Amarjiban

During the 19th and early 20th century, upper caste Hindu as well as Muslim women were living
a life similar to that of

prisoners, while living under the veil. We find the description of the pathetic situation of women in the novels of
Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. But the description is even more powerful in “Amar Jiban”. She
had to work with her “ghomta” (veil) even in her kitchen. Her voice had to be lowered while talking to maidservants so that
no male servant or family member could hear her voice. Even the voice of a woman was imprisoned in the cage of the veil.
“Amar Jiban” is a document that tells us how purdah (veil) was a part of the culture of Bengal. Centuries of patriarchal
domination had normalised women into living under such practices and they considered it their rightful duty to remain in this
jail. Rassundari Devi’s story is around one and a half century old. Circumstances have changed and women can now come
out and pursue education. But we should not forget that it was the sacrifices and actions of such strong women that paved the
way for later generations of women. Such inspirational figures are the strength behind the present feminist and women’s
rights movements. Gender Identity & Narrative Perspective: Rassundari Devi is among the earliest woman writers in Bengali
literature. Her autobiography Amar Jiban (My Life) is known as the first published autobiography in Bengali language.
Rassundari Devi lived in times when social reform had barely touched the lives of upper class/caste women in India.
Education was unimaginable for women and a literate woman was synonymous with a wicked/cursed human being. But
Rassundari refused to remain an uneducated woman all her life. She taught herself to read and write, and constructed for
herself an identity which was independent of her husband and children. She not only earned literacy by stern dedication and
hard work, but also used it for self-discovery. Rassundari Devi’s life was a series of actions and decisions that are serious
departures from the patriarchal social norms of her time and are, therefore, ‘transgressions’ punishable by the society.
Rassundari Devi learned to read and write amidst the popular belief in those days that women who gained literacy brought
disaster upon their families and were punished by God with widowhood. Not only did she learn to read, but she also decided
to record the events and details of her everyday domestic life in a book and got it published. She had the audacity to disclose
her life in print and make it public to the people. By doing this, she entered the public sphere which was strictly forbidden to
upper class Hindu women. A published work no longer remains a private act of writing but enters the public domain where it
is open and available for perusal and interrogation by anyone. So there are three major “transgressions” that Rassundari Devi
commits according to patriarchy: reading, writing entering the public sphere. Rassundari also made a notable departure from
the common patriarchal belief that female worship can only be expressed in the form of rituals like vrats (fasts), penance,
and cooking bhoga (food for god). Rassundari rejected these conventional, ritualistic forms of woman’s devotion that served
in maintaining the patriarchal social structures, and established an intellectual relationship with her God by learning to read
Chaitanya Bhagavata. She chose to engage in a kind of worship where she is an active participant (like her husband and
other men), not a passive devotee. Many Bengali male authors and poets who came after Rassundari Devi wrote about the
greatness of a housewife by positing her as ‘grihalakshmi’ or the domesticated goddess. Patriarchy has always presented the
figure of a grihalakshmi as an ideal woman whose salvation and satisfaction lay in her endless servitude, and whose
happiness lies in the happiness of her husband (master) and children. Rassundari Devi, in her writing, demystifies the figure
of the grihalakshmi by presenting her domestic duties as labour which is tiresome, repetitive, unrecognised, and far from
emotionally fulfilling. Instead of viewing labour in an aesthetic and romanticized way as male writers like Tagore tended to
do, Rassundari deconstructs the iconic figure of the housewife in “Amar Jiban.” She also demystifies the nurturing maternal
figure by describing her work of feeding and looking after children as physically laborious. In this manner, Rassundari’s life
writing contests the male representation of women in literature. Rassundari Devi’s life writing (autobiography) is a
testimony of the odds against education of women of her generation. Rassundari describes her child marriage and the agony
of separation from her mother thus: “People put birds in cages for their own amusement. Well, I was like a caged bird. And I
would have to remain in this cage for life. I would never be freed.” In fact, the metaphor of a bird being caged is quite
dominant in Rassundari’s autobiography. She saw herself as a prisoner of marriage from where she wished to break free and
transcend her worldly duties as a wife, mother, and daughter-in-law to meet her God. Rassundari Devi has described her
experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in a very detailed and frank manner at a time when they were considered taboo
topics for women to speak. Writing about her pregnancy and sharing it with the public by publishing is certainly a very
feminist thing to do. Rassundari Devi, while writing about the hardships she had to face as a child bride and the risks she had
to take to gain literacy, rejoices in the fact that the times are changing and some parents have started educating their
daughters. Rassundari Devi is definitely an advocate of women’s right to education, though she doesn’t mention it explicitly
in her autobiography. Rassundari Devi’s life story is an inspiration and a testimony of a woman’s will power to fight all odds
in order to gain education and liberation.

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During the 19th and early 20th century, upper caste Hindu as well as Muslim women were living

a life similar to that of

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