Women and Lajja.pptx

Lajja: A Feminist Study
 Taslima Nasrin's "break through novel, Lajja (Shame) was
published in 1993, and attracted wide attention because of its
controversial subject matter .Her work combines the post-
colonial divisive politics and legacies in Bangladesh which
presented Nasrin as a fervent advocate of the rights of
women.
 The book was written in the context and aftermath of Babri
Masjid demolition on 6 December 1992
 The novel portrays the horrendous and horrifying
experience of a minority family, the Duttas- Sudhamoy,
Kironmoyee and their two children – Suranjan and Maya,
who have to face so many trials and tribulations, cares and

 The novel also admits that it was not the first instance of
violence that the minorities suffered at the hands of
fundamentalists in Bangladesh.
 Apart from these instances of violence there is continuous
persecution that these families face.
 Though , religious fundamentalism and fanaticism seems the
primary focus of the novel, Taslima Nasreen, being a feminist
also focuses on the plight of women under these
circumstances.
 “Taslima as a woman focused on feminism and subjugation
of women through her writings. Lajja is an example of such
themes where Hindus including the women were hunted by
the Muslims. This has been written as the aftermath of the
famous incident of Babri Masjid when it demolished in India

 Taslima has attempted to evaluate the marginalization of the
women in Bangladesh. Nasrin portrayed the religious
fanaticism through her novel from the thought of a feminist
writer.
 The introduction of the females who were abducted and
tortured by the Islamic fundamentalists has been the principle
point of discussions in her novels(Chandini & Meenakshi,
2016). Thus, the religious fundamentalism and gender
extremism move side by side as portrayed by Nasrin in her
novels.

 The novel has a set of major and minor women characters
that are part of the narrative of the novel. Apart from these
characters, Nasreen also presents and analysis the
predicament of women in Bangladesh as she portrays the
political and social landscape through various reports of
violence, data, news etc. These facts run parallel to the
fictional narrative of the novel.
 The novels revolves around the fate of Dutt family, that
comprises of two men and two women. Sudhamoy , an
idealist patriotic doctor is the patrirach of the
house.Kironmoyee was married to him when she was
sixteen. They have two children – Suranjan and Maya.
Suranjan is M.Sc. Physics, is idealist like his father.
 The women in the family are supposed to carry the burden of

 Both men are adamant and refuse to listen to the women in
the family. The women are supposed to follow the ideas and
ideals of the men in the family.
 Though, both of the men are leftists in their ideology, their
attitude to women, remains conventional.
 Tasleema Nasreen presents both aspects of marginalisation
of women.
 One is how patriarchy subjugates women and their identity,
second how patriarchy and fundamentalism put women in
even more marginalised position and render them more
vulnerable
 The novel also presents how women become site of violence

 In most of her writings, Nasrin gives evidence of her feminist
leanings as she delineates situations pertaining to
subjugation and marginalization of women by men who have
patriarchal mindset
 . The female characters in Lajja: Kironmoyee, Maya, and
Shammima Begum are all compelled to behave as per the
patriarchal norms, wherein Nasrin aims at highlighting the
situation of women belonging to minority community of
Hindus in Bangladesh, who had to go through a tough phase
during the demolition of Babri Masjid in India.
 The double marginalization of women on religious grounds
on the one hand and their gender identity on the other is

 Lajja deals with several feminist issues. In fact, Nasrin
demonstrates the ways how patriarchal mindset challenges
individuality and self-respect of women
 In one of her interviews, she states that “everything she has
written is for the oppressed women of Bangladesh.” She
further stated that “she has wrung her heart out into her
words” (Quiglay 24).
 One of the most important feminist issues that has been
dealt with in the novel is the treatment of women at the hands
of various patriarchal institutions like family, society and state,
headed by a patriarch who either looks down upon women or
marginalizes them.

 Kironmoyee as a mother is expected to be gentle, polite and
understanding. Issues like her husband’s infertility, physical
ordeals, and extreme hunger, are supposed to be warmly
accepted and humbly enacted by her in order to keep the
family intact: “Kironmoyee did not eat herself, but kept
Maya’s share of food for her” (Lajja 100).
 A woman’s desires carry no significance when it comes to her
family; she is expected to make every sacrifice to keep the
things going. In case of Kironmoyee “[h]er latest sacrifice
involved selling a pair of her gold bangles to Dr. Haripada’s
wife. After all, gold was not so precious that it could not be
sold if the need arose” (Lajja 113).

 Her desire to move to India to her relatives at the perilous
hour (on account of the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition)
remained unattended. All she could do was secretly shed
tears and behave submissively. It is characteristic of the
patriarchal setup, where the family is led by a male member,
who is supposed to be all powerful and centralized.
 The female members, however, are tyrannized and are
expected to behave according to established patriarchal
norms.
 Furthermore, the assumption that a woman has no identity of
her own and is dependent on the men around her, be it her
father, brother, husband or son, has been amply exemplified
in the novel, Sudhamoye, for instance, praises his wife
Kironmoyee and daughter Maya by telling Maya: “You feed

 The patriarchal norms do not let women fulfill their
aspirations, as for Kironmoyee she had to repress her deep
inner cravings which would eventually turn into virtual
“deprivation” and thus become way of life. To quote from the
text: “When Sudhamoy’s friends came to visit, and they sat
around talking, their shadows would sometimes fall on
Kironmoyee’s lap, and almost involuntarily she would wish
that those shadows were real. . . . Kironmoyee’s physical
cravings did not last very long. Her body soon became used
to the deprivation” (Lajja 114).
 A woman is conditioned to subdue her desires and fit into the
socio-cultural framework. Kironmoyee, therefore, spends her
life as a woman “who has internalized the norms and values
of patriarchy, which can be defined, in short, as any culture

 Thus, Nasrin portrays Kironmoyee as a polite, selfless and
self-sacrificing wife/mother who is submissive to the
demands of her husband and son, for her main concern is
only the well being of her family and her personal choices are
a non-issue in the environment she is born and brought up in.
 She takes her celibacy on account of her husband’s genital
mutilation as an existential given and never mentions this
handicap as an issue.
 She also submits to the demands made upon her by the
communal atmosphere in Bangladesh as she quietly accepts
a new identity. At this juncture, it is important to note that
both, family and society connive to marginalize women.

 Kironmoyee invests all her resources, monetary and mental,
in keeping her family together. She gives a tough fight to her
daughter’s abductors. Despite her reluctance, she cooks beef
to make her husband happy and is even willing to accept her
son’s Muslim girlfriend Parvin as her daughter-in-law. Her
second act of assertion manifests in her refusal to accept the
financial help offered by her son after her husband has a
paralytic attack, which apparently depicts her as a victim of
patriarchy.
 Apart from the patriarchy in general,, women also become
victims of fundamentalist forces. They are forced to shed
their identity , forget what they are or what they want to be.
The best way to survive is to compromise.

 She has accepted that shecannot observe any religious
rituals of her own and cannot practice anything signifying her
religion.
 To quote from the text: “Kiranmoyee had stopped using
sindur in the parting in her hair and loha and sankha on her
wrist as was expected of every married Hindu woman” (Lajja
97). At every step, Kironmoyee had to sacrifice and behave
according to the imposed authority of the dominant class and
norms in Bangladesh.
 At one time, Kiranmayee sang quite well. But the people
around would call her a shameless woman for singing in
public, pointing at her as an illustration of the immodesty of

 So offended was Kiranmayee by these accusations that she
had given up singing completely.
 When she finally stopped singing, how much support did she
receive from Sudhamay? Perhaps he, too, was swayed by
the thought that when people called it bad, there was no
point in pursuing it.
 For twenty-one years, he had slept by Kiranmayee‟s side,
but only to protect her chastity. She never coveted expensive
saris or ornaments. She had never insisted on having a
particular sari or a pair of earrings of her own choice.
Sudhamay would often ask, “Kiranmayee, are you keeping
some sorrow from me?” Kiranmayee would say, “No, not at

 The daughter of the family Maya, is also supposed to
internalise and enact the ideas and ideals of the men in the
family.
 In the opening chapter her brother Suranjan lies at home.
The sister urges him to hide out somewhere as the Muslim
fundamentalists may track them for lynching. But why should
he leave his house is the question Suranjan asks. She
cannot answer this question. All, she knows that they are not
safe.
 She urges Suranjan to escape for safety. His „don‟t care‟
attitude shocks Maya. She feels that she should take shelter
in her friend Parul‟s house at last.

 Maya is vibrant girl of twenty-one. She Maya had not seen
the country’s partition in 1947. Nor had she been a witness
to the communal riots of 1950 or 1964 or the Liberation War
of 1971. Since she had grown up, she had known Islam as
the state religion and the way the members of the minority
community, which included her family, tried to compromise
with the society for their survival. She had seen the leaping
flames of the 1990 disturbance. She prepared to face any
challenge to save herself.
 The brother Sudhamay felt very bad. He thought that the
sister may take shelter in her friend Jehangir’s house,
maybe getting converted to Islam. He rememberes how
Parvin who loved and thought of marrying him insisted on his
conversion, which Suranjan had declined.

 But she is a practical woman. Even at her age she earned
something by coaching two girls. She rarely, if ever, asked for
any financial help from her parents to continue her studies in the
Eden College. But Suranjan frequently had to ask for money. He
could not get any job, despite having a master’s degree in
physics.
 She is managing her life on her own, surviving, even if it means
compromising.
 When Sudhamay has a stroke and is parlaysed, Maya comes
back to take care of her father. Women in the family are expected
to nurse the ailing in the family. Haripada the doctor had taught
them the ways Sudhamay‟s inert limbs were to be exercised for
the return of his strength. Both Maya and Kiranmayee
meticulously followed his instructions, exercising Sudhamay’s
arms and feet and giving him medicines.

 Maya was surprised at Suranjan‟s aloofness at such a crucial
time. He had holed himself up and remained in isolation, putting
on a glum face, never even saying if he felt like taking his meals.
Did not he ever think of asking if his father was alive or dead. His
friends came to his room and with them he spent his time in
endless cycles of idle talk.
 Maya practically helps her parents, while her brother sulks,
engages in futile discussions. He does not look at concrete
problems or find solutions for them.
 She has an affair with a Muslim boy Jehangir.. When Maya’s
father is not well , she sits near him thinking of Jehangir. We
come to know that she has talked with him over the telephone
from Parul’s place. But Jehangir‟s voice was devoid of earlier
emotion. He said that he was planning to go to the United States.
One of his uncles, who lived in the country, had asked him to go

 Both Sudhamoy and Suranjan , though idealists fail to see
how the women in the family are being affected. Kironmoyee
wants to leave India , but her husband will not listen.
Similarly, Maya wants her brother to do something, he does
not listen.
 Men fail to see how vulnerable women are. It is because of
their vulnerability , they tend to chose the path of
compromise and submission.
 Not only Kironmoyee and Maya but other women in the novel
know this.
 It is clear that Hindus have no future in Bangladesh. Parvin
does not marry Suranjan as he refused to get converted to
Islam. She is married off to a Muslim businessman.
Suranjan‟s refusal to convert makes Parvin give up her

 Suranjan wants to marry Ratna. But Ratna has also decided
to marry a Muslim . She comes to see Suranjan with her
husband Humayun. Ratna, in her quest for surviving in a
terror-stricken country, had chosen a Muslim husband. As he
meets her he feels, she looked wiser than him.
 All these women know that they are not safe. Patriarchy can
let loose its violence against them anytime.
 But when it comes to women irrespective of their religion they
were always a prey at the hands of the dominant men.
Sudhamoy recollects an incident where a young student of
his was stripped off her sari in the middle of the street by a

 She was a Muslim and so were the boys, at this Sudhamoy
reflects that when it came to young women it was not a
matter of “Hindus and Muslims but a question of power.”
Here lies the point of Nasrin, that women were the “weaker
sex” and as such were oppressed by the men who were the
“stronger sex” (Lajja 17-18). the weak always being bullied by
the strong.
 But belonging to minority community complicates their
problem.
 Women, especially their bodies, become the site for conflict ,
power and violence by men . Sexual abuse and rape are
used as weapons not only terrorise women but also to

 Taslima has mentioned that the women are the mere objects
who were used by the males of the society to quench their
lust. To retaliate the demolition of Babri Masjid in India, the
women were desecrated and defiled since they became the
extension of the geo-political entity that is India for the
religious fundamentalists of Bangladesh(Alam, 2015).
 Same thing happens to Maya portrayed by Nasrin in the
novel. She has been kidnapped and she suffered from a
terrible trauma.
 She does everything that she can do in order to survive. But
she loses the battle just because she is a woman from the
minority community.

 Nasrin vehmently depicts in Lajja how women are sexually
harassed, abducted and subjected to varied kinds of torture
that may even result in their deaths.
 The novelist demonstrates how the abduction of Hindu girls
has been common in Bangladesh and how the hooligans do
not have any kind of fear. Whenever they wished, they would
abduct a woman and rape her brutally. That was the reason
that most of the Hindus sent their daughters to India for their
education and security. To quote an instance from the novel:
“Manju Rani Seal, a student in the ninth standard…was
abducted at 8 p.m., on the evening of 4 December 1988 by
Abdur Rahim and his goons…..”

 The women are portrayed in the novel are nothing more than
objects to be used by the male predators to satiate their lust.
In an attempt to retaliate the Babri Masjid demolition in India,
women’s bodies are defiled and desecrated as they become
extensions of the geo-political entity called India for religious
fundamentalists in Bangladesh. Lajja, depicts certain men
raping young Hindu girls for their pleasure and vilifying
concerned Hindu families.
 The abduction of Maya as a child of six illustrates the same.
This incident terribly traumatizes the girl and has such a
negative effect on the psyche of the girl child that she is not
able to behave normally for two months. She would sleep
fitfully and would wake up abruptly in the middle of the night.
The family is never safe thereafter as they keep receiving

 When she is a grown up young woman, the worst happens.
 A group of seven hooligans entered the house of Sudhamoy who
had recently suffered paralysis, and began to break the goods of
the house. They were all about twenty-one years old. Two of
them wore caps, pajamas and Kurtas. Sudhamoy and Kiranmoye
tried their best but they could do nothing against seven hooligans
who very quickly took Maya away. Maya was crying for help but
nobody came forward to help her because she was a Hindu girl
and the abductors were Muslims. She only screamed to her
mother for help saying: “ ‘Ma . . . please help me, Ma . . .’ She
fought with her captors as she was dragged away, looking back in
pain and terror, hoping against hope that her mother would be
able to save her” (Lajja 148). This inhuman incident shattered all
the hopes and dreams of Sudhamoy’s family. Being communists,
the family did not believe in any religion whether Hindu or Muslim

 Despite his best efforts, Suranjan can not find Maya. He feels
helpless as he can not find any assistance to locate his sister.
The legal system also turned a blind eye as the family were
Hindus.
 There was none who could come forward and help the family in
finding her and taking action against the male predators who
abducted her. Even Hyder who seems to trying to find , does not
seems in his efforts. He also does not seem much concerned.
 At this juncture, the cause of Maya’s abduction is worth
analyzing as t is a Muslim nation retaliating against the Babri
Masjid demolition via raping vulnerable woman of Hindu origin,
who is being perceived as an extension of India, or those who
demolished Babri mosque. There have been instances of such
sexual/ physical violence against women in the history of the
world—the partition of 1947 being one of them as women had to

 Out of sheer pain of helplessness, misery and frustration,
Suranjan began to drink wine and abuse Muslims. Time and
again he was haunted by the pain of losing his innocent
sister, Maya. Certain questions like what the abductors must
be doing with Maya; whether they may have tied up her legs
and then raped her one by one; how she must be tolerating
the pain; whether she would be living or dead etc. kept
haunting and traumatizing him. He felt a strong desire to
avenge the honor of his sister and was filled with anger and
hatred for the Muslims. He, like the hooligans, wanted to kill
the Muslims and abduct their daughters for taking revenge. It
was the eleventh day of riot in Bangladesh, i.e. 16th
December, and people were celebrating the victory. Suranjan

 He even thought of committing suicide but thought that it
would be so cowardly an act. He eventually came up with a
remedy as he thought something else. He took a rickshaw
and went to Bar council where he met a whore named
Shamima, the daughter of Abdul Jalil. For Suranjan, however,
Shamima was not a whore but a girl belonging to majority
community. The rape was what occupied his mind as a
vengeance against the loss of his sister’s honor. He only
longed to rape one of the Muslim women out of sheer
revenge for what they had done to his sister. As he gets the
opportunity he too behaves brutally like Maya’s rapists.
 Thus, one may observe how revengefulness virtually
annihilates humaneness which affects women most
adversely. Suranjan reduces the Muslim girl to mere object of

 Nevertheless, the novel also exhibits immense potential to be
studied from a feminist perspective. The representation of the
female characters, their treatment at the hands of Muslim
male fundamentalists as well as Hindu males at the level of
family, society or religion/ nation, and the fate they eventually
meet are some points of discussion which make the text
worth feminist analyses.
 The feminist thrust of Nasrin in view of the issues pertaining
to women, the problems faced by the marginalized Hindus in
Bangladesh, and the notions of nation and religion have been
intricately woven together in Lajja. As nation is a geo-political
entity, so is the body of the woman which is marauded,
tortured and abused simply because the narrow nationalistic
and fanatic mindset views it as an extension of the former

 Suranjan’s younger sister was forcefully abducted from her house
right in front her parents. Here Nasrin voices the insecurity of the
minority and the weaker sex. They were prey to the dominant and
fanatic Muslims. When the “frenzied” and “savage” ruffians
entered the house on that fateful day, they screamed, “You
bastards! Did you think you could get away after destroying the
Babri Masjid?” (Lajja 147).All these happened to the Dutta family
just because they were Hindus.
 The family was now on the verge of breakdown. The father who
was patriotic enough to stay in his home country despite warning
now lay paralyzed. His daughter was abducted and his young son
had no courage left to stand against the system. His wife wailed
day and night for her dear daughter. Under such circumstances,
where law governing bodies turn deaf ear to the plight of the

 In Nasrin’s words “It was obvious now that it was pointless for
Hindus to try and survive in Bangladesh” (Lajja 157).
 Sudhamoy and Suranjan remain adamant that they will stay
in the country they love. It is Maya’s abduction and death that
breaks them.
 The dominant community uses women to threaten and
humiliate the marginalised community. They shamelessly
think that Hindus will be shamed in this way and forced to
leave or convert.
 The boundaries of feminism are not limited to the cause of
women as they can be extended to the cause of
underprivileged ones

 Thus, the anti-fundamentalism stance of the novel also
envelops anti-patriarchal resistance wherein gender identity
is privileged over religion particularly when Nasrin delineates
atrocities against women in the same way as religion (Islam)
supersedes nationalism when it comes to the abuse of the
religious minority (Hindus).
 Thus, the gender extremism and religious fundamentalism
go hand in hand throughout the text subjecting the female
characters like Maya to inhuman torture until she dies. Hers
is not only the death of a woman but also of that inner
assurance of survival on the part of the Hindus in their ‘very
own’ country as Sudhamoy would believe at one point in the
text prior to when his daughter breathes her last.

Women and Lajja.pptx

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