KAMALA DAS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL POEM EXPLAINING FEMINISM, EQUAL RIGHTS, FREEDOM AND SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS: 'AN INTRODUCTION'

Abstract

In the post-independence era, women began to challenge their agitation, emotional repression and discriminatory practices. Kamala Das was one of those women writers who protested against society, using the confessional writing style to speak openly about female sexuality. She is known as an iconoclast. Her honest celebration of sexual desire created a stir in society. She was a rebellious and controversial poet in the post-independence era through her autobiographical writings.

Women in pre and post-independence India have been going through various transformations on all fronts such as personal, social and workplace. In a patriarchal society, it was and is the job of a woman to cope with all the transformations. She has to maintain balance and not let her inner sufferings be exposed. Women were subjected to oppression, oppression, injustice, inhuman treatment, the list is long. Words like freedom, independence were not for women. Yet in the pre-independence era, social reform was the main concern rather than women empowerment or gender equality.