Emergence Of The Issue Of Women's Identity In Assamese Literature: A Study Of Ramnabami-Natak

Abstract

In the literary landscape of Assam (in India)- in the middle of the nineteenth century, in the fictional and dramatic literature, foregrounding of the problematic concept of identity was yet to receive due attention from the contemporary writers. Making an exception to this scenerio, significantly in 1857, Gunabhiram Baruwa wrote a play: Ramnabami-Natak, to reflect upon aspects of the subversion of women by the labyrinthine traps of a male-dominated society. It was the first definitive statement to be made in the contemporary Assamese literature about the predicament of women in a traditional Indian set up opening up an influential argument in favour of women's moral voice against certain codes of conduct assigned to them by the society which tended to maintain patriarchal dominance against them. All through the play, the protagonist exhibits her independence in choice as she rejects the institution of widowhood. Her struggle to emerge as a literate woman is also another brave act by her. It is significant to note that at a time when even in Europe, most women had been blatantly exposed to the control and subversion of the patriarchy amounting to their inferior status(politically, legally, economically and socially), and the movement to achieve social equality for women had been still at its nascent state, in a faraway and geographically distanced frontier state like Assam someone did seek to discover the deep seated causes of women's suppressions and affirmed his unequivocal supports to the cause of emanipation of women beyond the parameters of patriarchal structures. The playwright shows how women are led to the process of subjectivation within the politics of patriarchal power structures. This study attempts to investigate the craft of Gunabhiram Baruwa in providing a dialogic mould to his dealing with an issue which must have been quite a sensitive subject in his contemporary social milieu. Baruwa combines realism with his comprehensive moral vision while he intrinsically shows the struggle of the protagonist to uphold her identity. The methodology adopted for the study would be close reading  coupled with highlighting and analysing of selective specimen that put in perspective the dynamics of identity.