Kamala Markandaya : A True Indian Voice of Feminism

Abstract

In India, men have always held the reins of power. Females have always relied on males to provide for their basic needs and gain social status. Historically, women's identities have been derived from a husband or a father. Before, their activities were limited to those within the home. In pre-Independent India, they showed especially little interest in education. Despite the odds, some managed to carve out their own identities. They established themselves in all walks of life, from politics to teaching to literary works. This chapter focuses on the authors' struggles to find their place as women in the English novel genre, a subject that has traditionally been dominated by men. Among post-indepedence female Indian writers in English one cannot afford to ignore the contributions of kamala Markandaya and her sincere effort to depict a realistic picture of women exploitation in family and society in a patriarchal world. Kamala Markandaya aims for a sociologically realistic texture in her writing, and through it we can see how the place of women in Indian culture has evolved over time.