Religious Impact on Female characters in the Fiction of Nayantara Sahgal

Abstract

In this present society a woman is expected to be passive and to accept the complicated role of males in her life. Women are supposed to be respected and kept comfortable in specific settings. In some areas, women are expected to do all of her home responsibilities. This is due to the Hindu law which puts women in such a place. Sahgal explores the impact of religion on her characters. She is for women emancipation from the religious dogma that tries to suppress women. The novel's female characters behave in ways that defy conventional wisdom. Sahgal criticizes Hinduism for its push to make women slaves. She was against old Hindu practices that reduced women to servitude. This is why she is antagonistic toward Gandhi and Tagore. However, she is more in tune with Swami Vivekananda's concern for women's economic freedom and self-sufficiency. Women are shown in Sahgal's book through the prism of both the ancient and contemporary understandings of Hinduism.