Words of Her Own

Indian women writers have bravely choosen to tell the tales that were suppressed or silenced by the dominant narrative

- Vineetha Mokkil

MANY Indian women writers have defied the limits set by the ‘categorizers’ over the years, exploring the inner worlds of women, giving a voice to the marginalised, bravely choosing to tell the tales that were suppressed or silenced by the dominant narrative. Their fiction and poetry give readers a chance to see women as complex, full-blooded individuals, not just shadowy creatures who suffer silently in a man’s world. More nuanced than reportage, far more empathetic than history’s pages, their work traces the trajectory of women’s experiences, their lived realities. If not for their writing, many age-old silences would still be stifling Indian women. If not for their writing, a host of uncomfortable truths buried under the veneer of propriety would still be festering in the dark.

“Women were writing at all times, in all places, but their work was often not published,” says Urvashi Butalia, writer and publisher. “Sometimes they hid it and on occasion, when it got published, they had to face so much opposition…Some the early works include the Therigatha poems by Buddhist nuns; Stree Purush Tulana,Tarabai Shinde’s searing critique of patriarchy; Savitribai Phule’s writings and poems and Telugu poet Muddupalani’s wonderful book, Rādhikā-sāntvanam, on female desire.”

In more contemporary times, Kamala Das wrote about transgressive women, devastating women, devastated women. She placed the power imbalance in man-woman relationships under the scanner, laying bare the hypocrisies, the ingrained advantages men enjoy in a gendered world. In her short story,