A Gynocritical Analysis of Bengali Literature’s Nature-Woman Nexus

Abstract

The paper entitled "Barsha Basanta Baisakha: A text that conjoins women and nature" examines the interplay between femininity and nature, examining the profound links between female selfhood and natural world in the Odia novel Barsha Basanta Baisakha by Pratibha Ray. Woman and nature both complement each other. The relationship between the two has been prevailing since time immemorial. A woman is soft, bright and strong just like nature. At times, she embodies the fierce nature of Rudra. But it is astonishing to find that a woman's life is tied to a thread and that piece of thread is controlled by a man. From youth to old age, she undergoes male dominance despite her reluctance. The protagonist of the novel reflects these cycles, with her maturation dissected from both a physical and spiritual continuum of growth with the alternation of seasons. The text explores the deeper cultural and spiritual ethos of Indian society through the vivid portrayal of seasons—Barsha (rain), Basanta (spring), and Baisakha (summer). Ray weaves a metaphorical tapestry of nature cycles to the emotional, psychological and societal journey of women. It paints readers with the message of cycles of fertility, rebirth, metamorphosis and resilience of life at large. These comparisons with nature are hidden in shades behind the lives of female spectacles which aggrieved by society but again more powerful than nature. The simultaneous intertwining of nature and women opens up a whole peculiar narrative that seeks to defy all established conventions which pretty much renders Barsha Basanta Baishakha as an eco-feminist text.