The Professional Mother: A Feminist Analysis Of The Idea Of Motherhood In Stanadayini By Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi is one of Modern India’s most widely read and canonized women writers. Renowned as a feminist and communist Bengali writer, many of her major works revolve around subjects like a feminist critique of societal status-quo and oppression faced by peasant and tribal communities of India. ‘The Breast-Giver’ (Stanadayini) or ‘Wet-nurse’ is a short story that was written as part of a trilogy called “The Breast Stories” and published in 1980. This story is seen by many as an extremely strong work of the feminist literary canon. The story’s main theme is said to be a conversation between the spiritual significance of woman and her place in the imaginary order. The aim of this paper, would be to look at this text from a feminist perspective, with an emphasis on the theme of motherhood.

The feminist or anti-patriarchal ideas put forth by the text are quite evident in the first read. Motherhood and the ideas related to it like pregnancy, gestation, menstruation, nourishing of the young one etc. are historic tools in the oppression or subjugation of women in all patriarchal settings. The purity and sanctity attributed to the role of mothers in human society is monumental. In one sense, Mahasweta Devi almost redefines the notion of motherhood through this story. She uses motherhood as a metaphor for exploitation of women. The main character of the story is named Jashoda, who has the rare quality of having ‘always full’ breasts, and her life in a society where she is praised for her expertise in regularly weaning wealthy offspring for a span of 25 years, finally losing this ‘usefulness’ and dying from ‘breast cancer’. Devi talks about the life of a wet-nurse, which is a subject rarely discussed in literature. The name Jashoda, is indeed a reference to a character from Hindu mythology, Yashoda, the mother of lord Krishna. In fact, Yashoda is the foster mother of Krishna, as she is not the one who gave birth to the child, but rather Devaki is. She raises Krishna as her own, suckling and pampering him.

Motherhood, for Jashoda, unlike others is a ‘profession’ that she takes up to help her family. The way that Jashoda is forced to take up the mantle of being a wet-nurse for the Haldars and her transformation into a mother by profession is taken up in great detail, bringing in many different nuances to the process. Paulina Palmer says that “Motherhood is not only a core human relationship but a political institution, a keystone to the domination in every sphere of women by men” (95). Jashoda can be seen a victim of the patriarchal ideology and is extremely devoted to her husband. She asks him whether she is not his “devoted wife”, at an occasion and accepts the fact that her husband can sway his mind after bodies of other women, but for her to do so, would be a sin. Here male desire takes on greater significance throughout the story, as Jashoda’s narrative fills in the liminal space on the needs and actions of men; as her body and her fate acts like a site for the rippling aftermath. She is compelled to take up this ‘professional motherhood’ after her Brahmin husband loses both his legs.

“Such is the power of the Indian soil that all women turn into mothers here and all men remain immersed in the spirit of holy childhood. Each man the Holy Child and each woman the Divine Mother”, writes Devi. The role of reproduction, of a woman in a traditional Bengali family, as we see, is objectified, with her husband as the consumer. The wife knows, as a woman she must take on the subordinate role of simultaneously pleasing and producing for her master. One of the wives seem to ask her husband, “I’ll be out of pain when you burn me. Can a year breeder’s health ever mend?”. See how Devi talks about Kangalicharan’s thoughts as he walks back home on a usual day- “He was picturing himself as a farsighted son of man as he thought that marrying a fresh young thing, not working her overmuch, and feeding her well led to pleasure in the afternoon”. Jashoda’s ability to have a ‘prophetic lactation’, is seen as a ‘godly gift’. This is a manifestation of how constructed gender roles become highly engraved in society. The old mistress of the household tells Jashoda, ''The good lord sent you down as the legendary Cow of Fulfillment. Pull the teat and milk flows! The ones I've brought to my house, haven't a quarter of this milk in their nipples!". What this entails for the wives of the Haldar sons’ is constant procreation at the expense of their well-being. Jashoda gets employed in the house as a wet nurse for all the little children there. In producing heirs, husbands of the house wish to preserve their brides’ beauty, and the mistress of the house is more than happy, since that could provide these men with a moral security. This again shows the men of the family getting their needs satisfied, in contrast to their ‘lesser privileged partners’. But for Jashoda to keep nurturing her kids, she needs to give birth. Thus, even copulation, which used to be an act of passion, has turned into a business ordeal now. “At the beginning of the narrative Jashoda was the mother of three sons. Then she became gravid seventeen times”.

Being the mother of many children and suckling many others, the motherhood of Jashoda takes on a mystical shape. She is now the “mother of the world”. But this mother is faced with her death alone, friendless and no one there to take care of her remains. “Jashoda understood that her usefulness had ended not only in the Haldar house but also for Kangali”, and she, a brahmin is laid in the pyre by an untouchable. Even after she has nurtured more than fifty off-springs, she dies an orphan. The nature of Jashoda’s death also holds a certain significance. The fact that her breast, the organ that gave her significance in the world, is affected by cancer is ironic. The portrayal of how Jashoda’s left breast bursts and becomes like the crater of a volcano shows the cause of her well-being and rise to prominence, now causing her end. The importance attributed to the female form and its role in human life is questioned. "If you suckle you're a mother, all lies!”. This breaks down a very sacred belief where the breast-giver is also given the same position as that of the birth-giver. Devi brings forth motherhood, as a burdening reason for exploitation.

The role of the mother, has other political connotations too. As she extends her task to countless children, other than her own, Jashoda becomes ‘Martyr’ — a role that suggests both significance and sub-ordinance, and even worship. In the story, Jashoda is called ‘The Chief Fruitful Woman’, is treated with great respect in society, as a sign of human fascination toward the paradigms of gender roles and social orders. The meaning of ‘motherhood’ becomes corrupted in Stanadayini. A very different form of motherhood is portrayed in the story, where Jashoda conceives and doubts every single person that comes near her, as one of her many children. Devi writes, “Mother meant hair in a huge topknot, blindingly white clothes, a strong personality. The person lying in the hospital is someone else, not Mother” showcasing how a sense of identity is formed and attributed. The questions that this work of fiction by one of Bengali literature’s foremost heralds pose, are many and yet to be interpreted and answered. “Is a Mother so cheaply made? Not just by dropping a babe!”.