Redefining Womanhood through Iyengar’s ‘Bhumika’: A Feminist Perspective

Name of Author : Dr. Digambar M. Date

Abstract: Aditya Iyengar is a well known Indian fiction writer who mostly writes about Indian mythology. His novels depict the history and historical characters from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. His fictional creation comprises five critically acclaimed novels, The Thirteenth Day (2015), Palace of Assassins (2016), A Broken Sun (2018) and The Conqueror (2018). Iyengar’s latest novel ‘Bhumika’ was published in 2019. The novel, Bhumika was shortlisted for the Matrubhumi Book of the Year 2020. The aim of this research paper is to explore the novel Bhumika to analyze how the writer has redefined ‘womanhood’ in a new context through the feministic point of view. In the novel Bhumika, as a writer, Iyengar skillfully questions the overall socio-cultural and political domination of men. Consequently, Bhumika, as an embodiment of a powerful woman, who resembles today’s well-educated woman with modern views, directly challenges the biased social norms. The novel, Bhumika is a story of Sita after the major events of the Ramayana, when she was living out her days in the forest as a hermitess. Iyengar imagines an alternative life for Sita—one where she never met Rama. Originally, this novel is inspired by Volga’s novel The Liberation of Sita.

Keywords : Mithila, Ramayana, agnipariksha, swayamvara, hermitess, Sita, Bhumika, Valmiki

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