Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 06:58:50 -0700
From: Soumitra Bose <soumitra-AT-ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Behula's Dream


Eva Formaggio wrote:
> 
> Dear Soumitra,
> 
> thank you for your interesting contribution on Behula's Dream.
> Would you mind to share your thoughts also with us non-Bengali speaking
> people in the list?
> Thanks
> Eva


I made a mistake. I thought I would send it to Rinita personally, but due 
to some sort of an accidental overlook I hit the button of reply, which 
immediately broadcast the message.

The long and short of my comment was that the exact attitude that is 
shown in Rinita's poem is actually a reflection of the "smartness" of the 
urban and english educated middle class seciton of city-islands in 
Bengal. The sub-altern women do not generally go through that kind of a 
problem. Behula is an icon of the sub-altern culture. The five milleniums 
of Indian civilization and the three milleniums of MAithili and Bengali 
civilisation has shown us that the women of rural bengal and of the 
sub-altern do take matters much assertively than to say "Husbands slash 
my vagina". Sexual acts are reflection of micro-empowermnent of women in 
family life (not in social life though). Women of that kind do not take 
it lying low, they get their quotas out of their male partners. 

I think the typical slave-like sheepish characteristic of identity-crisis 
ridden women having english-urban-educated-city-islandish feaures was 
being imposed on the nature of the women of rural bengal. This is 
imperialistic meta-narrative in its fullest extent being imposed on the 
sub-altern. Behula's anecdote is a maithili anecdote popular in Bengal 
and Bihar, but it is an icon of women-assertion which draws its tradition 
from the women-assertive culture of the Tantriks and Those of Goddesses, 
which are so rampant in Eastern India.