Indigeneity, femininity, and the practice of occult in hansda sowvendra shekhar�s the mysterious ailment of rupi baskey

Abstract

In India, the ethnic population constitutes a significant portion of the sociocultural scenario of the country. Taking into account the cultural, historical, religious, and linguistic heterogeneity of Indian tribes, the largest indigenous community in terms of population is the Santhals. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, a major contemporaryAnglophone Indian writer, who is a Santhal himself, renders the complex struggle of his native culture in his debut novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (2014). The novelist makes a bold attempt to showcase the alleged practice of dahni-bidya by Santhal women and its acceptance by the tribal society. Shekhar deviates considerably from the traditional matrix of stereotypical presentation of women in indigenous literary creations. Instead of socially ostracizing women who cast evil eyes on others, Shekhar undertakes an attitude that neither glorifies nor condemns the social system in which women are either the perpetrators or the victims of witchcraft; rather, he depicts the supernatural beliefs and rituals of his ethnic group to a wider Indian and global audience in a matter-of-fact manner. The principal characters in his novel are indigenous women who have been projected very realistically with all their virtues, vices, strengths, weaknesses, determination, vulnerabilities, promiscuities, subjugation, and marginalization. The paper embarks on a gendered reading of the novel to study the status of women in the indigenous Santhal community in terms of race, class, gender, and identity. At the same time, it also highlights the celebration of the free spirit and independent identity of women, in spite of their mysterious and terrific association with spirits and apparitions. � 2020 IUP. All Rights Reserved.