International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

E-ISSN: 2582-2160   •   Impact Factor: 9.24

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Volume 8 Issue 5
September-October 2026

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The Thistle Still Blooms

Author(s) Ms. Janhavi Mahesh Naik, Dr. Anil Adagale
Country India
Abstract This paper examines whether colonialism contributed to the decline in the social status ofwomen in India by comparing women of the Vedic tradition with the female characters ofR. K. Narayan's fiction. Drawing on figures such as Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra andArundhati, along with representations of feminine divinity in the Saptamatrikas and theLalita Sahasranama, the study outlines an early Vedic ideal in which women took part asscholars, philosophers and intellectual partners. These figures are read against Savitri (TheDark Room), Rosie (The Guide), Bharati (Waiting for the Mahatma) and Grace (TheVendor of Sweets), whose lives are shaped by domestic confinement, marital dominanceand male-centred narratives. Through a postcolonial lens, the paper argues that Victorianideals of modesty and domesticity, reinforced through colonial institutions and dress codes,narrowed the social space available to women, a shift also seen in the historical case ofRakhmabai. By placing ancient and modern representations side by side, a comparison notpreviously undertaken, the study challenges the assumption that women's liberation is
solely a twentieth-century achievement and calls for renewed engagement with ancienttexts in contemporary debates on gender equality.
Keywords Vedic women, colonialism, postcolonial literature, R. K. Narayan, gender, patriarchy, women's status, identity, empowerment
Published In Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On 2026-10-11
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E-ISSN 2582-2160
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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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