Introduction
Kamala Das Surraiya, known popularly as Kamala Das, is a renowned figure in the Indian literary scenario for her remarkable contribution to Indian women poetry. She was born on March 31, 1934 and bred in the Southern Malabar in Kerala. Being a bilingual writer, Das also wrote poems and short stories in her native language Malayalam, most of which were published under her pen name Madhavikutty. She herself is the centre of her own poetry, portraying her deeply felt desire for love, for emotional involvement, and her desire for fulfillment in a relationship. In giving full accentuation to women’s causes Mrs. Das is simply ‘every woman who seeks love’; she is ‘the beloved and betrayed’, expressing her ‘endless female hungers’, ‘the mutual whisper at the core of womanhood’.
Her personal experience is deeply rooted in her poetry. At the age of fifteen, she was married to Mr. K. Madhava Das, where her life became disastrous in the company of her lustful husband. Kamala Das’s poetry reflects her deeply dissatisfied personal experience that is the sole cause of her quest for love. She tried to liberate herself from the bondages of patriarchal and tabooed society through her poetry, which is the mirror of the modern outlook of an Indian woman.
The different layers of love in Kamala Das’ collection of poetry show her development in her life and love. Reading “The Dance of the Eunuchs” against the backdrop of her painful marital life, the “eunuchs” represent “sterility” to express the poet’s sterile loveless life. In “The Freaks” the poet expresses her great despair in love. In “In Love” she interrogates herself whether the sexual desire in her is love or lust. “My Grandmother’s House” expresses the love and security she felt when she was with her grandmother. “Blood” recalls her love for the old house and her grandmother who is dead. “The Looking Glass” mirrors the crude reality of a male dominated society.
“An Introduction” is an autobiographical poem where she shows her growth and how she became the figure of love and sex in a male dominated society. “The Stone Age” portrays the poetess being offered love by another man rather than by her husband. Another shade of love takes the shape of myth — old Hindu myths of Radha-Krishna or Krishna-Mirabai, justifying the celebration of love outside her marriage. “Ghanshyam” is expressive of her love for Lord Krishna, marking a shift from sexual love to spiritual love.
Conclusion
All the layers make it clear that Kamala Das made a bold attempt to unveil the theme of love through her poetry. The first layer of her love is her want of emotional attachment but then her disillusionment and frustration came as she realized the overpowering of lust and it took a different turn and she brought out the layer of death and spirituality. Thus she added a new dimension to this genre of love poetry.
Works Cited
- Das, Kamala. Summer in Calcutta. New Delhi: Everest Press, 1965. Print.
- ---. The Descendants. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1967. Print.
- ---. The Old Playhouse and Other Poems. Madras: Orient Longmans, 1973. Print.
- ---. My Story. New Delhi: Sterling Publication, 1976. Print.
- ---. Collected Poems. Trivandrum: Kamala Das, 1984. Print.
- ---. The Best of Kamala Das. Kerala: Bodhi Publishing House, 1991. Print.
- Dwivedi, A. N. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Amar Prakashan, 1999. Print.
- ---. Kamala Das and Her Poetry. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2000. Print.
- Iyenger, K. R. S. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2012. Print.
- Kohli, Devendra. Poetry of Kamala Das. 2010 edition. Print.
- Kohli, Devendra, ed. Kamala Das: Selected Poems. Gurgaon: Penguin India, 2014. Print.
- Naik, M. K. A History of Indian English Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2002. Print.