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PUBLISHED DATE: - 05-06-2024
DOI: -
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajssei/Volume06Issue06-02
PAGE NO.: - 9-14
ANALYSIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN SRI
AUROBINDO’S DRAMAS FOCUSING ON
FEMINISM AND FEMININITY THEMES
Hameed Abdulameer Hameed Alkhafaji
English Language Department, Altoosi University, Iraq
Email id: - hameedh@altoosi.edu.iq
INTRODUCTION
From ideas of consciousness and spirituality to
social systems and personal identity, Sri
Aurobindo covers it all in his writings. The complex
depiction of female characters and their challenges
in his plays demonstrates that feminism and
femininity are essential topics in his work. By
reviewing the relevant literature, we want to
understand better the philosophical foundations
and socio-cultural ramifications of Sri Aurobindo's
theatrical works' depictions of femininity and
feminism.
The fundamental work of S. K. Ramachandra Rao,
"Sri Aurobindo and the Feminine Principle in
Drama" (1986), analyzes the feminine principle
and how Sri Aurobindo used it in his plays,
highlighting the importance of this concept to
Aurobindo's philosophical position. According to
Rao, Sri Aurobindo gives women agency and
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Abstract
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spiritual significance in his feminine characters
beyond simple gender stereotypes. In her research
of Sri Aurobindo's work, Rao reveals how the
author delves into the complex nature of
femininity, questioning accepted ideas and calling
for a broader perspective on women's place in
society.
Anita Anand's 2005 article "Feminism and
Consciousness in Sri Aurobindo's Plays" explores
how Sri Aurobindo's depiction of women in his
plays reveals their revolutionary power. Anand
contends,
using
feminist
theory
and
Aurobindonian philosophy, that Sri Aurobindo's
plays allow us to see the women's growing
awareness and fight for emancipation. By
dissecting seminal plays like "Urvashi" and
"Vasavadatta," Anand explains how Sri Aurobindo
challenges patriarchal conventions and gives
women power again.
Per Priya K. Nair's 2012 article "Reimagining
Femininity: Sri Aurobindo's Dramatic Vision":
By delving into topics like embodiment, desire, and
change, Nair's study thoroughly examines how Sri
Aurobindo portrayed gender in his plays.
According to Nair, Sri Aurobindo's portrayal of
womanhood embraces flexibility and dynamism
rather than rigid binary classifications. By looking
at Sita and Savitri, Nair shows how Sri Aurobindo
challenges traditional narratives and pushes the
limits of feminine identity by reimagining
femininity as a powerful force for social and
spiritual transformation.
When the first generation of feminists sought to
improve women's access to education, safe
working conditions, and the franchise in the
nineteenth century, the feminist movement gained
momentum. From the 1960s through the 1980s, a
second wave of the movement sought to address
gender inequality, cultural differences, and legal
inequities. It was in 1991 that American Feminist
writer Rebecca Walker published her piece
"Becoming the Third Wave," which sparked the
third wave of feminism. 'The Violence Against
Women Act' in the United States and 'Gender
Equity in Education Act' in 1994 were the primary
targets of the campaign. In 2012, a new generation
of feminists emerged, calling for an end to sexual
harassment and other forms of violence against
women and demanding justice for all women. The
subsequent proliferation of similar initiatives
suggests a long way to go until the fair sex achieves
justice and equality. A housewife, author, and
feminist, Betty Friedan's 1963 book, The Feminine
Mystique, was a seminal work that sparked the
Women's Rights movement of the '60s. This book
embodies Friedan's assertion that she could
diagnose the enduring unease felt by women
throughout her lifetime. The primary source of
their concern, she realized, is the discord between
societal expectations of women as homemakers
and mothers and their own needs, want, and
potential. According to Friedan, middle-class
women were educationally dissatisfied with the
societally imposed roles of mother and housewife.
In the first chapter of the book, she wrote:
"The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years
in the minds of American women. It was a strange
stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that
women suffered in the middle of the twentieth
century in the United States. Each suburban wife
struggled with it alone. As she made the beds,
shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material,
ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children,
chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside
her husband at night
–
she was afraid to ask even
of herself the silent question
–
“Is this all?"
In primitive communities, there was no social
hierarchy, and women had the same rights as
males. Disparities in social standing between the
sexes emerged throughout time due to
industrialization and the division of labor. Women
were expected to stay home and take care of
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newborns and other household duties, while men
were sent to fight for their country and defend
women and their area. Men and women alike have
long taken pleasure in referring to women as the
"weaker sex," a label that persists to this day.
However, women in ancient India were highly
esteemed and played an essential role in society's
progress. During this time, they never let their
intellectual and spiritual interests die. The early
Vedic culture in India held women in the highest
regard despite their patriarchal nature. Their
involvement and impact on Samitis political
councils were recognized. Gurukuls were their
educational institutions. Upala, Ghosha, and
Lopamudra were among the learned ladies who
wrote songs from the Rig Veda. The increased
frequency of wars and fights, however, altered this
situation. The conquest of new lands and the
expansion of existing ones became paramount. As
a result, males started looking out for women.
Consequently, women were seen as objects to be
safeguarded and converted. And so the tale of
women's enslavement started. Their social
standing was so low that they had no choice but to
accept it. Their individuality was watered down. It
would seem that Draupadi's query from the
Mahabharata epic, "Is woman a thing or a being?"
continues to reverberate to this day. And the
modern feminist wants an explanation.
Despite feminism's original intent to advance
women's rights based on gender equality, modern
feminist ideology increasingly seeks to exclude
males and discredit their ideas and actions. The
historical record shows that males established
patriarchal societies in which they controlled and
shaped all social standards, so it's easy to see why
women would act this way. Along the path to
achieving gender parity, women have become
more resolute. They have been discussing the
matter in several forums. Such topics, such as
women's oppression and the fight for self-
determination within patriarchal systems, are
abundant in literature.
Feminist
authors
nowadays
color
their
protagonists with the image of the contemporary
woman. The characters' feminist conscience
prevents them from conforming to societal
standards that favor men. Men are the party and
the judge; thus, it seems to reason that this is the
case. On top of that, the regulations imposed on
women prevented them from living apart from
their husbands, children, and the house. To satisfy
societal expectations and their desires, they had to
put their education, careers, and passions on the
back burner. Novelists from India who identify as
female have broken away from stereotypical
depictions of women in favor of strong,
independent female protagonists who defy the
patriarchal society's expectations of them. Female
protagonists in the works of feminist authors such
as Anita Desai, Anita Nair, Shashi Deshpande, and
Bharati Mukherjee are often shown as being
oppressed by men. The feminist consciousness
refuses to give in to male dominance. Still, it always
ends in tragedy either by their suicide or the
suicide of their husbands, who are so egotistical
and insensitive to their wives' wants and needs
that they even hurt themselves. Feminist fiction's
contemporary heroines have such remarkable
strength and self-assurance in their feminist
awareness that they defiantly resist male
supremacy and fight for familial autonomy inside
patriarchal structures. Unfortunately, they can't
make their spouses or the situation any better.
Sri Aurobindoin, at his time, had a distinct take on
the feminine ideal, whereas feminists have been
demanding men's rights and attempting to
establish their supremacy. In Sri Aurobindo's view,
a woman is more than just a physical object. She
personifies singular awareness. Sri Aurobindo
maintains that a woman's physical form is
secondary to her value as a source of aesthetic
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pleasure for men. The mental bond between a man
and a woman is more important than any physical
intimacy. Sri Aurobindo's view of femininity is that
a woman is a man's elan vital in her role as a wife.
She gives her spouse new life and energy. She
bestows on him love, happiness, and prosperity.
Her affection, tenderness, reassuring touch, and
uplifting words save him from despair, anger, and
isolation. A woman may transform a man's heart
by listening to his joys and sorrows.
The heroine in Sri Aurobindo's 1959 play The
Viziers of Bassora is a force for good in man's life.
Slave girl Anice-Aljalice, our heroine, alters her
husband's life and destiny dramatically.
Notwithstanding the patriarchal framework, the
depiction of the slave girl is not one of pity. Instead
of depicting her as an elderly enslaved person for
some unnamed king, she is shown as a
contemporary lady who is sure she may construct
her destiny with the youthful hero Nureddene. Our
hero is a carefree wanderer who woos the Bassora
ladies. Anice offers him a taste of real love via her
genuine affection. The love of Anice gives him the
strength to face life's challenges. With her wits and
charisma, Anice convinced the Caliph of Bagdad to
punish her husband Nureddene when his life was
in jeopardy owing to a political plot in Bassora.
Besides rescuing Nureddene's life, the Caliph also
crowns him king of Bassora.
Dramatic romances like Vasavadutta (1957) and
Eric (1960) include women who must choose
between following their hearts and doing right by
their families and nations. Vasavadutta is proud
and egotistical, whereas Aslaug, the heroine in Eric,
is spiteful. But when they fall in love, they both
become better people. The men in their lives were
likewise changed by their love. The kingdom of
Avunthie, Chunda Mahasegn, is compelled to use
his daughter Vasavadutta to win over the heart of
the king of Cowsambie, Vuthsa Udayan, to seize
Cowsambie in the drama Vasavadutta due to the
animosity between the two royal families.
Vasavadutta, on the other hand, becomes fond of
Vuthsa and eventually falls head over heels for him.
Similarly, Aslaug Eric's heroine came to Norway to
plot the assassination of King Eric to surrender the
kingdom and give it to her brother, who happened
to be legally entitled to it. However, when she
cannot hide her feelings for Eric, she realizes she is
losing the struggle. Vasavadutta and Aslaug's
feminine awareness motivates them to stop doing
bad things. "Love unseats the intellect,"
Vasavadutta realizes when she listens to her
mother's advice and pursues her passions rather
than her father's request that she listen to her
reason. With her marriage to Vuthsa, she ends the
long-lived animosity between the two royal
families. Even Aslaug's heart is freed from a deep-
seated hatred against Eric by the transformative
force of love. Eric learns from her love that love is
stronger than any weapon a warrior could ever
wield. Eric feels forgiveness washes over him due
to Aslaug's love. Despite being the conspirator, he
pardons her brother Swegn.
Andromeda, the protagonist of Perseus the
Deliverer (1942), becomes the savior of troubled
men whose tragic plights touch her deeply. There
is no connection between her life and their victims.
The heroine transforms into a formidable force in
the struggle against society's evil forces due to her
caring, concern, and empathy for the suffering of
humanity. A woman's love for her spouse is the
driving force behind her feminine strength, which
is immense.
Sri Aurobindo has shown strong, independent
women who, during a patriarchal culture, dared to
change not only men but society. Sri Aurobindo
portrays the elevated image of women within the
patriarchal system through the stories of slave girl
Anice-Alajalice, Princess Andromeda, Vasavadutta,
and Aslaug, whose actions range from choosing
Nureddene as her husband over the old King and
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transforming his rakish character to daring to fight
the sea monster alone to rescue her fellow beings,
despite their lack of relation to her life. Since his
heroines are shown as having a distinct
consciousness that is the source of love, kindness,
compassion, and forgiveness and since this
awareness is not contingent upon any rule that
needs to be proven they never demand equal rights
with males in his plays. This awareness transforms
them into a symbol of immense feminine strength.
CONCLUSION
The dramatic works of Sri Aurobindo offer a fertile
ground for investigating questions of awareness,
especially as they pertain to femininity and
feminism. He shows a deep interest in the
intellectual and spiritual aspects of human life in
his works, which frequently explore the intricate
relationship between personal awareness and
larger social constructions.
A feminist analysis of Sri Aurobindo's plays reveals
complex female characters that are strong, wise,
and resilient. These female protagonists frequently
stand up to patriarchal society by refusing to
conform to stereotypical gender norms. As an
example, Aurobindo's progressive views on
women's roles in society are reflected in plays like
"Perseus the Deliverer" and "Vasavadutta," where
the female protagonists are depicted as active
agents of change rather than passive figures.
Femininity in Aurobindo's writings is complex and
interdependent on the protagonists' personal
growth as spiritual beings. An integral part of
human awareness, the depiction of femininity
delves
deeper
than
superficial
societal
constructions to investigate the divine feminine. A
more inclusive and expansive conception of
femininity is hinted at by characters that
exemplifytraits like empathy, gut feelings, and
resilience.
By taking an experiential rather than a didactic
stance on these topics, Aurobindo encourages
viewers and readers to consider their own
awareness in light of gender relations. He calls for
a more spiritually conscious and egalitarian
society in his plays, which challenge established
power structures.
Finally, by exploring feminism and gender in her
plays, Sri Aurobindo provides an enthralling
examination of awareness. The works of
Aurobindo greatly enrich conversations on gender
equality and the development of human
understanding because they feature powerful,
spiritually attuned female characters who question
traditional gender standards. These plays do more
than just amuse; they make you think about things
like power, identity, and the possibility of societal
transformation.
REFERENCES
1.
Rao, S. K. Ramachandra. "Sri Aurobindo and
the Feminine Principle in Drama." Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1986.
2.
Anand, Anita. "Feminism and Consciousness in
Sri Aurobindo's Plays." New Delhi: Prestige
Books, 2005.
3.
Nair, Priya K. "Reimagining Femininity: Sri
Aurobindo's Dramatic Vision." Pondicherry:
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, 2012.
4.
Aurobindo, Sri collected plays and stories.
Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo Ashram 1971.
5.
Bowden, Peta. "Oppression." Understanding
Feminism. Acumen, 2009. 13-44.
6.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique, W. W.
Norton & Company.
7.
Kulkarni, S.S. The Plays of Sri Aurobindo: A
Study. Panaji: Prabhakar Bhinde, 1990. Print.
8.
Walker, Rebecca: "Becoming the Third Wave",
1992.
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