many gifted poets like Sa Usha, Pratibha Nandakumar, Lalitha Siddabasavaiah and Savitha Nagabhushan.

Double-edged sword

With the increased interest in feminism, women’s writing has been seen as distinctive in academia. This is a double-edged sword — while on one hand women’s writing is being given the space it deserves, on the other, there is the danger of ghettoising women’s writing.

Kannada women writers, however, have refused to fit into any such readymade frameworks. While women-centric writing has remained their preoccupation, most have not hesitated to give their opinion about the traditionally male-dominated spheres of influence including politics, crime, culture and society. H Nagaveni’s Gandhi Banda is a case in point.

How did such a paradigm shift happen in women writing in Kannada? D R Nagaraj described this shift as moving away from the Kutumbini stage. Though a great deal of genuinely powerful writing took place, the field of experience was limited to the domestic world.

One reason was the division of the spheres into Home and the World with women confined to the Home.

The pressures of nationalism and modernity mean women were also the flag bearers of traditional Indian values.

With better access to education, middle-class women stepped into an expansive social world, which is reflected in their writing in the 1970s and 80s. The Navya literary movement also made it possible to write more openly about private experiences, including sexuality.

At the same time, tabloids like Lankesh Patrike encouraged and gave space to a host of women writers from diverse backgrounds, including Muslim and Dalit women. The Bandaya movement also unleashed the creative energies of women writers, who started exploring and offering great insights into issues pertaining to caste, gender, religion and sexual violence.

Importantly, women writers today have also taken up the cause of the under-represented sections of society. Du Saraswathi, Dalit-feminist writer and poet, has been working unceasingly for Dalit, adivasi, sexuality minorities, trans-people, sex-workers etc.

H S Anupama, poet and essayist, who along with like-minded women friends started the Mahila Daurjanya Virodhi Okkoota has been addressing issues pertaining to school girls, menstrual hygiene, sexual violence and gender equity.

Today women’s writing in Karnataka has not remained in the margins but has the reach to shape policies and change attitudes. The writing by women today brims with a new dynamism, which bodes well not just for the literary field but to society at large.

(The author is an educationist and a former senior journalist based out of Shivamogga)