Representation of Women in Kashmiri Literature: A Feministic Analysis of Mahjoor's "The Unwanted Woman's Tale" and Naseem Shiafaie''s "Neither a Shadow nor a Reflection (original) (raw)

2022, International journal of studies in English language and literature

occupies a central in Kashmiri Literature. He is one of the great poets of the Kashmiri language. Kashmir is a far-off valley so every place here is a small center itself and this effect can be seen in its culture, tradition, art, and literature. Normally poets and writers are not recognized during their lifetime, but fortunately, Mahjoor got enough fame during his lifetime as a poet, the reason is that his creative and aesthetic faculties went very close to common men. Mahjoor is one of the most prominent pioneers of modern Kashmiri poetry, known as, 'The Poet of Kashmir'. He stands a link between old and new Kashmiri poetry. He gave life and vitality to his verse and theme to his poetry. He was a great personality indeed, a journalist, a historian, a writer, a poet. To study nature, as a subject Mahjoor had achieved mastery. A close look at the expanded collections of his poems reveals that he undoubtedly was the greatest nature poet of Kashmir. He depicts nature and puts deep and hidden meaning in the objects of nature and also at times gives spiritual interpretations to nature. Mahjoor's sweet, soft and lofty voice gave an awakening to every Kashmiri, whether literate or illiterate. His thought-provoking poems made Kashmir feel proud of its origin, national identity, and inherent capacities bestowed upon him by nature. Thus a sense of respect and love for the homeland was cultivated. Mahjoor with his sweet, chaste and melodious lyrics pulled out a common Kashmiri from the morass of self-denial in which illiterate and self-styled mystic poets had thrown them. Mahjoor in his famous poem, " An Unwanted Woman's Tale" writes about women and their status in Kashmiri society. He not only sings of poverty, slavery, and freedom, but he also writes about the condition of women in Kashmiri society. In this poem, he describes all the stages of a woman from her birth to death and how she is treated in Kashmiri society. She is born uninvited and then not given any skill or education to grow. She is ready for marriage but nobody asks for her consent. She is a queen like Habba Khatoon and a great philosopher mystic like Lal Ded, but still a Abstract: The paper aims to portray the role of women in Kashmiri culture. Both Mahjoor and Naseem portray different roles a woman plays in Kashmiri society, rather than how she is treated in Kashmiri society. Ghulam Ahmad Mahjoor, a Kashmiri progressive poet, and Prof. Naseem Shiafaie a Kashmiri feministic voice portray Kashmiri women in their poems as victims of patriarchal setup. Mahjoor's simple and moving language speaks about the pangs of the woman being both betrayed and powerless. Naseem's forthright language speaks loudly, about the sufferings of women in contemporary Kashmiri society. She argues about the need to allow women and girl children to realize their potential. Feminism can be called a mode of critical discourse which emphasizes culturally determined gender differences in the interpretation of literary works. Feminism generally focuses on the history of male dominance and oppression in all aspects of life. Feminism has become a dominant force in contemporary literary criticism. It has made considerable advancement during a small period. Feminist literary criticism has played a crucial part in breaking the logocentric tradition and challenging the supremacy of the privileged concepts and values in the patriarchal systems. This is its alternative approach to literary as well as cultural studies. The phrase "feminine mystique" was coined by Friedan to describe the assumptions that "women would be fulfilled from their housework, marriage, sexual lives, and children. The prevailing belief was that truly feminine women should not want to work, get an education, or have political opinions."