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B.A English Literature
[1st Year, 1st Semester]
Core Paper IV: INDIAN WRITINGS IN ENGLISH
UNIT 2: Poetry
Indian Women by Shiv K Kumar
About Poet:
Shiv K. Kumar was an Indian English-language poet, playwright, novelist,
and short story writer. He was born in Lahore in 1921. He obtained his
doctorate in English Literature from the University of Cambridge.
He has published
thirteen volumes of poetry, five novels, two collections of short stories, a
play, and this translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry into English. His own
poems have appeared in several renowned newspapers and magazines like the New
York Times, Poetry Review (London), Western Humanities Review, among others-and
been broadcast on BBC.
He received the Sahitya
Akademi Award in 1987 for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky. In
2001, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature. He
died on 2017 at age of 95.
About Poem:
The poem Indian Women by
Shiv K Kumar i s from the collection of poetry Cobwebs in the Sun published in
1974. The poet describes the lifestyle of the typical Indian women in the
villages. How they live in the patriarchal Indian society, their character,
practices, and activities of their daily life. He culturally defines these
women and their nature in this poem. This poem can be considered an embodiment
of describing an Indian woman.
Often he takes a simple
fact or incident and develops it into a point where it acquires a new meaning.
The poem projects Kumar’s response to a situation: the impoverishment of the
human spirit. Images of vainness and despair highlight the structure of the
poem.
POEM:
In this triple-baked continent
women don’t etch angry eyebrows
on mud walls.
Patiently they sit
like empty pitchers
on the mouth of the village well
pleating hope in each braid of their mississippi-long hair
looking deep into the water’s mirror
for the moisture in their eyes.
With zodiac doodlings on the sands
they guard their tattooed thighs
Waiting for their men’s return
till even the shadows
roll up their contours and are gone beyond the hills.
Summary:
The poem “Indian women” by Shiv K Kumar deals with endless story of
sufferings of women of Indian subcontinent. The highly structured patriarchal
society evolved in India through its long history of political and historical
upheavals, in which women are the most oppressed and exploited lot. In such
distressed conditions, the Indian women practice their infinite patience in
their lives while they go through triple-baked sufferings at the hands of the
sun, sex and poverty. The harsh sun makes them to trek long distances to fetch
water. In this process, she is baked like a pitcher in the hot sun. In her
conjugal duties, she is the most exploited in terms of sex as she is only
letting her man to extort his love from her.
Thirdly, the women are the worst sufferers from the excruciating poverty
of her family.
They do not etch their angry brows on the mud walls, because within their homes their status remains so insignificant. Their emotions are completely neglected. Within the mud walls of their homes, they are the passive receivers of male love and anger without their participation. “Mud walls” indicate the existing poverty, a condition which does not affect the women alone but all members of the household. But man can etch his brows on the mud walls (raise his eye brows in anger) and the woman cannot.
patiently they sit like empty pitchers on the mouth of the village well
pleating hope in each braid of their Mississippi-long hair
looking deep into the water’s mirror
for the moisture in their eyes.
This beautiful image evokes the typical Indian village woman who spends much of her time like an empty pitcher in the mouth of the village well. It is the duty of the woman to fetch the required amount of water for the domestic purpose by trekking long distance. She sits on the mouth of the village well like an empty pitcher waiting for her turn to collect water from the well. But, the water is just trickle and is not so deep to read her reflection with tears in her eyes. Even in this hopeless distress, they pleat hope in each braid of their Mississippi-long hair.
Guarding their tattooed thighs
waiting for their men’s return
till even the shadows
roll up their contours and are gone beyond the hills
Tattooed thighs of women refers probably the names their men (hubands) are tattooed to indicate the ownership of their femininity. The female has only the duty to preserve her chastity of her femaleness by guarding her thighs against possible intruders. The guarding of her chastity is done not for herself but for the man whose name is tattooed on her thighs. She waits for her man’s return who has gone beyond the hills. It is now dusk and all the women have already left the well for their homes. The shadows have vanished and the Sun has sunk beneath hills. But, the woman is still waiting for the return of her spouse. Hence, Patience is the virtue for the most cherished women in India.
Women wait for their respective men to come back home safe till the night comes (who have gone to work beyond the hills for the family as there is poverty). This is the daily routine of culturally bound Indian women.
