Abstract

U.R. Ananthamurthy’s novella Samskara and Mahasweta Devi’s short story “Douloti the Bountiful” both employ the image of the diseased body/corpse in their own significant ways to drive home the point that there is much that continues to ail the stagnant Indian society on the journey towards modernity and a more forward-thinking and more inclusive nation state. In Samskara, Ananthamurthy is concerned with the apparent reluctance and even failure of Indian society to rid itself from the shackles of the oppressive caste system and embrace the change/transformation that was sought after in the period leading up to (and directly after) Independence. Mahasweta Devi’s “Douloti the Bountiful” located in the aftermath of Independence during the time when India was emerging as a nation state wherein all subjects ought to have been truly equal, underscores the point that this was in fact far from being the reality. This paper examines the ways in which both works employ the image of the rotting cadaver in their own varied ways to comment on the lack of progress in the Indian culture/society/nation and to call out for the dire need for a more inclusive, egalitarian society.

Keywords: body, nation-state, modernity, progress, independence