Representation of Women in “The Adivasi Wil...

Representation of Women in “The Adivasi Will Not Dance” by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

Author Name : Aasha Besra

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2024.120724673

ABSTRACT Portrayal of a society in limited scope is not an easy task, especially when one limits it to a specific culture and gender. From time immemorial women irrespective of any culture, ethnic group, race, caste or creed have been exploited and taken undue advantage. The luxury of not being oppressed by outsider men was enjoyed only by the women of higher social strata or caste. This has been an age-old practice. Retaliation, rebellion from the oppressed did take place but the aftermath was not always significant. Women have been stereotyped as weak, fragile, irrational, naïve and emotional. And because of this many women have been accused of being witches or possessing evil powers and on the facet of this they have been tormented in Indian society. This is evident mostly in the tribal society. This is not only limited to the state of Jharkhand but prevails in other states of India as well, like the north eastern states. Hansda is the undaunting stalwart of contemporary literary era from Jharkhand. With the publication of his very first book “The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey”, Hansda has broken the stereotype by bringing into light something which most author belonging to the same community or ethnic race would avoid. In his second publication “The Adivasi Will Not Dance” he has presented the dark realities of the societyand the plight of women especially of the Santhal community, inhabited mostly in the Santhal Pargana of Jharkhand. The purpose of this research is to explain the representation of women in the collection of short stories “The Adivasis will not Dance” as depicted by the tribal author himself of the same community. Descriptive and analytical approach has been applied on the primary and secondary data available.