Bimala

Bimala is a rare female character in Indian literature because the women in other Indian works are flat characters. Unlike other female characters in Indian literature, there are two sides to Bimala. She is obligated to serve her husband and take care of the household. Yet, she is also willing to overstep these boundaries to speak out for her people. This fact is what makes her a positive representation of women in The Home and the World.

Bimala is a complex female character in this example of Indian literature and there is evidence in the text that proves this idea. Tagore begins the novel with a personal story about Bimala. Bimala’s voice is obviously a strong female voice. Because Bimala is introduced first, she is an important character in the novel. Bimala begins the novel with her discussions about what it is like to be a wife and a homemaker. First, she connects symbolism to traditional household duties.

For example, she immediately discusses the sari, the dress of the Hindu woman and the vermilion mark on the forehead, the mark of Hindu wifehood and the symbol of devotion.(17) She makes it clear that she is destined to be a perfect wife. She tells of her marriage to Nikhil and worships her husband.(19) But at the same time, there is an oddity in this relationship. It gives readers clues that she is more than a housewife. For example, she turns around the traditional husband and wife relationship. She takes the dust off her husband’s feet as a formal offering. (18) This is something that a typical wife in India would not do. Consequently, she is an ideal Hindu woman and devoted housewife but she also takes on male authority and crosses the strict gender boundaries. This is how the novel begins with her personal story about her household duties.

It is clear that Bimala knows she has to play the role of housewife. But other people, especially the men, know that she has to play the role of housewife. The men define her by the way she lives and works within the household. Nikhil’s sister, Senior Rani, actually mocks Bimala when she thinks that Bimala is neglecting her home and her husband for Sandip and the Cause. When Sandip , the swadeshi preacher, enters the picture, and calls her the Queen Bee of the hive (50).Bimala fulfills her duty by attending on Nikhil, her husband, and on Sandip, the guest.(32). Bimala’s service to Sandip turns into something larger. Bimala always knew that Nikhil, her husband needed her. But when she talks to Sandip, she realizes that her country also needs her.(50) Bimala comes to the point where she has to decide whether she wants to contribute her wifely duty and motherly instinct to the self-help movement.

At this point, Bimala knows that she overstepping the gender boundaries. Yet, when Sandip enters the picture, she realizes that she is something more than a housewife.

Sandip helps her realize that she is also an intelligent woman. Bimala is quite educated. She was not educated like her husband, Nihil. She did not go to college and receive an M.A. degree. But, because of her husband, she was educated. Of course, she is educated in the home. It seems like the men belong to the world and the women belong to the home. Bimala’s husband

brought Miss Gilby to teach her and to be her companion(19). Like other man of upper castes or classes, it was Nihil’s obligation to educate his wife. This particular obligation can almost be compared to training a dog or programming a computer. A dog is intelligent but not as intelligent as it’s owner. A computer can be programmed with information but it will never have all of the information that the programmer does. Like most other women, Bimala wants something more. Unlike most other women, Bimala chooses to do something about this desire of hers.

Nihil was the center of her attention until Sandip came along. Nihil is gentle and fair and interested in politics. Sandip is aggressive and forceful and he wants to change the country. In the beginning, Bimala is connected to Nikhil, as his wife. As the novel goes on, she is connected to Sandip ,as his follower. The novel slowly shifts topics; the home to the world. Bimala also makes the shift from the home to the world. In the beginning, Bimala has true devotion for her husband. She tries to worship him. Her husband claimed that, “the man and wife are equal in love because of their equal claim to each other,”(20).Bimala first thinks that woman’s only salvation is to surrender her pride in devotion(21). But her desire for Sandip and for her country becomes greater than her devotion to her husband.

Soon, Sandip replaces Nihil .She develops an incredible passion for Sandip Babu. She realizes that Nihil is not the only person that needs her. Sandip Babu needs her to help him with his preaching in the self-help movement and to free India. She wants to work with Sandip and use her common sense and womanhood to help him with his Cause for India.(51).Her husband was not involved in her counsels with Sandip. She realizes that ,by helping Sandip, she is overstepping the line from the home to the world. She says,”When, like the river, we women keep to our banks, we give nourishment with all that we have: when we overflow them we destroy with all that we are(51). Bimala knows that she is heading in the direction of the world but she does not stop herself from doing so. This is how we know that she is more than an Indian woman and more than a housewife. This is how Bimala gets complex in character.

Bimala gets interesting when she neglects her household duties for her desire for Sandip and her country. Bimala sacrificed herself in order to fulfill her household duties. But Bimala ends up sacrificing almost everything for Sandip and for her country. She soon becomes a person she is not sure she wants to be. For example, Bimala tells us that she used to accuse Senior Rani, Nihil’s sister, of stealing money from her husband.(143). This is where she chooses Sandip and her country over her husband, Nihil. He convinces her that she needs five thousand rupees for the Cause. She ends up stealing her husband’s reverence-offering of six-thousand rupees.(143).This action brings her closer to Sandip and the cause and tears her farther apart from Nikhil, her husband. She is so ashamed that she cannot sit before him and she cannot be away from him.(150).Because she steals the money, she has to lie to her husband about it and keep him from finding out that the money is gone out of his safe.

She gets herself into further trouble when she ignores her motherly instincts and sends a young boy to Calcutta to sell her jewels.(167) This when it is realized that she has chosen Sandip over Nihil and has sacrificed her identity as a housewife. Bimala realizes she destroys he value as a houeswife when she steals the money from her husband. But the jewels that she sells are a symbol of being a wife and keeping the household. Her plans soon go bad.

Sandip turns into a manipulative and power-hungry man who accomplishes little with the Cause. She has to confess to her husband that she stole the money when Amulya is caught returning the money. And Amulya, who was like a son to her, is shot and killed by a police officer. In the end, she accomplishes nothing. She hurts her relationship with Nihil and her sacrifices to her country seem to change the country little. But she does find out who she is and who she isn’t as an Indian woman. She says, “Can I not go back to the beginning? Then ,indeed, I would follow the path of the simple.(198). She learns that Sandip is not who he seemed to be. She becomes a stronger person because of all that she went through.

The textual evidence in The Home and the World supports the idea of Bimala as a complex female character. Tagore creates a complex female character through her interactions in the home and in politics. She plays two different roles; the housewife and an active member of the self-help movement. Bimala is complex and makes her own choices. Though some of her choices are limited as an Indian woman, she still chose her own life path. Bimala’s complex character gives Indian women a voice and points out the Indian women can be represented in a positive way. Tagore helps readers realize that not all Indian women are merely extensions of their hubands. Like Bimala, this novel is multi-layered and well-rounded and it reflects what Indian women go through in both the home and the world.