The Dark Abode
Encyclopedia
The Dark Abode is a collage presentation of south Asia
n feminist novelist Sarojini Sahoo
‘s novel and America
n poet
/ painter
Ed Baker’s 23 sketches, which deal with terrorism
that people often face from micro to macro sphere.
begins with questioning the mere physicality of the man-woman relationship but then transports the reader into the higher planes of platonic love. The central character of the novel is Kuki, a Hindu woman from India who falls (and then rises) in love with a Muslim
artist from Pakistan
. The unusualness of the socio-cultural background of these two characters is delicately portrayed by Sahoo
in a sensitive and convincing manner. Readers become familiar with the two sets of roles that Kuki plays; that of a lover and that of a wife. Sahoo
subtly balances these two roles and at the same time, highlights the superiority of a wife in a pragmatic world. But the novel is not merely a love story. Though love is a part of the novel, it deals with a much broader topic: the providence of a woman in India. At the same time, it also portrays a story of how a perverted man, over time, becomes a perfect man. It also delves into the relationship between the ‘state’ and the ‘individual’ and comes to the conclusion that ‘the state’ represents the moods and wishes of a ruler and hence, ‘the state’ actually becomes a form of ‘an individual.’ Additionally, it takes a broader look at terrorism and state-sponsored anarchism.
It is said in the Saimdarua Lahiri that Uma
is the source of all power in the universe and because of her; Lord Shiva gets all of his powers. She is often depicted as half of Lord Shiva, the supreme god, and she also is a major symbol of female sexuality
. Her name refers to her being born daughter of Himavan (Himalaya), lord of the mountains. Beautiful, gentle, powerful consort of Shiva, mother of Ganesha
, Kartikeya
), Saraswati
and Lakshmi
, she encompasses their powers and exudes a tranquil, serene beauty and provides a calm within. Uma is a symbol of many noble traditional (Hindu
) virtues: fertility, marital felicity, spousal devotion, asceticism and power. She refers to the symbol of early feminine power and energy. Known formally as goddess Uma, Lady of the Mountains, she shows us how to balance the many aspects of our lives. Beautiful and (benignly) powerful, she is also known as Shakti
, Parvati
(consort of Shiva), Ambika, Annapurna, Bhairavi, Candi, Gauri, Durga
, Jagadmata (Mother of the World), Kali
, Kanyakumari, Kumari
, painter
Mahadevi, and Shyama
.
is an Indian feminist and author. She usually writes her short stories and novels in Oriya and her critical essays in English. She has been enlisted among 25 exceptional women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata. . In addition to being a college professor, she is currently an Associate Editor at the English magazine Indian Age. Dr. Sahoo
also has a blog ‘Sense & Sensuality,’ where she discusses her ideas about sexuality
, spiritualism
, literature
, and feminism
. She has published 24 books; four in English and 20 in Oriya. .
in 2005 from Time Pass Publication, Bhubaneswar under the title Gambhiri Ghara and in 2007, it was translated in to Bengali
by Dilwar Hossain and Morshed Shafiul Hossain as Mithya Gerosthali (ISBN No :984 404 287-9 ) and was published from Bangladesh
by Anupam Prakashani , Dhaka . In 2008 it was published in English by Indian Age Communication, Vadodara and was translated by Mahendra Kumar Dash. In 2010, Prameela K.P. translated it in to Malayalam and Chintha Publisher of Thiruvanthapuram published it with a title Irunda Koodaram. In 2011, the Hindi translation of the novel was published under the banner of Rajpal & Sons, Delhi with title Band Kamra ( ISBN :978 81 7028 954 8).
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n feminist novelist Sarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
‘s novel and America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
/ painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Ed Baker’s 23 sketches, which deal with terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
that people often face from micro to macro sphere.
Plot Summary of novel
The novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
begins with questioning the mere physicality of the man-woman relationship but then transports the reader into the higher planes of platonic love. The central character of the novel is Kuki, a Hindu woman from India who falls (and then rises) in love with a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
artist from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. The unusualness of the socio-cultural background of these two characters is delicately portrayed by Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
in a sensitive and convincing manner. Readers become familiar with the two sets of roles that Kuki plays; that of a lover and that of a wife. Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
subtly balances these two roles and at the same time, highlights the superiority of a wife in a pragmatic world. But the novel is not merely a love story. Though love is a part of the novel, it deals with a much broader topic: the providence of a woman in India. At the same time, it also portrays a story of how a perverted man, over time, becomes a perfect man. It also delves into the relationship between the ‘state’ and the ‘individual’ and comes to the conclusion that ‘the state’ represents the moods and wishes of a ruler and hence, ‘the state’ actually becomes a form of ‘an individual.’ Additionally, it takes a broader look at terrorism and state-sponsored anarchism.
About sketches
Baker’s Uma is a collection of sketches of the Hindu goddess, also known for feminine power. The sketches have their genesis as images in a dream, according to Baker. Uma, to him, is symbolic of many things that give us pleasure in life. As to how these images are realized, the artist confesses he is just not sure. “I just watch and wait for something to happen...and something always does,” he says.It is said in the Saimdarua Lahiri that Uma
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
is the source of all power in the universe and because of her; Lord Shiva gets all of his powers. She is often depicted as half of Lord Shiva, the supreme god, and she also is a major symbol of female sexuality
Human female sexuality
Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sex...
. Her name refers to her being born daughter of Himavan (Himalaya), lord of the mountains. Beautiful, gentle, powerful consort of Shiva, mother of Ganesha
Ganesha
Ganesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati , Vinayaka , and Pillaiyar , is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
, Kartikeya
Murugan
Murugan also called Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya, is a popular Hindu deity especially among Tamil Hindus, worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the...
), Saraswati
Saraswati
In Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
and Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, she encompasses their powers and exudes a tranquil, serene beauty and provides a calm within. Uma is a symbol of many noble traditional (Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
) virtues: fertility, marital felicity, spousal devotion, asceticism and power. She refers to the symbol of early feminine power and energy. Known formally as goddess Uma, Lady of the Mountains, she shows us how to balance the many aspects of our lives. Beautiful and (benignly) powerful, she is also known as Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
, Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
(consort of Shiva), Ambika, Annapurna, Bhairavi, Candi, Gauri, Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
, Jagadmata (Mother of the World), Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, Kanyakumari, Kumari
Kumari
Kumari, or Kumari Devi, is the tradition of worshipping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy or devi in Hindu religious traditions. Kumari means young unmarried girl. Kumari word is derived from Sanskrit word Kaumarya meaning "virgin". In Nepali and some Indian...
, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
Mahadevi, and Shyama
Shyama
Shyama was born Khurshid Akhtar in Lahore, British India on June 7, 1935 . She was a Bollywood actress. Her best known roles were in Aar Paar, Barsaat Ki Raat and Tarana....
.
About the author
Sarojini SahooSarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
is an Indian feminist and author. She usually writes her short stories and novels in Oriya and her critical essays in English. She has been enlisted among 25 exceptional women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata. . In addition to being a college professor, she is currently an Associate Editor at the English magazine Indian Age. Dr. Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo
Sarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
also has a blog ‘Sense & Sensuality,’ where she discusses her ideas about sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, and feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. She has published 24 books; four in English and 20 in Oriya. .
About the painter
Ed Baker is active in many mediums of art from drawing to writing to sculpture. He describes himself as self-made and not belonging to any ‘schools’ in the mediums in which he works. Baker essentially began his artistic endeavors in earnest in 1998. The prolific author has published eight books and countless poems published in leading publications in the medium of poetry.Translations
The novel was first published in OriyaOriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
in 2005 from Time Pass Publication, Bhubaneswar under the title Gambhiri Ghara and in 2007, it was translated in to Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
by Dilwar Hossain and Morshed Shafiul Hossain as Mithya Gerosthali (ISBN No :984 404 287-9 ) and was published from Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
by Anupam Prakashani , Dhaka . In 2008 it was published in English by Indian Age Communication, Vadodara and was translated by Mahendra Kumar Dash. In 2010, Prameela K.P. translated it in to Malayalam and Chintha Publisher of Thiruvanthapuram published it with a title Irunda Koodaram. In 2011, the Hindi translation of the novel was published under the banner of Rajpal & Sons, Delhi with title Band Kamra ( ISBN :978 81 7028 954 8).
Primary sources
- Sahoo, Sarojini. The Dark Abode( English),Indian AGE Communication, 2008. ISBN 978-81-906956-2-6
- Sahoo, Sarojini. Gambhiri Ghara,Time Pass Publication, Bhubaneswar, 2005
- Sahoo, Sarojini. Mithya Gerosthali (Bengali), Anupam Prakashani, Dhaka, Bangladesh ,2007. ISBN : 984-404-287-9
- Sahoo, Sarojini. Irunda Koodaram( Malayalam). Chintha Publishers, 2009.
Secondary sources
- —. Vinjan Kairali:Malayalam Journal, September 2008 issue
- —. Shamakal:Bangladeshi News paper, 10 October 2008 issue
- —. Amritlok:Behgali Little Magazine ,January 2009 issue
Online
See also
- Sarojini SahooSarojini SahooSarojini Sahoo is an Orissa Sahitya Academy Award winner Indian feminist writer, a columnist in The New Indian Express and associate editor of Chennai based English magazine Indian AGE, who has been enlisted among 25 Exceptional Women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata.Born in the...
- List of feminists
- List of feminist literature
- Sarojini Sahoo StoriesSarojini Sahoo StoriesSarojini Sahoo Stories is an anthology of stories by Indian feminist writer Sarojini Sahoo, written originally in Oriya. The anthology was published in 2006 by the publisher Grassroots Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, India.- Literary theory:...