For verification of this paper, please visit on http://www.socialresearchfoundation.com/anthology.php#8

In recent years, there has been a plethora of theoretical speculations on the problems of women in her feminine and female identities in the context of social and interpersonal relationships. Many Indian women novelists have demonstrated a deep concern with the role and status of Indian women in terms of social and familial power. Kamala Markandaya’s novels exhibit a deep and sympathetic understanding of the females in Indian society. In “Nectar in a Sieve” Rukmani seems to conform to the traditional image of women embodied in the mythical figures of Sita and Savitri who silently bear all hardships and remain devoted to their husbands.

This paper aims at delineating the struggle and hardships of Rukmani’s life and presenting her as the epitome of endurance. This study shows how Rukmani faces all the odds and difficulties of her life with great courage and fortitude and emerges as a conqueror.

With the birth of her first-born Ira, Rukmani with tears of disappointment exclaims, ‘A girl’s body - what a woman wants for her first born’.[1] She supports her husband’s view that a male child is an asset, and a girl child is a liability to the family. But ironically the couple cannot lead a happy and prosperous life even if five sons are born to them successively. Nathan thinks that educating the girl child is sheer waste. In fact, Rukmani’s education cannot help her to earn for the destitute family. Ira marries dowry of hundred rupees, the maximum her parents could offer. Rukmani easily reconciles herself to Ira’s ill fate when her husband, being accused of barrenness desserts her. But the irony is that in their abject poverty it is the daughter who helps the family financially. At least she can feed the starving Kuti who dies painfully, slowly for want of milk. Their sons are no longer symbols of hope. Both Rukmani and Nathan lament over the departure of their sons from the land to distant places and different occupations. Their last hope of survival is lost when they trace their son Murugan in the unfriendly city. Rukmani, born of the village headman and married to a tenant farmer below her family status, her good soul speaks of her and husband as one “who was poor in everything but in love and care for me”.[2] She feels proud of him as he is efficient in farming, in maintaining the household singlehandedly and is a loving husband. Though the knowledge of Nathan’s adultery with Kunti in his youth is agonizing, she hardly ever betrays her feelings of jealousy and anguish. On the other hand, her faith and reliance on her husband remains unabated. She is the symbol of Un impeccable chastity and unswerving devotion.

Rukmani stands by Nathan in times of both happiness and suffering, during bumper harvest and draught. During their abject penury Nathan feels grateful to her and declares ‘You are a good wife...I would not have any other’[3]. Together they suffer misfortunes- the loss of beloved sons, land, home, humiliations in the town, the grievance of their daughter and final separation. Rukmani exhibits her tremendous power of tolerance and patience when she speaks her last words to the dying husband, “If I grieve, I said, it is not for you, but for myself my beloved, for how shall I endure to live without you, who are my love and my life?”. To Nathan’s ironical question “Have we not been happy together?” she replies confidently “Always, my dearest ,always.”[4]

After losing her husband she returns home with the diseased city boy Puli and joins her son Selvam and daughter Ira with a renewed desire to survive. Rukmani is portrayed not only as a devoted wife, but also as a loving, caring and sensible mother-in-law and a model housewife. As an epitome of the traditional Indian values of chastity, devotion and integrity, she is absolutely the true voice of endurance. C.T. Indra rightly comments on this close study of a woman’s feelings and thoughts, her suffering and struggle:

Kamala Markandaya has managed to give full play to a woman’s self-cast in relatively unadventurous social milieu.... She proves that within the traditional role can accommodate her other roles as a human being.[5]

The Savitri metaphor has been ironically used in R.K. Narayan’s ‘The Dark Room’ (1938). Savitri tries to break the mythical image by leaving her home when she can no longer tolerate her husband Ramani’s extra-marital relations. She tries to commit suicide but is rescued by Mari whose wife Ponni advises her to assert her position in the family by handling domestic conflicts with iron hand. Ultimately Savitri comes back to her home showing the importance of the dark room for an Indian wife who cannot enjoy a life of liberty.

The traditional portrait of woman as Sita or Savitri has not changed even after independence. In ‘Where Shall We Go This Summer?’ Anita Desai portrays Sita as a rebel against the conventional patterns of life. She is fatigued with the conventional image of woman. She leaves the city and goes to her father’s mansion in the village in search of peace and contentment but finally comes back home with her husband Raman for the future prospect of the children.

Thus, Kamala Markandaya, R.K. Narayan and Anita Desai show how 'Rukmani, Savitri and Sita represent Indian women struggling for their rightful position in the family which is denied to them in the unjust, harsh and indifferent society'.[6]

Rukmani must face the wrath of the money leader, the threatening of the landlord for eviction from the land and the indifferent attitude of the city dwellers. The only consoling soul she discovers is in Dr. Kenny, the symbol of civilized man’s generosity and broadmindedness. Out of compassion for the rural poor, he establishes a hospital. K.R. Chandrashekharan points out how Kamala Markandaya projects the English doctor “A good missionary and philanthropic spirit doing his best for a backward country without ostentation and vanity".[7] He is also a neutral observer of life in India. Rukmani returns to her native place with a new self-awareness, new wisdom of the world obtained from her bitter experience in the city whose unfortunate product is Puli, the leper boy. Like Synges’ Maurya and the Christian Job, she remains calm and composed amidst all losses and sufferings. The novel ends with the return of the mother-sorrow. When she reaches her village, she feels enlivened and rejuvenated. All the drudgeries which she faced while living in the city fade away. Born in a prosperous family, Rukmani is conscious of her social status. When she is 12 and ready to become a bride, she expects a grand wedding like her older sister enjoyed. However, her family circumstances have deteriorated and Rukmani gets married to Nathan, a landless tenant farmer. She compares it in her mind to her father’s fine house and sinks to the ground in fear and despair. Yet instead of ranting and pouting, Rukmani notices Nathan’s pleading expression and reassures him. Though the start is difficult but gradually Rukmani inculcates patience and forbearance in her personality. She develops the skills required to manage the household resposibilites. Rukmani is closely associated with the earth and derives spiritual strength from its fertility and beauty. She learns to help other women in childbirth, to adapt to and accept the unpleasant changes the tannery brings in the village, and to withstand season of want and hunger.

Rukmani undergoes various problems in her life and her forbearance is incessantly put to test but she does not lose her self control. Kunti arouses her rage by suggesting several times that Rukmani is involved with Kenny. The first time Rukmani grabs her and shakes her so furiously that her saree drops away. The second time Rukmani’s wrath so overpowers her that she longs to kill Kunti. Finally, in a murderous rage, Rukmani attacks and almost kills Ira mistaking her for Kunti. After this near disaster Rukmani finds solace by disclosing the truth to Nathan, pardoning him for his wrongdoings, and finding ways to temper her anger. Rather, Rukmani grows in generosity and compassion. She gives up the scripture of caste when her sons go to work in a tannery, and she gives up the tradition of shame when her daughter turns to prostitution. Rukmani pardons her daughter-in-law for neglecting her duty to help them and learns to judge strangers not by their differences but by their actions and character. In the end, she offers her love and support to Puli, a child even more penurious than she is. By the novel's conclusion, Rukmani has triumphed over the challenges of her life. Thus, we see how Rukmani becomes the true voice of endurance.

1. Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar in a Sieve. New York: Signet Classic, 1954, P.19
2. Ibid. P.84
3. Ibid. P.187
4. Ibid. P.187
5. Indra, C.T.. “The True Voice of Endurance: A Study of Rukmani”. Feminism and Recent Fiction in English. Ed. Sushila Singh, New Delhi; Prestige, 1991. P.71
6. Misra Pravati: Class Consciousness in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, P.42
7. Chandrasekharan, K.R. "East and West in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya." Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English. Ed. M.K. Naik, S.K. Desai and G.S. Amur, Karnataka University 1968. Calcutta: Macmillan, 1977. P.324