The present text is a review and re-analysis of the portrayl of womens' condition in India through the eyes of the famous poet Jayanta Mahapatra.
He was highly concerned about the pain and struggles of the women of his contemporary society. He draws keen insight of the silent women who are left unknowm
and uncared and being treated as a toy in the hands of men. His voice against such patriarchy makes his poems impeccable and idiosyncratic.
Intoduction
"Vande Mataram"- which means "I bow to you mother" has always been the greatest slogan of Indians towards their motherland. In India women have always
been treated like goddesses and embodiment of love. But that is only for religious and cultural purposes. In reality or in everyday life women
have been suffering from physical and mental torture given by the same Indians. Though society pretends to respect women; history is full of
instances where women are meted out injustice and denied from basic necessities. From pre to post-independence many writers have thrown light
into this matter of great concern. One such notable post-independence poet is Jayanta Mahapatra who was deeply motified at the sufferings of
Indian women. His poems have expressed the agitating conditions and sufferings of women in the patriarchal society of India.
It is an attempt to take a review and development of Indian poems in Englush. How the poet applied the modern views, which uses the new styles
and applies them to their creations. The poem entitled "Hunger" and "The Whorehouse in the Calcutta Street" are two types of his excellent
creation on this theme.
Analysis the status of women in the poems of Mahapatra
"Hunger" is one of the most renowed poems of Jayanta Mahapatra. It is categorised by great concision of expression. The poem expresses Mahapatra's
concern over poverty and the discrimination of women which are the two major problems in India. In "Hunger" the fisherman makes an argument to
offer his daughter as a medium of sexual satisfaction. This very scene represents the modern poor life; it expresses the sense of craving of
an empty stomach. The poem shows the struggle of poor and the conflict of body versus mind. Financial Independence compels the father to push
his young daughter towards prostitution.
"she opened her wormy legs wide"
the line expresses that the girl has been unfamiliar with starve the love of her father. Mahapatra expresses his spiritual fight against the
parent because the society was not enemy of that skiny young girl. Though the girl doesn't speak much infront of her father but she achieves
her eloquence through silence. Another poem of Mahapatra entitled "The Whorehouse in the Calcutta Street" tries to transcend the pseudo-
hierarchical attitude of the patriarchy in the society. The position of woman through his poetic eyes was far more elevated than it was in reality.
"Dream children, dark, superflous;
you miss them in the house's dark, how can't you?
Even the woman don't wear them-
like jewels or precious stones at the throat;
the faint feeling deep at a woman's centre
that brings back the discarded things:
the little turnings of blood
at the far edge of the rainbow."
A woman who can give her body in exchange of money has never been considered as a normal human being; as a part of civic society. Intellectuals think
that its a blasphemy. Mahapatra gave a trancended romantic identity to those women. His poem "The Whorehouse in the Calcutta Street" seems to deal
with the struggle and again that the prostitute suffer everyday while confronting the "cultured society". Now an important question pop-up in
our head; what exactly does one mean by "Cultured"? Does it mean to be civilized, well-educated, having a great sense about the socio-political
reality? or, it does signify an inevitability of the human metabolism?
"perhaps their reminding themselves
Of looked-after children and of home:
the shooting stars in the eager darkness of return."
If we consider the word "children" as "prostitute's family" and the word "home" as "a place belongs to the society"; it means they have to step out
from their home to earn livelihood by the contenment of the darknesss and after this they departs from their family,who all become the part of society,
is formed as they deals with the hurt by their soul in term of the public. So, now we can see the comparison between the two poems through perspective
of poverty and exploitation. An young girl in the poem "Hunger" and a prostitute in "The Whorehouse in the Calcutta Street" both are suffering from
the same pain and struggle in term of poverty, lack of financial independence.
Conclusion
To conclude, we can see that Jayanta Mahapatra's poems approaches the harsh reality of the contemporary post independence Indian society. It was true
that India is politically inpendent but the people of India was not truly independent neither financially nor in their minds. Poverty choked them.
As in "Hunger" we see poverty breaks down the common relation between the father and his daughter. Poet is not ready to accept this cruel reality.
Selling his daughter in exchange of money is not supportable by Mahapatra. Also in the Poem "The Whorehouse in the Calcutta Street"poet shows how
lack of financial independency makes women to sell them as a medium of sexual satisfaction. In "Hunger" the young girl was also the victim of same
situation
Jayanta Mahapatra's raises his dissident voice against the women discrimination in Indian Post-Independence society not in a clear manner but in a
hidden way through his excellent poetic skills.