Women portrayed as important figures in the face of revolutions in Sunil Gangppadhyay's novel "Those Days"

Abstract

The 19th century Bengal was a saga of English colonialists dominating Bengal. It was also the time of Bengal Renaissance which was heralded by eminent social reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy, Dwarakanath Tagore, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and many more. While the movement ran with the active cooperation of Hindus but few Muslims like Kazi Nazrul Islam and Sake Dean Mohamed wrote verses to spread awareness. They were all united in their concept of promoting rational thoughts and rebelling against the conservativeness of the parochial society. It was the age of transgression as Hindu elites realised the importance of Western education which puts them at par with the colonialists. Renaissance in Bengal was centered around Calcutta and gained the attention of likeminded people who wanted to bring in changes. With social reformations and abolishment of Sati and polygamy, came acts allowing widows to remarry and have claims upon their husband’s property. My paper deals with the response of the female characters to these social reformations that were occurring in the early 19th century Bengal in ‘Those Days’ which is the translated version of Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel ‘Shei shomoe’.