A commentary on the birth of the Indian feminist movement: review of activist Vasanth Kannabiran’s novel Pankaja

The activist dips into personal histories and family narratives of those closest to her

Activist Vasanth Kannabiran. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal

French feminist Simone de Beauvoir said, “All oppression creates a state of war.” Nowhere is this truer than in the case of gender, caste, and violence as we see in the novel Pankaja by activist and writer Vasanth Kannabiran.

Vasanth is a leading voice in the feminist and social rights movements in South India with many works of non-fiction to her credit. Her husband, the late human rights lawyer K.G. Kannabiran, and she are prominent figures whose tireless work in the space of rights and civil liberties is well-respected.

Pankaja marks Vasanth’s foray into fiction and dips into the personal histories and family narratives closest to her. The novel is named after Panjaka, from whose life we learn of her mother, sister and relatives — a cohort of women whose days are defined by survival and tenacity amidst personal tragedies.

The novel is set in and around Madras, Nellore, Secunderabad and parts of Andhra Pradesh, and the period spotlights a clan of Tamil Brahmins weighed down by orthodoxy, social conformity and caste superiority. 

An awakening of thought

Widowhood is a bane that makes the position of these women more vulnerable, open to preying male relatives, restricting their access to economic independence, and a toil while single parenting. However, the widows in Pankaja are made of a different iron. They are spurred into action and thought by the pre-Independence atmosphere, and attracted to reformers and radicals like Periyar who speak of the abolition of Brahminism and uplifting the status of women. 

They are women of action who educate themselves despite limited access, take up jobs, pursue lovers and pleasure, and punish men for their weakness and brutality with their dignity and quiet strength.

In their society, even the married women are not spared, laying bare the flimsy nature of social protection that marital status is said to bestow. They rebel and deal with the indignities and sorrows with grit and quiet fortitude.

The novel can be read as a commentary on the birth of the Indian feminist movement with its small beginnings inside the four walls of the house during the early decades of the 20^th century.

Vasanth’s writing is evocative and powerful, and she manages to convey the complexity and nuances of the issues that she addresses in the novel.

Pankaja

Vasanth Kannabiran

Speaking Tiger

₹350

The Gurgaon-based journalist is the author of ‘Temple Tales’ and translator of ‘Hungry Humans’.