The object of this paper is to confront a host of issues: what exactly is the canon of Oriya literature by women or literature (even by men) where women are given a major role to play, given that increasing number of women have entered the literary market place in last some years and that so many reputations are still in flux? We cannot disentangle ourselves from a history in which ourselves are enmeshed. Oriya women do have a literary tradition having diverse effects of that tradition on both male and female talents. As we go on to explore these issues, we have to examine not just the writings of women, but the texts and contexts associated with women who have long been considered as the most canonical modernists.

 

The points of focus in this paper may be ‘Jagnaseni’ and ‘Mushi’ by Pratibha Roy, ‘Rebati’ and ‘Patent Medicine’ by Fakir Mohan Senapati’, ‘Patadei’ by Binapani Mohanty and some important characters from Oriya literature as a whole. There is an overview of the social, literary and linguistic interaction between men and women from the literary world, and in doing so I attempt to theorize about the ways in which modernism, because of the distinctive social and cultural changes to which it responds, is differently inflected for male and female writers.

I am going to spotlight on a period when women's writings dealt not only with questions of gender and identity but also with edifying, political and ideological issues of their times. Through the works of these writers, I would like to explore various questions that include:

• What are the unique features of this body of inscription?
• What was the authority of factors like history, politics, gender and culture on the origin and broadcasting of this literature?
• How can we view the issues of art, politics and feminist historical writings in Orissa in the context of a globalized world?

In ancient Oriya literature woman was glorified. Sometimes she was portrayed as a destroyer like Durga and sometimes as a woman who can sacrifice her happiness for her husband like Urmila. Woman was portrayed as such till Independence and by that time she was by nature, shy and submissive.

 

In pre-independence period she was presented as very obedient. In “Tapaswini” Gangadhar Meher’s Sita is docile. Despite being tested in the fire and proved chaste, she was weathered by King Rama, but she did not raise her voice against him. On the other hand, she considered her misfortune to be the consequence of her sins. A woman considered her husband to be a god. Hence she obeyed him blindly. But this trend didn’t continue forever. It is surprising that long before Gangadhar, Balaram Das had presented woman not as an obedient wife, rather a strong personae who could raise her voice if required.

 

In “Laxmi Puran” he has given a higher place to woman than man where Goddess Laxmi had punished Lord Jagannath and Lord Balvadra for disapproving her closeness with a low-caste devotee. But it was an exception. During the period of Fakirmohan Senapati, we find woman in a new light. She can be courageous if necessary, and can beat her husband to reform him. But then she also serves him after he is beaten (Patent Medicine) In his works we find two types of woman, traditional and modern. The grand mother of Rebati, the wife of Zamidar are traditional, because they believe in tradition, conventions and superstitions. But there is also Rebati who wants to be educated and modern.

 

Oriya literature from a practical point of view is considered to have emerged with the great epic poem, the Mahabharata (1470 AD) by Sarala Das whose women characters were impressive. Fakirmohan Senapati was the pioneer of the modern Oriya fiction. During the last hundred years after Fakir Mohan there have been a number of brilliant fiction writers in Orissa like Gopinath Mohanty, Surendra Mohanty, Kalandi Charan Panigrahi, Kanhu Charan Mohanty, Santanu Acharya and Pratibha Ray . Gopinath Mohanty, a classical artist, excels his contemporary fiction writers by depicting his male characters as extremely powerful. His woman characters are comparatively weak and meek. They either live up to the expectation of the archetypal male characters like Chhabi in Matimatal lives up to the expectation of Rabi, the hero, or they are an exploited lot in the flesh market of male dominated class society.

 

Kanhu Charan and Surendra Mohanty, portrayed their women characters with depth and sensibility but they are virtuous women, more Devis than human.Chandrasekhar Nanda, Dayanidhi Mishra, Divyasingh Panigrahi, Laxmikanta Mahapatra, Nandakishor Bal and Chintamani Mohanty followed Fakirmohan. In their works, woman is tolerant. She considers her suffering to be destined. Sometimes she commits suicide. Chintamani Mohanty”s “Saria” is to some extent bold and she fights her misfortune though she is a widow. The subsequent writers Godabarish Mohapatra, Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi, Gopinatha Mohapatra, all presented women’s life full of miseries.

 

However Bhagabati Charan’s maid servant has mustered up courage to raise her voice against her master. He has portrayed woman sympathetically. Such portray has made psychological studies of his women characters. He has brought out woman’s jealousy. He has also found Freudian Psychology in woman. In “Matira Taja” he describes how the unfulfilled sexual longing causes reaction among the women of pre-Independence period in that of a male dominated society.

 

In post-Independence period Akhil Mohan Pattanaik, Surendra Mohanty, Kishori Charan Das, Santanu Acharya, Mahapatra Nilamani Sahu, Binapani Mohanty and Pratibha Roy have projected their women in a different light. The tendency of surrendering to man is no more found in their women. Their woman have asserted their freedom. They don’t want to be dependant on man.

 

Fakirmohan Senapati (1843-1918) is considered a pioneer in the field of Oriya fiction. His “Rebati” published in 1898 is the first modern Oriya short story. Much before social realism became the dominant mode in other literatures of the country, he had shown the way in the portrayal of life in the villages. His Cha Mana Atha Guntha is acclaimed as a modern classic. His other novels are Lachama, Mamu and Prayaschita. Born in an impoverished family, he had very little formal education. He mastered several languages including English. In 1868 he established the Utkal Printing Company as at Balasore and also published a journal. He translated several classics from Sanskrit into Oriya.

 

Fakir Mohan Senapati’s women are truly renaissance women. Being a male writer, Fakirmohan Senapati understands the cause of women much better than most writers. The Indian woman is the victim of a terrible conflicting transitional period, turn between two different value systems. In spite of the status of equality bestowed upon her by law, it is difficult for her to change in the core and for the society to free her of the age-old sanskar. Rebati is a teen age girl of the early part of the nineteenth century who has the quest for knowledge, she is a true renaissance spirit. She is encouraged by her father, mother and teacher Vasu with whom she has a platonic bond of the soul. But as it goes, her grand mother is very much against her education.

 

Fakirmohan Senapati is a great social thinker. In the story he portrays the maladies and social taboos like Cholera being treated as a curse from the Goddess and discusses about women education. When the parents and the teacher die of cholera, the old woman accuses Rebati’s education as an evil omen for the house. Ultimately both the women die of hunger and poverty. Another character is the wife of Babu Chandramani Pattnaik in the story ‘Patent Medicine’. She is at once bold and soft hearted, she knows the responsibilities of the wife. She is intelligent, patient, caring, but unlike the common Oriya women, she rises to the occasion and succeeds in bringing a change in her wayward husband by punishing him severely.

 

Pratibha Ray in her novel "Jajnaseni" and "Mahamoh", "Shila Padma" combined in her woman characters the poise and elegance of the older values with progressive social changes which are simultaneous of the post-war society. She depicted through her bold and reformist women characters the declining values and transformative adjustment between tradition and modernity, between desire and decision, with natural psychological stress associated with it.

 

Pratibha Ray's women characters are not mute, they are ever questioning and cannot be crushed on any pretext. However Oriya literature has grown steadily in technical self-assurance and thematic range and complexity. Certain writers have indicated that the women characters aspire to something higher and beyond, that transcends the sphere of mundane existence. This spiritual urge has been the unique message of the civilization that has attributed divinity to woman -- that may securely harbor humanity against the roaring tide of covetousness. In the last fifty years or so there have been significant, even startling changes in themes or major characters and resolution.

 

Jagyaseni is an outstanding masterpiece that has endeared itself to Oriya readers, especially the women. This rendering of a well-known piece of epic in a fictional structure has a uniqueness of its own. It is the story of Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, narrated by herself in the first person, it may be termed as the Mahabharata re-written from a woman’s point-of-view. However, it is not as simple as that. One re-discovers the character of Draupadi in the rendering of the glimpses of her life. As one browses through the book, newer and newer facets of the life and dilemmas of Draupadi begin to unfold. It is a fine presentation of the woman within the Draupadi as she faces the various predicaments in her relationship with Yudhishtira, Arjuna, Krishna and other protagonists of the Mahabharata. We could rather call it the presentation of the character of Draupadi with a feminist undertone. A woman reader would easily identify the inner realities of her own existence in the writer’s portrayal of Draupadi.

 

This much-acclaimed book is credited with the prestigious Bharatiya Jnanapith – Murti Devi Award. It is widely translated into many Indian languages and English. In an interview with Ranavir Rangra,

 

Pratibha Roy explicitly discusses regarding the strength of her women characters who are represented by Draupadi, “My Draupadi has through-out pleaded for the welfare of mankind and raised her voice against moral decay and degeneration of personal honesty of Kauravas, Jayadratha, and ethical norms in social life. Even if experiencing great personal tragedy, suffering, exploitation, humiliation and various kinds of social decay, she has always pleaded for emotional integration, peace and harmony in the universe. She has taken bold steps against social evils like casteism, trying to bring the underprivileged into the main stream. All these, in my opinion, are reinterpretations of the past, keeping in view the present state of the world. My Draupadi is a social reformer, begging rebirth to serve her nation again and again, dreaming for a nuclear free civilization. At one stage in the novel she speaks that like Devi Sita she too could seek and find shelter inside mother earth, but that would be the undoing of the mission for which she came. She is revealed not to be the war-monger, but as one who rightly understood war to be a bloody and painful surgery needed to save the world.” (Indian Literature, Vol. 172, 1996, P- 131)

 

In yet another story, “Mushi”, Roy paints an emotional character, Mushi, who is a pure soul, victimized by male-chauvinism. There is realism and allegory in the story.

 

Some of the eternal pieces of writings in Oriya literature where is woman is glorified as a strong and independent individual are Rebati's Sisters by Sachidananda Mohanty, Abanti Rao’s Abhibhasana' (to the women of Orissa), Sailabala Das’s Bilat Prabas (journey to England), Janasadharanre Streeshikhya Bistarara Upaya (Ways of spreading women's education), A look before and after (autobiography), Reba Ray’s 'Nirabe' (The sound of silence), 'Jeebanara Udyesa Stree purusha Ubhyankara Eka Heba Uchita' (Men and women should have common goals in life), Kokila Devi’s (1896-1936) Bilasini, Narmada Kar’s (1893-1980) Dwanda (Dilemma), Pratibha Kar’s Basanti, Suprabha Kar’s Pratikhya (The Vigil), Rama Devi’s (1889-1985) Jeebana Pathe (on the path of my life), Kuntala Kumari Sabat’s Raghu Arakhita (Raghu, the Orphan), Adhunika Dharma Samasya (The crisis of religion in modern times), Sarala Devi’s (1904-1986) 'Narira Dabi' (the rights of women), A letter from Prison, Bharatiya Narinku Mahatma Gandhinka Prerana' (Mahatma Gandhi's message for Indian women) and 'Purusha Jibanare Nari Prabhaba' (The place of woman in a Man's life), Malati Choudhury’s (1904-1998) Ajira Bharata O Amara Kartavya' (Our duty towards the nation), Nirmala Devi’s (1906-1986) Antare Mora Asa Asa Bare' (Come within again and again), Haripriya Devi’s (1915-1996) Ashru (tears), Bandini Nari (woman, the prisoner), Urmila Devi’s Nari Swadhinata (True freedom of women), Shakuntala Devi’s Nari (the woman), Sushila Devi’s Manisha Semane (They too are human), Hemalata Mansingh’s (1919-2004) Sedina Au Edina (Those days and these days) Basanta Kumari Pattanaik’s (1923-) Amada Bata (The untrodden Path), Bidyut Prabha Devi’s (1926-1977) Pratighat (the assault), Bilasi Kabi (the romantic poet) Nandini Panigrahi’s (Satpathy) Chimnira Daka (The call of the Chimney), Binapani Mohanty’s “Patadei” and many such. Utilizing different forms--short stories, poems, essays, travel writings, novels and letters--these women writers responded honestly both to the world that was in turmoil around them and to the demands of their own inner selves.

 

By articulating and advancing the personal in the public and by imbuing the personal with the social and the political, these 'literacy domestics' transcended their limitations and became the precursors of a tradition that critically examined both traditional values and modern contingencies, yet sought to bring them together to fruition. This prolific novelist inspired Pratibha Ray, one of contemporary India's foremost novelists. His works like Adekha Hatho (The Invisible Hand) and Chutiley Ghata (When Life Departs) left a lasting impression on future Oriya legends like Sitakant Mahapatra. Most of the woman writers themselves attach utmost value and dignity to their biological and social roles. Only while retaliating or taking revenge does she transcend all limits of dignity even probability. There are of course many writers projecting the image of the new woman and there are as many writers writing in the traditional vein about the meek suffering, devoted wife and self abnegating mother. Literature of rebellion in Orissa has to be therefore understood with great care in the context of the heritage of our social laws, our literary audience and its relationship to the inherent social code.

 

Gambhiri Ghara is one of the much acclaimed novels of Sarojini Sahoo. It was first published in a magazine in 2005. The next year it appeared in the book form and was an instant success. Its Bengali translation has also gained immense popularity among the Bengali readers. The novel deals with the process of evolution of infatuation into love. It begins with questioning the mere physicality of man-woman relationship and transports the reader into the higher planes of platonic love. Kuki, the central character of the novel, is a Hindu woman from India who falls (and then rises) in love with Muslim artist of Pakistan. The unusualness of the socio-cultural background of these two characters is portrayed in a sensitive and convincing manner to reach a conclusion that such barriers of background may never bar the free flow of love between two hearts. One comes across two sets of roles that Kuki plays in life- one that of a lover, and the other, a wife. She subtly balances these two attributes of her character while at the same time highlighting the superiority of a wife in pragmatic world. The novel is a powerful as any of Sarojini Sahoo’s most popular short stories. Like in her all other masterpieces, here also she does not betray her characteristic of being a feminist writer of Orissa.

 

Images of woman in Indian literature are characterized by contradiction - there is a conventional image and there is a protesting voice. Post Independence literature reveals the woman's quest for her identity giving rise to a number of issues. The new woman is emerging and there are a number of new themes and issues to be taken by the future. However, two overall views of woman have been dominating Oriya literature from ages: the Sita and the Draupadi archetypes. There is silent suffering with utmost loyalty to man in the Sita type and woman as an individual demanding social justice in the Draupadi types. The later has got greater appreciation. But we have to remember that family plays a pivotal role in the scheme of life. The new woman in Oriya literature does not break the family but dreams to make the family "Home Sweet Home". Be it small or big, be it in the courtyard or in the courtroom woman is the cause of all action. If woman is absent, there is no poetry, no song, no drama, no tears, no laughter and ultimately no life in this world. But they are still walking on a tight rope to accomplish their human rights and social justice.

 

Oriya women at the turn of the century are in a transitional phase via-a-vis the interface of tradition and modernity. Though women writers are tolerant and respectful towards the rich traditional they are still confident of their own new self and sensitive to the dogmatization of traditional values. At the turn of the new millennium Oriya literature, as far as the feminist thrust is concerned, is not free from family, history and social modernism. The women in Oriya literature are more educated, sophisticated and even rebellious but the woman herself is wary of shedding off the traditional values which forms part of her inherited consciousness.

 

There is a charming myth associated with the creation of woman by the Supreme Creator, "Bramha". Bramha first created man and in his generosity, wished to give man a companion. But by then he had exhausted all the material in the creation of man and hence he borrowed several components from the beautiful creation of nature and made woman out of them, hence the reference of woman as Prakriti. Bramha presented woman to his earlier creation man saying "She will serve you lifelong and if you cannot live with her, neither can you live without her".

 

The primordial myth carries an unmistakable implication of woman's image in life and literature for centuries. The Christian creation myth is contrastively male dominated as woman is made out of the male rib-cage. The man nature symbiosis suggested by the Hindu myth is absent in the Biblical myth. But both myths indicate that woman is either an "after thought" of a male God or a play-mate created for man as a psychic compensation for his innate loneliness.

 

World's two primordial great epics, Ramayana by Valmiki and Mahabharata by Vyasdev, both by men have been written around two central characters Sita & Draupadi, both women. The key role women played in literature and life in the past and present in both parts of the globe is equally significant. In ancient Vedic literature, women were elevated to Devis (Goddesses). They were turned into myths and legends. But in reality a contradictory state of affairs exists in India, who is the real woman? Where is the real woman - What is her real entity Has she an identity of her own? The primordial myth gave woman her identity that is social stereotypes which have been reinforced by archetypes for ages. Sita of Ramayana and Draupadi of the Mahabharata as has been suggested are two poles of feminine experience in the world. Sita absorbs all inflicted misery and humiliation of the male ego whereas Draupadi challenges the male ego to the epitomic limits of human excellence. Sita accepts, accommodates and withdraws. Draupadi resents, rejects and involves herself in the process of life as a protagonist.

 

These two feminine archetypes define the limits of feminine experience in reality, especially the Indian Reality. Even in the present day literature where woman is no more a door-mat or an un-protesting tolerate-all goodie goodie type, the traditional values of feminine grace and order are not totally shunned . She is now a more dignified Sita who shows her strength of character by absorbing all male filth or an intellectual Draupadi protesting and revolting against all humiliation. The gender divide in modern Oriya literature moves between new ionizations of these two bold and primordial figures.

 

Kahnucharan's novels, like Fakirmohan's, had their hand on the pulse of the poor, the destitute, the disempowered and the disowned. In Shaasthi, a seminal novel about hopeless love and the inner strength of women against the backdrop of the Great Famine, he captures rural Orissa as it was 40 years before he was born. This is considered a remarkable feat by itself. Kahnucharan's language was earthy and colloquial. It did not require a scholar to understand what he had to say. The stories touched a chord in the heart of the paan-shop owner, rickshaw puller, the tenant farmer, a woman in the kitchen and the girl waiting to be a bride. In those days, women were not encouraged to study. The marginalized, with limited opportunity for education, had a hunger for the written word. As a result, Kahnucharan's novels were read in those places where scholastic works never found a place earlier — the wayside tea stall, languorous bullock-cart, urban kitchen and village haystack. Kahnucharan was a household name in Orissa for over half a century because his language was closer to the people's vocabulary, the themes were of daily life mostly in rural setting and there was a romantic touch in every novel. Smt. Nandini Satpathy was a well known Oriya writer and her work has been translated and published in a number of languages. In 1998, she was given the prestigious Sahitya Bharati Samman Award, for her outstanding contribution to Oriya literature. Her last major work was the translation of Taslima Nasreen's “Lajja” into Oriya.

 

It is not possible to discuss the various Bhasa (regional) literatures in this short paper. Shri S. Radhakrishnan had observed that Indian Literature was one though written in several regional languages. Indian literature written in twenty two regional languages and numerous dialects not only replicates a common culture and a uniquely Indian version and way of life but surprisingly the face of Indian woman in all Indian literatures impressed us a pan-Indian awareness with of course predictable local touches and variations. Women have inspired literature and the feminine theme has gained a crucial importance too. She herself is also a creator of literature and is all pervading. This is true of Oriya literature also. Oriya literature spans a rich variety of themes - from the theme of a conventional woman to that of the new woman, reflecting in the process the changes that have been going on in the society. Post - independence literature in India portrays all these trends and voices, the clamoring of women for a innovative and just way of life. Over years, the age old image of the woman seems to be slowly blurring and gradually shading off in to a new image.

 

The Oriya literary trend that began with the pioneers like Achyutananda and Bhima Bhoi found many exponents who have been speaking for the welfare of the society and undoubtedly for the cause of women. . Comparatively speaking women characters of women writers boldly protest and assert their right in the society with firmness and dignity. They have depicted the inner characters of women with all their conflicts and contradictions with accuracy and candor in such a way as to carry our assurance. We must also remember that mostly it is the middle class educated urban woman who has carved a niche for herself.

 

Woman in the rest of Orissa are for the most part still dogma ridden due to lack of education. We have the enlightened brave new woman and we have the helpless, illiterate male-dominated woman existing side by side in life and in literature. The sense of cultural continuity, which serves as the moorings of a society, involves both conjunctions and disruptions in tradition and these writers take their favorite themes like women's education, widow remarriage, abolition of untouchability and freedom. Their writings can become a shared legacy only when there is a process of historical recognition. However, a complex set of processes – which include the idea of what constitutes a literary tenet, the dominance of a particular kind of discourse and gender biased writings towards oblivion.

 

A writer’s aim is achieved when he/she discovers that his/her writing has some impact on the social behavior of the readers. These writers – both male and female – who have used their pen as a sword to fight the discrimination to women since time immemorial have used art for life’s sake, and undoubtedly, they are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.