Analysis Of Rajan's Novel: The Image Of The Modern Indian Woman

Radha, as the only one of all the characters in the novels is a true representing of the modern Indian woman. In her study of the imaginary of Indian women in literature, Rajan states that "The image of the "new Indian woman" is of course derived primarily from the urban educated middle-class woman" (Rajan 130) and describes her as "attractive, educated, hardworking, and socially aware" (Rajan 131). In spite of her origin as a daughter of a middle class traditional family, while studying and in the years following her education, Radha became well aware of her possibilities.

Living in a large city away from home, having a job and later even a lover, she likes to think of herself as of an independent young woman who can freely decide about her life. Ironically, it is precisely her independent way of life that makes her go back to her family and, what more, leave her new found life behind. By being married to Shyam, she is forced to become the traditional woman she wanted to escape. His relationship to her is somewhat ambivalent. On one hand he is proud of her being a modern woman who knows what she wants to achieve in her life, on the other hand, he hinders her from achieving it. Radha impresses him with her self-contentedness and is willing to follow many of her decisions, e.g. the diet she decides that they follow, yet still he is not able to accept her personality as a whole. Thus, Radha finds herself in between her longing for independence, which is acknowledged to a certain degree and the traditional role that she is to play. Although she, at the beginning of her marriage, decides

"Never to flout the rules of custom again," (Nair 54), 11

She still feels trampled by the expectation that Shyam has. In his eyes she is to play a...

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... study that must have gone into the making of this novel is commendable. Within a perfect framework of the nine emotions that a heart can feel, the novel is divided into three books, each consisting of three emotions. Illuminating explanations from life, nature and dance go with the nine emotions - love, contempt, sorrow, fury, valor, fear, disgust, wonder and attachment. The story then is entangled in between these emotions and it is an interesting study of how the Kathakali dancer hides himself within a mask, and becomes a different personality altogether. With his knowledge of Kathakali, a dance form which is entirely based on the epics, Koman looks upon mankind with a wisdom drawn from the heroes, princes and villains of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He recognizes every nuance of emotion as one he has experienced, as part of a vesham, or a role in Kathakali.