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Panch-Kanya
The Five Virgins of Indian Epics |
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by Ratna Roy |
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Book: Pancha Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics. A Quest in Search of Meaning. Pradip Bhattacharya's Pancha Kanya: The Five Virgins of Indian Epics, published by the Writer's Workshop and introduced by his mentor, Professor P. Lal, as an 'exploration' 'done with scholarship, sensitivity, and idealism and that uncommon quality called commonsense' (10), is anything but a simple analysis. It is unique as the first elaborate study of the two epics seen through the lens of a popular exhortation, whose source is elusive. It also posits a feminist perspective in the male-dominated literary world of South Asia. Bhattacharya incorporates unorthodox scholarship in conjunction with orthodox scholarship, with the text poised at the cutting edge of Internet research. The book opens with an assertion that an ancient exhortation, 'Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari is relevant in today's global world. The first chapter, 'Pancha Kanya: A Quest in Meaning,' travels through internet research, e-mailed reader responses, performances, and even corporation reports such as the Panchakanya Group in It is this feminist 'eye' that sets Bhattacharya's analysis apart from most academic scholarship. Ahaly' in V'lm⁄ki's 'di (B'la) K'nda is not an innocent victim, as her later incarnations in various texts purport her to be. Bhattacharya delves into the Uttarak'nda, Mah'bh'rata version, Brahm' Pur'na, 'iva Pur'na, and Kath'sarits'gar. He even explores Pratibha Ray's novel Mah'moha (1997) and Anita Ratnam's dance composition, as well as the television Ahalya, for modern relevance. The chapter concludes with a womanist twist to the 'quest in meaning': 'In the The next two chapters deal with T'r' from the V'nara race and Mandodar⁄ from The analysis of the characters of non-'ryan T'r' and Mandodar⁄ as strategists, politicians, visionaries, and no simple helpmates to their male consorts is brilliant and convincing. In the following chapter, after an initial detour of five pages, when Bhattacharya With a typical Bhattacharya twist he also plants a seed in the readers' minds that Dharma could be Vidura and that Kunti may have had four men rather than four gods as her partners'the work continues to be 'a quest in meaning' and fodder for the feminist. In Draupadi, Bhattacharya finds a woman who is not inferior to her mother-in-law in her machinations. Draupadi is also no Sit'she is a kany', not a pativrat', a sexually independent woman, 'the goddess of the common people' (103; citing Prema Nandakumar). Through quotes from Mallika Sarabhai (Draupadi in Peter Brooks' Mahabharata) and literary citations, Bhattacharya concludes 'Draupadi's character speaks powerfully to oppressed womanhood today' (105). The analyses again center around the duo as powerful females, as creators of their own destinies, independent of any male partners. Bhattacharya summarizes the qualities of a kany', as he unpeels layer after layer and draws parallels between these five women. The most significant question is reiterated, a woman's sexuality vis-'-vis her morality, necessitating the issue of a paradigm shift, 'sanitizing' the kany's into satis in later patriarchal literature (113). However, there is no piece of ivory without a crack ('tak ada gading yang tak retak'Indonesian). Bhattacharya's Jungian depth-psychology analysis opens up a Pandora's box that will probably necessitate another chapter in a future reincarnation of this encyclopedic text. This slim volume is packed with information, references, and data, stemming from the ancient texts to modern revisitations in literature and performance studies. It is invaluable in its tested appeal for both undergraduate students and scholars. It is concise yet exhaustive. It is diverse as opposed to monolithic in its imaging of South Asian womanhood. And, finally, it engages a dialogue between past literature and present scholarship. |
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13-Jan-2008 | ||||||||||
More by : Ratna Roy | ||||||||||
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Comments on this Article
Ravi 12/02/2015 14:49 PM
V.K, 02/28/2013 10:34 AM
Rajan 04/24/2012 11:18 AM |
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