The Intersection of Culture, Religion and Femininity in Indira Goswami’s novel The Man from Chinnamasta.

Abstract

Religion plays a pivotal role in structuring and maintaining a society by imposing certain morals and norms. Like any other religion, Hinduism has led the Hindus to live in a particular way since time immemorial. Indira Goswami  portrays the distressing conditions of widows living in the Vaishnavite Satra. This integration of the woman with religion becomes the core theme of Goswami’s novel, The Man from Chinnamasta  (Chinnamasta 2006), emphasises on the interconnecting issues pertaining to the oppression of women and animals. In the novel, Goswami examines and analyses the ancient religious tradition of animal sacrifice at the Kamakhya temple situated in the city of Guwahati in Assam. The novel, when it was published, generated great controversy and commotion across many orthodox sections of society that regarded the book to be an attack on ancient religious rituals and practices. However, the book and the author received a groundbreaking support from the general mass as well as animal rights groups that demanded the banning of animal sacrifice at the temple.