The Picture of Modern Indian Woman in “Music

THE PICTURE OF MODERN INDIAN WOMAN IN
“MUSIC FOR MOHINI”

Prof. D. J. P. N. Reddy and R. Poli Reddy

Shashikala Singh has remarked that “the central theme of Bhattacharya’s Music For Mohini is not only a clash of tradition and modernity but also that of the urban and rural cultures, the superstitious beliefs of the rural folk as against the values of modernism in the city dwellers. But in the ultimate analysis, Bhattacharya is able to present a brilliant synthesis of the old and the new in the character of Mohini. In fact, he presents the finest values of Indian Womanhood in Mohini’s character.”

Many critics have studied in depth the synthesis between tradition and modernity in Music For Mohini and they have focused on the old and the new values of the city and village life. The novelist presents an ideal Indian woman besides presenting the old and the new values. The tradition in Mohini’s character is retained to sustain modernity. The two major woman characters, Mohini and Rooplekha, feel uprooted after their marriage. Indian women struggle and try to transcend their situations by understanding and perseverance.

Bhattacharya pictures an ideal Indian Woman in the character of Mohini dividing her life into two phases. The first part of the novel depicts Mohini in an urban atmosphere, as a young seventeen-year-old, carefree, impulsive, college going girl.

The second part depicts her as a woman of transformed nature living in a completely new environment of a village. This change in Mohini is characteristic of the idealism of an Indian woman. Her adaptability to new conditions is remarkable.

At the outset, Mohini is portrayed as a young girl, joyous and enthusiastic. She is an embodiment of subtle beauty and has a melodious voice. She confides to her brother about her dream to be a cine-star. She lives in a world of romance. When she is praised by young men like Somir and Vishnu her dream world of romance is fulfilled. In spite of her longing for a lover, she never really gets one. She is carefree and tomboyish, climbing trees, singing and dancing.

Mohini’s father and grandmother have influenced Mohini’s early life, instilling in her the values of modernity and tradition respectively. Mohini’s father, a professor, wants to mould her into a modem woman. But he is in constant conflict with his old mother who is tradition bound.  The professor gives ‘Modern’ education to his daughter. Mohini gives programmes on All India Radio with her gifted melodious voice. Her music is sold in and her photo published in a magazine. But her grandmother does not relish all these things. She threatens to go away to Benaras. So Mohini becomes a source of conflict between the mother and son. But the old mother is flexible enough to effect a balance between the two.

In revealing the clash between the old and the new cultures, Bhattacharya makes a compromise rather than a violent confirmation. The clash between mother and son is resolved by a compromise and the Professor brings up his daughter in a modem fashion following the basic traditional values of his mother. There is a symphony of cultures in music for Mohini as seen in the mixing up of tradition and modernity. Mohini’s character is shaped by the modern influence of her father which is partially based on his traditional values. She emerges as a perfect balance between the old and the new, upholding the true image of an Indian woman. These influences also enable her to negotiate various critical situations in her later life. Shantha Krishna Swamy has rightly remarked that “Through her, the author aims at interlinking polarities, at connecting culture with culture, tradition with modernity, the Individual with Society.”

Mohini’s modern attitude can be seen on various occasions. She is quite opposite to the whole process of an arranged marriage as it appears to her like a business deal. The dowry and bride-showing interviews are considered by Mohini to be humiliating experience. “She had to walk a few steps at the mother’s bidding to prove she did not lack grace of movement. They fumbled with her prettily arranged hair and unloosed it down to know its length. They rubbed her face with their thumbs to make sure the fair complexion was natural, not of paint. Mohini gulped down her tears of shame.”

Bhattacharya wants to expose the Indian society caught in the deadly mire of superstitions, rituals, (obsolete) customs and obscurantism. The gulf between the old mother and Mohini is narrowed down when Mohini’s marriage is finally settled by the luck-signs spotted by the bangle-seller and matching of horoscopes. When the old mother admires Jayadev the scholar to be Mohini’s husband, the professor again objects to this tradition; “luck signs, horoscopes, what rubbish.” His voice was mocking. There is to be a culture synthesis of a horoscope and a microscope.

Mohini’s father has many apprehensions about his daughter’s marriage in a village: “Will Mohini put up with village life? Will she, impatient one, take to the new rhythm of things? New thought, new customs, new tastes all so very old–will she adapt herself?”

Mohini convinces her father that she will be quite happy in the village. In spite of her father’s unwillingness, she decides to marry Jayadev who came from village ground. One can notice the change in the attitude to life in Mohini when she consents to settle in a rural atmosphere. There are characteristics of a true Indian woman in her. There is Mohini in every Indian girl with all her contradictions and ultimate reconciliation to Indian code values. Her old mother is very happy with Mohini’s decision, and she comments: “Who knows what Music God has in store for my Mohini?”

Mohini enters the new village life with optimistic ideals. Thus, lofty values are instilled in Mohini. Her love of rural setting, respect for elders, simplicity, honesty and service mindedness reveal that she exemplifies the best of both, urban and rural values.

Mohini’s marriage with Jayadev brings about many changes in her life style in the old house. It is not only a change from free urban society to the restricted traditional life of village, but also to the domestic life adjusting with the highhanded mother-in-law, who symbolizes restricted traditionalism. Jayadev is a scholar obsessed with his dream–to reorient the values and patterns of Hindu life. He is a social reformer who aims at making his village Behula, a model village. He fights against many social evils like casteism, untouchability and superstitions. Jayadev upholds the values of nationalism and humanism against obscurantism and inhuman customs. One of the important concerns of Bhattacharya in the novel, is the humanistic philosophy based upon the socialist principle which rebels against man-made inequality, oppression, and exploitation. The ideal of social service pursued by Jayadev and Mohini is in accordance with the finest principles of both tradition and modernity. Jayadev has the vision of an idealist who claims that progress in a society can be attained only through social freedom.

Jayadev is an idealist even in his feelings towards Mohini and expects her to sympathise and share his scholarly pursuits. He calls her Maitreyi “Maitreyi who lived three-hundred thousand years ago. Maitreyi the wife and inspiration of Yagnavalkya, the greatest thinker of his age, who had strived for immortality.”

Mohini is disillusioned with Jayadev’s ideologies. She believes in the warmth of love and sympathy which she fails to get. Jayadev gets that love on the spiritual plane while the physical love is kept apart. So Mohini the believer of romantic deals, is stunned and confused by her husband’s indifference towards her. She suppresses her physical demands and adapts herself to the new way of life by bridging the gap between modernity and tradition. S.C. Harrex points out this synthesis and accounts for “the main social premise of the novel.”

Her husband’s Big House imposes many restrictions on Mohini. The dominating mother-in-law is extremely tradition bound and a symbol of iron will. She strictly adheres to the traditions of the past and expects her daughter-in-law to follow her. Mohini’s initial reaction is rebellious because she feels suffocated in such an atmosphere. Gradually she begins to adjust herself to the change.

At this critical juncture, Rooplekha, her sister-in-law, gives her a new lease of life by linking the two different ways of life. She is unable to adjust herself to the modem city life after marriage. She conveys her inner feelings to Mohini: “You are city-bred, village-wed, I am village-bred, city-wed, we share one common lot, we have been pulled up by roots.”

This comment perhaps suggests the fact that every Indian woman has to face a complete change after marriage irrespective of her urban or rural environment. The changes may be due to the family culture of the spouses besides individual attitudes confronting each other. Thus Mohini and Rooplekha feel that they have been uprooted. Ultimately, it is the woman in the Indian household who is victimized and made to suffer in the Indian society.

Mohini is caught between traditionalism of her mother-in-law and the idealism of her husband. However, she transcends both these cultures and emerges as a new woman. Jayadev’s indomitable will is revealed when she resolves her conflict like a typical Indian woman and reconciles herself to the ways of her husband and the Big House. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar comments on Mohini’s transformation that “she throws herself into the new tasks, and she strikes roots into the soil of Behula. The strain is nothing, what matters is the sense of fulfillment alone while she is thus able to establish rapport with her husband readily furthering the causes so dear to him.”

Now Mohini is readily willing to lead a life full of challenges and opportunities. She represents the best Indian tradition, symbolizing sincerity, familial affection, and loyalty.

Jayadev is elevated to higher level because he sacrifices his personal life for the sake of the society. Jayadev represents honesty and the good aspects of the Indian tradition. Both Jayadev and Mohini exhibit a synthesis of the old and the new.

Mohini adapts herself to the new atmosphere. She gets contentment in talking to the village women understanding their problems and helps them. With the passage of time, Mohini develops a strong bond of affection with the eight year old fatherless boy, Rajan, a distant relative of Jayadev. She seeks solace in the presence of the boy. Her longing for such solace is understandable because she doesn’t have a child even after two years of her marriage. Her mother-in-law, cries out at her, as Mohini is barren and has no love for her. Mohini is a tragic victim of the domination of her mother-in-law. Yet she is down but not out. She is able to rise above her situation as an individual and absorbs the old as well as the new as an ideal Indian woman.

One notices the superstitious belief of Jayadev’s mother when she compels Mohini to believe in the horoscope and the prediction that Jayadev’s life would be in danger if he doesn’t beget an heir before his twenty-eighth birthday. Mohini is forced to comply with her mother­-in-law’s wishes under the fear of the impending danger to her husband’s life. She is ready to offer her blood to the virgin goddess as the mother says: “You will cut the skin of your bosom and give her the blood in lotus-leaf bowl.”

Ultimately, Mohini yields to the mother’s desire and her superstition. But she is rescued by Jayadev who makes his appearance at the temple of the virgin goddess to stop the ritual. He becomes furious at his mother for indulging in such rituals. Mohini meets with success finally. The city-bred Mohini, though victimized by the taboos of the village and the Big House, her idealistic husband and dominating mother-in-law, ultimately, becomes capable of freeing herself from their clutches by amalgamating tradition and modernity in her character. Bhattacharya successfully presents in Mohini, the typical Indian woman. She absorbs tradition only to give a new direction to the concept of Indian womanhood.

Jayadev and Mohini are symbols of modernism. Jayadev attacks false beliefs and superstitions which lead only to disintegration. Thus Bhattacharya’s critical attack on tradition bound superstitions and customs is highlighted in the novel. The psychological conflict of Mohini after marriage does not harm any one. It only reawakens her spiritually. Mohini is portrayed as a selfless, sacrificing woman. Her respect for elders, her love and fidelity to her husband, and her service to the village people exemplify the characteristics of a typical Indian woman. She eventually experiences a feeling of ecstasy, of ultimate joy. “At last there was not discord. Life was music... her life was music...the true quest of every woman, her deepest need”. This is harmony and the music in Mohini’s Life.
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“I believe in God. I believe in man. I may have to be born again because I have fallen in love with man. The glory of man is that he is a thinking being. I believe in reason.

I am independent. Some times I live in the Himalaya Mountains, and sometimes in the streets of cities. I never know where I will get my next meal. I never keep money with me. I come here by subscription “This is a good dress; when I am home I am in rags, and I go barefooted.
–Swami Vivekananda