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Literary Review
Discarding old ideas
THE most pathetic and haunting image of the war waged on Iraq is the one where the Deputy Director of the Museum looted by the public, is sitting amidst the ruins holding his head with both his hands. That image brings to mind the pain of so many other similar events in history when something old has been carelessly destroyed — old libraries, old monuments, old structures. Many Sri Lankan friends of mine have to divide their personal histories into two periods — the period before the burning of the Jaffna library and the period after that. When old things are brought down, whether they are structures, books or statues, it reveals not only indifference to efforts of people but also certain irreverence to history itself. One does not know how many invaluable things got burnt in the city of Madurai when Kannagi burnt it down. But in the present times when something old is destroyed, the map of what gets destroyed along with it can be very clearly drawn. That is why an effort to restore something old is always laudable. The Reprint of Rare Book Series of Sahitya Akademi is one such effort. This series plans to print rare and out of print Indian English books. The series was mooted by the Sahitya Akademi's English Advisory Board with Meenakshi Mukherjee as its Chair. The first book in this series is a book by Shevantibai M. Nikambe entitled Ratanbai: A Sketch of a Bombay High Caste Hindu Woman, first published in 1895. The reprint is edited with an introduction by Eunice De Souza.
Shevantibai was an educationist born in Pune in 1865 and educated in Bombay. She served as both a Headmistress and Inspectoress of schools in Bombay. She ran a special school for married ladies from 1912 to 1934. She was also associated with Pandita Ramabai till Ramabai moved to Pune. Ratanbai is a novel that speaks about the attitudes of people to women's education in those days. Ratanbai was written in defence of women's education. When one reads this novel written in 1895, one realises that the opposition to women's education has always been on the grounds that education will take a woman out of the confines of her home and once that happens she will not return home the same person. Hence the arguments supporting women's education always had to claim that education will make her a better home-maker, a better wife, a better mother. Even the preface written by Lady Ada Harris, C.I. wife of the late Governor of Bombay says this in so many words:
I am sure that all married Hindu ladies must be happier and better for an education which whilst not too engrossing, must be elevating to themselves, their children, and homes.
The heroine Ratanbai is a girl of 11. The novel is about how she finally manages to get educated despite opposition from her husband's family. The novel does not quite tell us what Ratanbai's curriculum was but we know that she does embroidery and learns English and Marathi and English rhymes. But the other pictures it draws of women in the family and how they run the family keeping track of food and other needs of the family, how they participate in family rituals, how they observe strict caste rules as part of being women and how they turn into oppressors of other women are quite vivid and interesting.
At one point Ratanbai explains to her mother and an old widowed aunt that some girls in her class were going to appear for the Matriculation examination. Kakubai, the old aunt and Anandibai, her mother, are quite shocked. Kakubai exclaims, "What! Going up for men's examinations! What good are we to get by educating these girls?" Kakubai then asks Ratanbai, "What are you going to do by learning? Are you girls going to do business now and will you ask your husbands to mind the home?" No answers are expected from Ratanbai. The widowed aunt who is very loving and caring otherwise is vehemently opposed to educating Ratanbai because she feels that she can do without that kind of education which allows her to go out of the house and mingle with others. The old aunt becomes almost violently abusive when a young widow, the wife of Ratanbai's father's brother is brought home. There is also a description of the Saturday ritual in the month of Sharavan where upper caste women degrade women of a lower caste as a matter of ritual. On this particular day, lower caste women go with baskets on their heads, in which there is an oilcan or bottle. They go from door to door calling out that they have come for the Saturday ritual of the Sharavan month. The novel describes it thus:
Anandibai came out and beckoned to one of the women, who, laying her basket on the floor, took out a half coconut shell and held it before Anandibai, who stood aloof, catching her sari carefully, so as not to touch the woman. Holding a small cup, full of sweet oil, Anandibai waved it over the unfortunate woman's head and poured it into the shell, and afterwards looked at her reflection in it. Then giving her a few small articles, Anandibai went indoors, and the woman placing the oil in the basket, which she put on her head, went away shouting the same words. The waving of the oil and the giving it away meant that all the abuse, the misery, and unhappiness of the family would rest on this woman, and she was contented with her lot, for according to the Shastras, her caste is bound to take the curse and misery in that fashion, so that the gods may be pacified.
Shevantibai states these facts as realities of that period. Women fall into these roles as if they are cultural roles expected of them. Into this pattern of living the question of women's education gets woven into. Except for the language style and certain details, one cannot believe that the novel was written in 1895. It is strange how ideas such as these last almost as long as brick and mortar buildings. While buildings can be so easily brought down, these mind-sets seem to continue through centuries. As a young girl, I read many novels written in the 1950s where the educated woman was told that her rightful place was the home. I remember in one novel, a very loving father who has slogged for the family tells his daughter that he has educated her not to make a living out of it but to help her to gain the wisdom to row the boat of family life. I read these novels in the 1960s and girls of my age then were being given similar advice with regard to education. And today's matrimonial ads still ask for an educated, working and home-loving girl. And today's serials seem to recreate in some ways women who we thought ceased to exist a long time ago. No doubt we have had highly educated women who have been pioneers but even today education is not treated as a girl's right. In rural areas where a girl has to go a long distance to study, after primary or middle school, the obvious decision a family would take would be to put an end to her education.
Seen in this context, the reprinting of books such as Ratanbai will help all of us who are interested in women's advancement to understand what it is that we have to confront directly when it comes to education of women. It is not old buildings we should be breaking down but old ideas.
C.S. Lakshmi is an independent researcher and a writer. She writes in Tamil under the pseudonym Ambai. She is the founder-trustee and director of SPARROW (Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women).
C.S. LAKSHMI
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