Remembering Rabindranath Tagore Volume - High Commission of ...

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Remembering Rabindranath Tagore
Ideas of motherhood also come in for critical scrutiny, for the childless Binodini’s longing
for maternity makes it impossible to sustain the contrast between “good mother” and “bad
mother”. When Bihari rejects Binodini’s advances, she finds solace in her affection for the
eight year old Basant who is Bihari’s pupil. Here, Binodini’s dormant maternal instincts are
aroused, and they are represented in the text as a positive, redemptive force. In contrast,
Rajalakshmi emerges as a possessive mother who regards her son as a substitute for her
husband, and resents his relationship with Asha. Although he is twenty-two, Mahendra
remains under his mother’s thumb: “Like a baby kangaroo that lives in its mother’s pouch
even after birth, he had grown accustomed to the shelter of his mother’s protective care”
(CB 2).Rajalakshmi represents the negative side of mother-love, which contradicts the
institutionalization of motherhood in nationalist discourse in nineteenth century Bengal.
Chokher Bali charts the decline of the joint family in Bengal, a phenomenon of which Tagore
had become aware by 1880.The novel depicts a small family with one male head.Asha, the
daughter-in-law, is expected to submit to the authority of her mother-in-law Rajalakshmi.
In this compact domestic arrangement, Annapurna and Binodini occupy the position of
dependents who are short-term residents.In the novel, Mahendra marries Asha for love;
he also tries to educate her. This break from the customary arranged marriage indicates the
shift towards companionate marriage, an idea that was gaining currency in Bengal as a result
of exposure to Western culture. At the same time, the text demonstrates the difficulties
inherent in such a paradigm shift, for the ideal of prem or romantic love causes conflict
with the traditional environment of the rest of the household (Panja). Chokher Bali thus
represents a society in transition, and the ways in which changes in the family structure
affected the lives of women.
Asha’s character is also a feature of the text’s modernity. She does not conform to
Bankimchandra’s stereotypes of prachina, the traditional woman skilled in domestic affairs,
and nabina, the westernized “modern” woman who seeks social sophistication while
neglecting household responsibilities. Asha’s ignorance and naivete, which Mahendra at
first finds so charming, begin to annoy him when he discovers Binodini’s domestic skills.
Asha, however, does not accept Mahendra’s betrayal when he becomes infatuated with
Binodini. “She was unable to follow her mashi’s advice, the dictates of the puranas, the
discipline enjoined upon her by the scriptures; she could no longer worship this husband
who had fallen from the pedestal of conjugal love. Today, she deconsecrated the lord of her
heart, immersing him in the sea of shame that was Binodini” (CB 310-11). Asha’srejection
of the passive tolerance enjoined upon the devoted Hindu wife, her refusal to abide by the
decrees of tradition and the scriptures, is a significant marker of the modernity of Tagore’s
novel (Bhattacharya and Bhattacharya 37).Although she forgives Mahendra in the end, she
does so with a newfound affirmation of choice and self-assurance.
Bihari, too, is a complex figure. Although he is educated, he does not take up a regular
profession. Instead, he takes up social service, choosing to work for the benefit of those