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Reconstructing Identities:
Society through Literature
When the two armies—one of the Punjabi Sikhs and the other of the English—fought numerous pitched battles after the fall of Ranjit Singh, these were not mere physical encounters. They left indelible cultural marks on the Punjabi mind. This impact is examined by Harvinder Bhatti in his paper with a rather high sounding title, Mapping the World of Contestation: The Semiotics of Jangnama of Shah Muhammad. In the narrative of Waris Shah’s Heer, Paramjit S. Judge perceives a possibility of transgressing rigid patriarchal attitude of organised religion through the benedictions received from the sources of folk religion—here symbolised by the five Sufi pirs. The question of woman’s identity is picked up by Gurpreet Bal through Peero’s Kafis and Bhai Vir Singh’s novel Sundari. During the time when polygamy, female infanticide and purdah were rampant, Peero did not hesitate to excoriate superficial men of all the three religions—Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus—proving that the world of men could thus be transcended by a woman. Similarly, Sundari overcame the religious distinctions of patriarchal society. Born in a Hindu family, initiated into Sikhism, she became the god-sister of all the men-warriors, tended the kitchen, fought in the battles, and was killed by an enemy Afghan soldier whose wounds she was treating. Satya P. Gautam and Kumool Abbi too scrutinise the woman’s status in Vir Singh’s Baba Naudh Singh and Krishna Sobti’s Zindaginama. Gautam traces the spiritual quest of Jamuna, a Jain widow who becomes through conversions first Miss Dumelee and then Ghulam Fatima. Eventually, she practices Sikh tenets of Kirat Karni, Vand Chakhana, Naam Japna under the guidance of Baba Naudh Singh who is seen as a Sikh icon. Abbi through the reading of three widows—Laxmi Brahmani, Chachi Mehri and Barkati—who elope with their lovers, shows how the rigidities of caste and religion are softened by the determined acts of women. Agrarian relations are also looked into. Parminder’s reading of Bhisham Sahani’s Tamas testifies that communalism is generated by the order of establishment and not by the common masses. Studying society through literature is not a new phenomenon. We do welcome such works which apply the critical principles of this school to the literature of the Punjab. However, the essays generally leave one desiring for more. At certain places, there is a lack of effective links between the text and society and the descriptions of political contexts are drab. Verse translations are unacceptable and the one-page Preface has been jotted in rather a casual manner. Nevertheless, a person who is not conversant with the texts in question would definitely find the summaries and other material absorbing and entertaining. The critics too would come across certain scattered threads for fruitful explorations. Prose translations are excellent though the writers still need to enhance their critical expressive power considerably.
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THERE are important texts
available that give us a peep into the subtle changes in terms of
religion, gender, class and caste that the Punjab’s social life has
undergone. Based on some of these texts belonging to the 18th, 19th and
20th centuries, the present collection of essays by five university
professors and one reader seeks to trace the evidence of the changes and
their interactive roles in the dynamics of Punjabi society.