Kamala Das: Poetess and litterateur of feminine sensibility

From ages, India has been a patriarchal society where men have occupied a prominent place in every dimension. Women were treated as fragile creature who were depended on men for their existence and sustenance. Therefore in such circumstances, women’s struggle in male dominating society can easily be understood. Women were considered good for nothing specially when it came to do something intellectual or artistic. They were denied of their basic rights to education and were not allowed to go to school. Their only job was to raise their children after marriage and do the household chores. Having such background, it was very difficult for women to read, write, make decisions or express themselves in form of speech, story or poetry.

Then “Kamala Das” emerged as a poet who honestly voiced the pressures and problems faced by women at that time. She fought against the social norms and customs that drove women to a dark corner. She found herself and other women in a custom ridden, orthodox society controlled by men. Therefore in her poetry and stories, she pondered deeply over the issues of Indian woman in the family and society and wrote on their behalf. She projects herself as a feminist who fought for women rights through her literature. No other Indian woman poet has achieved such absolute rebellious dimensions till date.

Kamala Das (1934 – 2009) also known as Madhavikutty or Kamala Suraiya was the first Indian English poetess and litterateur. She also wrote in her mother tongue Malayalam and is best known for her short stories and her autobiography, My Story. She won many literary awards in her lifetime for her works, besides she was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1984. She broke away the conventional form of writing and created her own style. ‘To be seen and not to be heard’ was the fate of the Indian woman for a long time but Kamala Das’ poetry gave a new discourse-  the discourse of woman’s corporal language from the point of view of woman.

In her autobiography My Story, Kamala Das has written about the trials of her marriage and her painful self-awakening as a woman and writer. The book was originally published in Malayalam and was named Ente Katha. She has discussed her life from age four through British colonial and missionary schools in Calcutta where she had to face racist discrimination; through the brutal and indulgent relationship with her husband; through her sexual awakening; her literary career; extramarital affairs; the birth of her children; and, finally, a slow but steady coming to terms with her spouse, writing, and sexuality. The book is about her personal and professional experiences as a woman in a patriarchal society. The book created a literary sensation but some of Das’ relatives anted to stop the publication. Despite all these pressures by her relatives, Kamala remained firm and published the book. The book was a great hit and around 50,000 copies were sold within a fortnight. K Sachithananthan, in his forward for the book, concludes: “I cannot think of any other Indian autobiography that so honestly captures a woman’s inner life in all its sad solitude, its desperate longing for real love and its desire for transcendence, its tumult of colours and its turbulent poetry.”

Her other poetries and stories, she freely wrote about menstruation, puberty, love, lust, lesbian encounters, child marriage, infidelity and physical intimacy. She also introduced her readers to the concept of female sexuality, which was a taboo at that time. It was revolutionary at that time because it was unacceptable by then patriarchal society of india But Kamala Das never feared the society and expressed herself in her poetry and story. Eroticism developed in her just because she did not get the love she yearned for from her parents or husband. Her father was always busy with his work at the automobile firm selling cars and her mother remained busy composing poems in Malayalam. Her husband worked in the Reserve Bank of India was 20 years older to her and generally turned to her mostly for sex.

Kamala Das through her poetry protests as to why a woman is always considered as somebody else’s ‘property and responsibility’. Some of her poems also reflect her protest against the limitations of her married life, the male domination and egoism.  “The Old Play House” is a good example. Every woman has great dreams about marriage expecting a gateway to blissful life. She expects all good things would happen to her; she also expects that her husband to adore her, love her and keep her happy. But contrary to such expectations, she has to suppress all her emotions and expectations and accept the life charted by her parents and husband. This trap makes her suffocated as she is compelled to sacrifice her wishes, to become an obedient wife and a dull individual. Similarly, the poet marries expecting that she would get love and care from her husband. But all in vain, she does not get anything as expected.

Kamala Das realises that the happiness in married life is only momentary. To please her husband, she has to ignore her mood, her feminine self. In the poem “In Love”, she expresses this fleeting nature of happiness. She is not at all happy in his company but has to keep pleasing him and she is losing her own individuality, her own identity.Kamala Das realises that the values assigned to the institution of marriage by her husband are totally different from her expectations.

Some of her other notable works in English are the novel Alphabet of Lust (1977), the collection of short stories Padmavati the Harlot and other stories (1992) and a compilation of her poetry Summer in Calcutta (1973). In Malayalam, they include Balyakalasmaranakal (The Memories of Childhood), Chandanamarangal (Sandalwood Trees) and many more.Her literary work earned her a lot of recognition and won her numerous accolades. She won the P.E.N.’s Asian Poetry Prize in 1963, the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award in 1969 for the short story Thanuppu (Cold) and the National Sahitya Academy Award in 1985.

The prominent and prevalent patriarchal society in India had jeopardized and crippled the Indian mindset to such an extent that men thought that no woman was found worthy of education. But Kamala Das made her way out and secured her position as one of the famous Indian english poetess. Men considered themselves as independent, superior and even almighty because they were invariably the breadwinner whereas the woman was supposed only to share what the man had earned with his sweat and blood. But thanks to some courageous and daring women, today the table is being turned upside down. As the civilization changes, the societies go through
transformation, Indian women too have proved themselves and got out of the shadows of
men. Today, women dare to walk shoulder to shoulder with men. This stands true in the field of literature too.