Summary of prathikara devatha by lalithambika
Answers
Answered by
10
She was an antharjanam, meant to live pure and tame. But she was a lover of pleasure and she threw open her doors to all men
This is a real story from 1905, of Kuriyedathu Thatri, a Brahmin woman who, instead of staying in purdah and worshipping her gods, became a prostitute. Why she did what she did has always been a great mystery in Kerala. Archives in Kochi tell her story. During her trial for prostitution, she began to recite the names of all her famous clients. Great men fell. The king had to stop the trial. The Thatri case became a turning point in the history of women’s reforms. The novel Pratikara Devata based on her life was written by Lalithambika Antharjanam.
***
She was called Savitri, named after a heroine so devoted to her man that death itself surrendered all claims to his soul. But heroines reign in the epics. This was a mortal who shook the imperfect world of men. Her tale began like countless others, ordinary and plain — it was the end that stirred tremors of fear, provoking waves of change. For this Savitri was not pure, and she was certainly not chaste. It’s as a pratikara devata that she is invoked: the goddess of fury and revenge.
Savitri of the epics birthed an ideal; Savitri, the woman, sought justice in vengeance. The first conquered Yama to resurrect her husband; the second scorned him, her memory shattering death with contempt.
Always pure and tame
Savitri was the daughter of a NamboodiriBrahmin in Kerala. Thatri, they called her, not out of love — for she was born when the stars spelled doom — but for reasons of convenience. It was in the late 19th century that she appeared, her life charted already in a gilded cage of tradition.
Namboodiri men were always to be pure; Namboodiri women, pure and tame. They could not move freely, for the gaze of strangers would corrupt them. They could not eat before their men had dined, but cooking was their ordained duty. They could wear no ornaments of gold, only brass bangles for the Namboodiri bride. To wear a shirt was sacrilege, and to fasten a blouse unheard.
When the young flouted norms, the old quaked in horror; the smallest change sparked fears that revolution had come, the end was near.
Savitri was an antharjanam. Creatures like her spent their lives in the darkness of ritual, in great houses where splendour marked everything that was not female. “Most antharjanams,” one like her said in 1937, “observe (purdah). They have eyes but are prohibited from seeing anything pleasant. They have legs but their movement is circumscribed. Their state is quite like that of household utensils… the antharjanam is a jailed creature… constantly watched; they are not permitted to breathe fresh air, to see the world.”
This is a real story from 1905, of Kuriyedathu Thatri, a Brahmin woman who, instead of staying in purdah and worshipping her gods, became a prostitute. Why she did what she did has always been a great mystery in Kerala. Archives in Kochi tell her story. During her trial for prostitution, she began to recite the names of all her famous clients. Great men fell. The king had to stop the trial. The Thatri case became a turning point in the history of women’s reforms. The novel Pratikara Devata based on her life was written by Lalithambika Antharjanam.
***
She was called Savitri, named after a heroine so devoted to her man that death itself surrendered all claims to his soul. But heroines reign in the epics. This was a mortal who shook the imperfect world of men. Her tale began like countless others, ordinary and plain — it was the end that stirred tremors of fear, provoking waves of change. For this Savitri was not pure, and she was certainly not chaste. It’s as a pratikara devata that she is invoked: the goddess of fury and revenge.
Savitri of the epics birthed an ideal; Savitri, the woman, sought justice in vengeance. The first conquered Yama to resurrect her husband; the second scorned him, her memory shattering death with contempt.
Always pure and tame
Savitri was the daughter of a NamboodiriBrahmin in Kerala. Thatri, they called her, not out of love — for she was born when the stars spelled doom — but for reasons of convenience. It was in the late 19th century that she appeared, her life charted already in a gilded cage of tradition.
Namboodiri men were always to be pure; Namboodiri women, pure and tame. They could not move freely, for the gaze of strangers would corrupt them. They could not eat before their men had dined, but cooking was their ordained duty. They could wear no ornaments of gold, only brass bangles for the Namboodiri bride. To wear a shirt was sacrilege, and to fasten a blouse unheard.
When the young flouted norms, the old quaked in horror; the smallest change sparked fears that revolution had come, the end was near.
Savitri was an antharjanam. Creatures like her spent their lives in the darkness of ritual, in great houses where splendour marked everything that was not female. “Most antharjanams,” one like her said in 1937, “observe (purdah). They have eyes but are prohibited from seeing anything pleasant. They have legs but their movement is circumscribed. Their state is quite like that of household utensils… the antharjanam is a jailed creature… constantly watched; they are not permitted to breathe fresh air, to see the world.”
Answered by
7
Pranthika devath by lalithambika centres on a Brahim woman, who instead of worshipping God's in purdah throw herself out to get pleasure and as so she make her door open for all men. She made alot of customer which includes a famous men.
Similar questions