Shivaganga: Capturing the Regional History of Women and Women’s Movement.

7/30/2019 Shivaganga: Capturing the Regional History of Women and Womens Movement.

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Shivaganga, autobiographical novel

Capturing the Regional History of Women and Womens Movement1

Womens writing in Kannada represents the encounters of womens consciousness with

patriarchy in its changing forms, and certain kind of resistance to it. This can be noted in

the shifting agendas of womens writing that emerged in response to the changing forms

of patriarchy. While the dominant mode of history of Karnataka either excludes women

experiences or mythifies it by projecting the images of Kittur Chennamma, Vanake

Vobavva etc., women writers have tried to tell their stories in their own way. Their

writings centred around home and the family, and initially executed a humane

perspective towards women as can be seen in Tirumalamba, Triveni, Anupama Niranjana

and others. Recurring questions like male dominance, oppression of women, gender

politics etc. connected with domesticity were addressed by them. Men writers and critics

sidelined womens writing calling them writings on home and domestic affairs which

was not the ideal way of writing at all as commented by Masti on Tirumalambas

writings.2

In the case of Triveni and her contemporaries, their writings were branded as

kitchen literature and popular literature that did not deserve intellectual recognition. The

questions raised in womens writings were different before the 80s. Women questioned

the then-existing mode of patriarchy from their own limited spaces. Navya/Modernist

movement that had flourished in the pre 80s, dominated by men writers and critics,

rejected the immediate past and while moving towards self-centredness, marginalised

questions addressed by women writers. Womens writing was not considered respectful

and a notion that women could not do serious writing was popularised by the modernists.

After the 80s, the all-pervasive notion of Indian Nationalism and its literature was being

questioned by various small groups such as women, dalits and linguistic and religious

minorities. This was also a period when feminism in India took a distinct trajectory. I

believe that these political configurations and the politics of post 80s gave some

confidence to women to raise certain questions in their discursive texts. In the Kannada

1 Presented at the seminar on Women and Regional Histories September 1999, organised by Indian

Association for Women Studies and History Department, at Hyderabad University, Hyderabad.

2Dr Shivaram Padikkal, The exclusive History of the Kannada Novel : Contexts and problems.


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literary context, it is only in the post 80s that writing by women drew attention towards

gender-inequality with more clarity. Gender politics seems to be one of the important

issues for many of the women writers today. Here the approach shifting from universal

spaces to gender- specific spaces can be traced clearly.

As Tejaswini Niranjana and Seemanthini Niranjana have noted in their foreword to

Streevaadi Sahitya Vimarshe, tracing a lineage has been an important preoccupation for

feminist thinkers and critics, a preoccupation urged on them by the consistent denial of

history and genealogy to women in most cultures. As a consequence of this denial, any

contemporary woman who dares to question the naturalness of that which is defined as

feminine in her culture faces an array of responses ranging from dismissal to

denunciation.

Novel is also a form that allows space to create ones history and rethink the notion of

history itself. A strong tendency to create history and imagine a tradition can be seen in

womens writing in Kannada in the post 80s. Gender questions become crucial when it is

read as history. Shivaganga a novel by Champavathi recreates womens world with

numerous autobiographical details drawn from day to day life situations and activities of

women. In this background, I shall read Shivaganga as a novel that captures the regional

history of women and womens movement in Karnataka.

Shivaganga is a novel written in Kannada language by Champavathi, published in 1997.

This is a story of Ganga, the protagonist of the novel, who comes from a rural

background and faces various problems. The novel is located mainly in five different

places Honnekere a small village, Shimoga a slightly bigger town, Bangalore a

cosmopolitan city, Holland a foreign country and back again in Bangalore. This is not

only a physical journey but also an intellectual journey traversing territories of patriarchy

and feminism. Each space portrays the problems women face, modes of patriarchy

associated with those problems, resistance to it, and gender questions they raise in their

own limited spaces. The problems and the resistance that emerge in Honnekere will

continue to grow and take varied dimensions in Shimoga, Bangalore and Holland, as the

protagonist moves into larger spaces, physically and intellectually. Her association with

people, their problems, her relationships with men she comes across, and the way she


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perceives it, become more complicated and problematic. I have tried to understand this

novel through the traversing of these spaces.

In narratives that involve different phases of her life, she realises that the system itself is

the root-cause of these problems. In the process, Ganga constantly confronts the question,

who am I, only to realise that she is a lost identity in the male world. Every mode of

resistance meets with patriarchy of a different form. In the process, the novel also

documents the emergence of womens movement in Karnataka.

Honnekere is a space where the father and the brother symbolise patriarchy. Ganga

remembers her good-looking mother repenting about getting married to the dark poor

man who had never treated her like a human being. This dissatisfaction takes different

forms driving her mother to madness. She had constantly watched her angry father throw

utensils at the mother and beat her up. For the father, the only way to control the mother

was to beat her and silence her. Her screaming, crying, and bleeding remains a permanent

memory in Ganga. Her mothers madness can be read as a form of resistance to the

fathers cruelty. Madness for the mother is a state where she has all independence and can

do whatever she wants without facing restrictions.

The brother who had used Ganga as an object for his sexual urge leaves a deep wound in

her heart and a kind of fear which she wants to overcome. He is also an obstacle for her

studies. He is the main cause for the aversion that emerges within Ganga towards

accepting the sexual experience as pleasurable one. Apart from this, Honnekere is also a

warm and cosy space for Ganga, with a few like minded friends facing like minded

problems for they are born as girls. They form a group, and call it Gelathiyara Balaga.

This group provides a space for the girls to discuss their problems and share their pains.

This is a space that allows them to speak about themselves without inhibition, enables

them to analyse things more clearly within their limited spaces, and gives moral strength

in many ways. They even talk about the psychological trauma young girls undergo during

their first menstrual time; that fine day makes them realise that they are the other,

women. Thereby, all kinds of restrictions are imposed on them. The tension and guilt

feeling that follow rejections by men while trying to play the suitable bride, problems of

not being able to convince the family that they wanted to live a life of their dreams etc.


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are all discussed here. In a patriarchal society like Honnekere where most of the time all

women looked alike, members of this group try to understand their situation as different

through the re-writing of their own experiences.

Gangas eloping to Shimoga to continue her studies against the wish of her brother and

father can also be read as a mode of resistance. Her moving away from the village into a

bigger space; takes her physically and symbolically away from the father and the brother

who are two cruel forms of dominance. This second space opens up new relationships

like Ravis. Gangas falling in love with Ravi is very essential to boost her morale and

make her feel secure and important. When she realises that Ravi is into playing cheap

tricks to control her and maintain his ego, while using his pseudo intellect as a tool to

attract girls, her belief in the possibility of a permanent relationship with men is

completely shattered. This relationship is constantly referred to in the novel.

After completing M.A in Mysore, she moves to Bangalore, the third important space for

the protagonist of the novel. The city itself with its hugeness, English speaking people,

phone, western toilets, lifts etc. is a new space altogether. In the city buses, she sees men

sitting in seats reserved for women arguing that they were sharing seats with their wife.

These men she observes are not bothered to share domestic work. The concept of family

seems very tricky for Ganga.

Here the questions raised are more sophisticated and are in the urban set up. They are

more complicated for the instruments of patriarchy here are very subtle, The activities of

the Honnekere Gelatiyara Balaga take a distinctive form in Bangalore, when she meets

Parvathi, a friend from Honnekere. Parvathi introduces her to Stree Mukti Saghatane, a

part of the developmental organisation for which she is working. This womens wing is

supported by foreign funds. The workers here are committed and dedicated. They work

towards issues specifically related to women like the dowry deaths, rape laws, a common

civil code etc. They feel that such a project ought to develop into an autonomous one.

Through this organisation, Ganga fights for the Anganwadi teachers of Honnekere. Here

she is introduced to the problem of women coming from various social strata - the poor

and the homeless, housewives who are targets of dowry and other physical and


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psychological harassment, prostitutes, students and working women who are targets of

the management; people harassed by the police, politicians and beurocrats.

There are references to feminist deliberations like how economic independence becomes

an important factor to break the barrier between men and women to a certain extent, how

the issues related to women have been kept away from history calling it personal, how

the womens movement in the background of its motto personal is political had attained

autonomy and how number of womens organisations had come up during 70s

demanding such autonomy. All these are very neatly woven into the story-line.

Her active involvement in this organisation and in the socio-cultural groups outside

brings her in contact with people like Rene, the founder of this organisation, a strong

woman who fights for womens causes. Sisiyamma is another lady ill treated by her

husband and is being helped by this organisation to fight against atrocities in the court.

Balu is a writer and journalist, well known in the intellectual circles. Ganga feels that

Balu had developed responding to life in the background of Navya and so he always had

tried to find tragic ends for relationships. He feels prestigious to get involved with more

number of women as if it is a part of his intellectual makeup. His concept of relationship

with women ends with having sex with them. Ganga tries to understand the mode of

patriarchy imbibed within the man woman relationship, by letting herself into it at

varied levels. Venkatesh, an activist, who is part of the organisation has a great concern

for women and their problems. He is a patient listener and is aware of peoples

weaknesses. He is dear to most of the women there. His wife Roja has complaints about

his extra-marital relationships, particularly the one with Ganga. She points out that the

feminist movement did not make any difference to her life. This comes as a crucial blow

when Ganga realises the seriousness of Rojas question. She is constantly in search of

her identity as an individual and a woman in the relationships with men and women she

comes across. This third space in the novel puts forth specific questions related to women

and womens movement. The activities of womens organisations and the execution of

patriarchy within and without the movement in the form of Venkatesh, Indrajit, Balu,

Sadashiva, Sesiyammas husband, the factory owners, Anganwadi inspectors, police and

the system against which the victims are supported to fight by the Stree Mukthi

Sanghataneare all dealt with.


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The fourth space is established at Denhog, Holland where Ganga goes for further studies.

The space here is initially alien, associated with men and women from different parts of

the world and so is bigger than the previous spaces she had come across. The protagonist

is introduced to people like Sirox, her black boy friend from Ethiopia wanting to merge

with the European culture, her supervisor Rohini who is under constant fear and pressure

of being harassed by Thompson who feels insecure by her intellectual growth, etc. Sasha,

another teacher; after undergoing physical and mental harassment in the relationship of

her husband, takes up lesbianism and lives with a woman who has a child. Ganga

wonders if lesbianism would be an answer to the questions of Indian women and what

kind of an impact would it leave if practised by women of third world countries like India

where with all their bitterness they still tend to maintain a warm relationship with father

and brothers. Gradually this new space becomes familiar to Ganga She sees women

facing similar problems and similar fear associated with their relationships with men who

perceive women as objects. Her meeting with Ramesh who can understand her feeling is

very important in the novel. Because Ramesh is soft spoken, with a womans heart, is

emotionally dependent on Ganga and is younger to her, Ganga indirectly derieves

strength from him. He is not like other men who always held their male ego precious.

When Ganga feels things are going smoothly with her, she gets the news of Sesiyammas

death caused by the slow poisoning by her husband, and also of the split in the Stree

Mukti Sanghatane. The difference within the movement surfaces in the form of the power

of language and money. The debate to see Stree Mukti Sanghatane as an autonomous

body or to sustain it within the frames of the NGO that had given birth to it looks into the

problems and politics associated with the functioning of womens movements in the

novel. Rene and others within the organisation, who once called for its autonomy, now

try to suppress the movement and the individuals involved in it by controlling the

activities of the movement with their influence. It is as if this can happen only when the

protagonist is in a different space. Her decision to support Parvathi and come out of the

Stree Mukti Sanghatane is also important for the incidents that follow after her returning

to Bangalore and the major incidents that takes place in her personal life.

Her return to Bangalore is the fifth and the most important turn in the novel. It sees the

protagonist as a victim of the consequences which till now she was talking about.


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Marriage with Ramesh, the monotonous family life, responsibility of bringing up the

daughter, cooking, cleaning etc., turns out to be not much different from what others are

doing. Ganga feels lost and lonely amidst this day to day routine. The metaphor of the

haunting death and the search for identity continues here. She who was once actively

involved in helping women in trouble never goes to anyone for taking help to sort out her

problems. Things get worse when she tells Ramesh about Madhu a student of hers

towards whom she was attracted, especially when she says that his intimacy had made

her feel comfortable. Ramesh who was very open to Gangas ideas in a foreign land finds

it difficult to cope up with the same in Bangalore. He who was till then very kind and

understanding turns out to be a hostile husband doubting Ganga. His behaviour makes her

to think about the pleasant days they had spent in Holland. His navieness that gives way

for the social compulsions force her to join him in the talks with his boss who had

promised to resolve the barrier between them. Ramesh is convinced when the boss asks

him to forgive the mistake she had committed and accept her by forgetting everything.

But Ganga sees this as a deliberate attempt to make her feel guilty and is shocked to see

her husband pampering his male ego. Even this relationship ends up like any other.

In this novel, patriarchy operates subtly taking different forms and is represented through

the agencies like father, brother, to the inner circles of the movement itself. Finally its

agent is seen in the form of the protagonists dear husband. The execution of patriarchy

and the resistance to it is neatly woven in the relationships of mother-father, Ganga-Ravi,

Roja-Venkatesh, Sesiyamma-her husband, Rohini-Thompson, Sasha and her husband and

many more characters that figure in the novel. In the present social condition, what ever

may be the form of patriarchy, every resistant mode will invite only alternative forms of

patriarchy. So the novel itself has to be perceived as a response to this predicament.

Gangas unresolved doubt about the relationships with men all through becomes stronger

and her question ofwho am I is let open to the readers. Her mothers madness, the fear

of death and a state of alienation are recurring metaphors in the novel. A reference to this

is made at every stage in the novel when the protagonist has a relationship with someone

or when a relationship breaks. Actually, the story line is subservient to the intellectual

discussions in the novel.


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The novel also depicts how feminism is not a universal position, how it is not

homogenous but has varied forms. This is depicted through statements like, feminism

gives space to everyone to think of their own truths, made by the protagonist. The

resistance to the form of patriarchy surrounding Ganga takes a crude shape in Honnekere

in the form of this group. This is the initial form of the larger picture of the womens

movement discussed in the novel later. The heterogeneous aspect of feminism is

portrayed through the Honnekere Gelathiyara Balaga where women get organised and

talk about their problems, Stree Mukti Sanghatane of Bangalore which marks the rise of

autonomous womens activists groups of the 70s and lesbianism practised by Sasha in

Holland. The differences within the movement is portrayed in the tensions seen between

rural and urban women, Kannada speaking and English speaking people, Christians and

non-Christians. These differences are also issues addressed through which examines -

whether the organisation should be autonomous, the closing down of the Kannada

magazine, and the resigning of activists like Parvathi and Ganga who come from a rural

background. For the protagonist, the Honnekere Gelathiyara Balaga seems more

meaningful and genuine than any other activity. Parvathi who faces the problem of

getting married in Honnekere works as an activist fighting against dowry-deaths and

harassement associated with marriage. Though the narrative is in an autobiographical

mode, the writer intellectualises issues that are usually considered simple and natural.

This novel also argues why this mode of writing is very important today for wo mens

literature which was kept away from the intellectual scenario to be branded as kitchen

literature.

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Shivaganga: Capturing the Regional History of Women and Women’s Movement.

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