A Study of Women in Disability in the Select Works of Rabindranath Tagore and Manik Bandopadhyay

Abstract

Colin Barnes and G. Mercer define disability as the consequence of a societal structure that inadequately accommodates individuals with physical impairments, resulting in their exclusion from mainstream social engagement due to limitations or barriers in activities. The formation of disability studies in the present-day society is mainly built up with reference to the active campaigns and social changes. Perspectives on disability undergo transformation through considerations of structure, genre, and narrative form. These transformations challenge established theoretical paradigms in literary criticism, offering a fresh and provocative approach to analyzing diverse literary works. Literary portrayals of disability spark discussions on contemporary issues, presenting opportunities for nuanced examination while also prompting a reimagining and rewriting of literary and cultural histories. In this study, the focus centers on women with disabilities, explored through an analysis of select short stories authored by Rabindranath Tagore and Manik Bandopadhyay. Both the litterateurs have contributed volumes of writing and short story is both of their comfort zones among the other genres. It is significant to note that disability as a distinctive branch of studies developed later (in the1990s) but the two writers mentioned above have depicted various characters with their “challenges”— physical and mental. The paper attempts to look at women’s disability to analyze the outlook of the society towards such identities from a historical perspective and what particular role they play towards society. The following short stories have been selected for the present study; “Subha” (1893) and “Drishtidaan” (1898) by Rabindranath Tagore, and “Peranta” and “Gayen” (1948) by Manik Bandopadhyay.