The Shadow of Kamakhya

Stories by Indira Goswami

Indira Goswami was a popular writer of Assam. Locally she is known as Mamony Raisom Goswami. She has been writing against many social evils in her life time. Her Novel ‘The Man From Chinnamasta ‘ was an attempt to bring out the public opinion against as the animal sacrifice ritual of Kamakhya temple of Guwahati. She was given with Jnanpith award for literature in the year 2000.

The Shadow of Kamakhya is a collection of stories of Indira Goswami. Her story telling style is very vivid and she tries to bring out every detail of incidences in the minutest form. She analyses the human behavior to a great depth and brings out the ironies in human life. The Journey, The Offspring, The empty chest, Under the Shadow of Kamakhya, The beast, Parasu’s well, Dwarka andhis Gun, To Break a Begging Bowl etc. are some of the stories included in this collection.

The story ‘The journey’ is about one of her return trips from Kaziranga along with her colleague Professor Mirajkar. It revolves around the life of an old couple who are running a small tea shop on the road side, engrossed by the woes of terrorism. Their vehicle gets damaged near the tea shop and they had to spend some time in the tea shop for a while. The son of the old couple has taken to the path of terrorism and the daughter had an affair with an Indian Soldier. The mother is eagerly waiting for her son. The author says about the arrival of the son … “He had come as a cyclone. He disappeared as swiftly like a flash of lightning in a dark still night. While wiping off the blood running out of the wounds of the girl something like a smile hovered on the lips of the old man. I had never seen such a painful smile in my life.” What an observation which can come only from master crafts person.

Another interesting story is “To Break a begging Bowl”. It tells the story of an unsupported women Phuleswari along with her two daughters. As Victor Hugo said “Those who have seen the poverty of man has not seen anything. They should see the poverty of woman”. How poverty can degrade the lives of human beings. Their condition is moving from bad to worse every day. Their land was mortgaged to the zamindar and he has tactfully deceived the elder daughter, who has gone mad. Her second daughter goes to work with a contractor with the hope of making some money re- claim their mortgaged land. But the cunning zamindar refuses to give away their property. They still upholds their desire to live , even when there is nothing cling on, nothing to hope for. Like this so many millions of people are living. For them every day is like any other day, every week is like any other week, as there is nothing much to hope for .Indira Goswami has done a wonderful treatise on human predicament through this amazing story.

The other stories are also beautiful. They will linger in your mind, will trouble your intellect and will stir up your emotions even weeks after, months after reading them.