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Voices of Resistance: Usha Kiran Khan’s Haseena Manzil and the Reclamation of Women's Agency - Dr. Prachi Priyanka & Ridima

 


VOICES OF RESISTANCE: USHA KIRAN KHAN’S HASEENA MANZIL AND THE RECLAMATION OF WOMEN'S AGENCY

Dr. Prachi Priyanka

Assistant Professor of English

Sharda University

Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

&

Ridima

Postgraduate in English

Delhi University, India 

Abstract:

 

Usha Kiran Khan was an accomplished Indian writer who worked in the Hindi and Maithili languages. This paper explores Usha Kiran Khan’s Haseena Manzil as a compelling narrative of resistance and the reclamation of women’s agency in contemporary South Asian literature. Set against the backdrop of socio-political tensions, the novel chronicles the journey of its protagonist, Haseena, as she navigates the complexities of gender, power, and identity in a patriarchal society. Through a nuanced portrayal of Haseena’s personal and collective struggles, Khan challenges traditional notions of female subjugation, illustrating how women can assert control over their lives and destinies. This paper examines the ways in which Haseena Manzil engages with themes of autonomy, resistance, and self-empowerment, highlighting the intersection of individual agency and broader societal shifts. By situating the novel within the larger context of feminist discourse in South Asia, the paper underscores the significance of Haseena Manzil as a powerful narrative that amplifies women’s voices and calls for the dismantling of oppressive structures.

 

Keywords: South Asian literature,   Maithili literature, Indian literature, Women's agency, Identity and autonomy

 

Dr. Usha Kiran Khan (1945 -2024) an incarnation of Mahadevi Verma and a blessing in the field of Bihar and Indian Literature is known for her novels and stories written in Maithili, rich in cultural and economic references, like Sirjanhar and Haseena Manzil. Usha Kiran Khan mentions how Nagarjun, her guru, enthused her to dive deeper into the beauty of the Maithili language. She is not only keeping the essence of folklore and tales of rural and ancient India through her prominent writings over the ages but has become an inspiration, especially to the little girls living in the smaller regions of Bihar, that each of them regardless of their conditions should dare to dream and defy the limitations set by the society, by herself being a living example. As a significant literary figure in the Maithili language, she has contributed immensely to its preservation and growth.

 

Khan has contributed a number of literary gems to the domains of both Hindi and Maithili literatures, and given us some perceptive and provocative interpretations of historical and cultural interface from a literary point of view as it in her opinion unfolded during the distinct phases of precolonial Mithila. (Jha, Daily Pioneer 2017)

 

Through her works, she has not only promoted Maithili literature but also brought it to the forefront of Indian literature. By writing in Maithili, Kiran has helped preserve the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Maithili-speaking people, particularly in regions of Bihar and Jharkhand. Her literary creations, including stories and novels, resonate deeply with the struggles and aspirations of the Maithili-speaking community, giving voice to their unique experiences. Her works have enriched the language, show-casing its beauty and depth while emphasizing the need to elevate regional languages in the broader cultural discourse. This paper examines Usha Kiran Khan’s novel ‘Haseena Manzil’ where the author challenges the patriarchal structures that have historically marginalized women. In her narrative, Khan shifts the spotlight onto the often-over-looked contributions of women in a society where their voices are frequently suppressed. The novel celebrates the strength, resilience, and agency of its female characters while questioning and disrupting traditional gender roles. Through a critical lens, this paper examines how Haseena Manzil not only portrays women’s lives but also sets a new standard for their roles, encouraging society to acknowledge and respect their contributions. By giving voice to the silenced, Khan crafts a powerful narrative that challenges societal norms and celebrates female empowerment, marking a significant step towards reshaping the discourse on gender equality.

 

As Usha Kiran Khan was an academic historian and writer born in Patna, Bihar and who had been honored with the Padma Shri award in 2015 for her novel Bhamati- Ek avismarniya Prem Katha and for her service in the field of education and literature. The book is a complex portrayal of 10th century Mithila that raises questions on contemporary issues like gender roles and communal intolerance through an exceptionally woven narrative. These characteristic aspects of her creative talent set her apart from all her contemporaries. Her novel Haseena Manzil was shortlisted for Akademi Puraskar several times. The novel has been translated into Hindi, Urdu, English, and Bangla and many other languages. It has been rendered by Doordarshan as a Hindi series under the Indian Classics program that successfully deals with the struggles of Indian Muslims, especially the Lahari community of Bihar known to date for their extraordinary work of lac-Bangles exclusively manufactured in the regions of Bihar and is sold across the country holding cultural values.

 

When the Muslims of the Lahari community chose to leave India after independence and migrate to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), they were driven by a sense of fear and insecurity for their families and futures, caused by the dominance and communal unrest in Bihar. This uncertainty led them to leave their homeland and settle in East Pakistan, only to later realize that they had become people without a place, belonging to nowhere, and eventually regretting their decision. Haseena, the main heroine in the first half of the novel is herself a radiant artist/bangle maker who’s well known for her skills among the ladies of upper-middle-class households and societies in Bengali Tola who buy bangles for themselves from her and praises her for the varieties and quality that Haseena brings to them. Eventually, Haseena gets married to a man who is equally skilful with the expanded business of bangles. Initially, they seem to be leading a fulfilled marriage until Osman, Haseena’s husband decided to leave India for a secure future for him and his impregnated wife after the recent scuffle and disorder in the nearby village due to which there’s a panic among the villagers especially among the Indian-Muslims who are being targeted. They feel agitated and disturbed and believe that moving to East Pakistan will safeguard them as they will be under the protection of their fellow Muslim friends and relatives who will help them establish their businesses. However, this narrative of the story indicates the self-witnessed incidents by Usha Kiran Khan during her childhood that is directed towards the Hindu-Muslim riots that took place in northern states of India after the subcontinent partitioned into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The partition was eventually followed by one of the greatest migrations in history and along with it emerged immense violence among the communities that had coexisted with each other for a millennium.  Haseena, however, doesn’t support this idea of her husband of taking her to Pakistan forever, and argues with him that she is not certain of the things and is anguished about the thought of leaving her homeland. The couple argues about the same and Osman in order to assert his male dominance hits Haseena and calls the whole womankind unworthy of making mindful decisions. He reminds her that he is the one who will be making decisions for Haseena as he is her husband and she’s is obligated to do whatever he asks her, reflecting the pathetic conditions of women in the Indian households and the way they were dehumanized by their husbands. Osman declares that Haseena has to leave with him, Finally, Haseena’s sister talks sense into him and insists that he go to Pakistan alone and settle down leaving his pregnant wife to be taken care of by the family. Osman asks for Haseena’s jewellery so that he can arrange for his departure and accommodations, which again shows not only the sacrifices made but also expected from the women’s side that is left unacknowledged recurrently. Furthermore, Osman leaves with a promising future for Haseena and his child but never returns as he finds that he doesn’t belong to Pakistan either and how he is frowned upon by his own companions on the other side for being an Indian-Muslim and loses all his money and confidence to face his family. On the contrary, Haseena gives birth to a girl and supports herself and her family through her skills of making lac-bangles and raising her child single-handedly. Meanwhile, there are still no signs of Osman and Sakeena, Haseena’s daughter grows up to be a talented, beautiful woman who learns the skills of making Lac-bangles from her mother and is made sure of the fact that the legacy of her family is passed on through her mother well. Now, the fact worth noticing is that Sakeena and her children just like her mother get abandoned by her husband who seemed to flee to Arab just like his father-in-law who fled to Pakistan in order to find riches, Sakeena endures the same fate as her mother portraying a kind of loop into which a woman seemed to be trapped once entered the construction of marriage. Meanwhile, Sakeena raises her children and flourishes in her business and gets renowned for her lac-bangles with the help of an old man who seemed to be lost and declares during a conversation with Sakeena that he is regretting his decisions made in past and now all he wants is to mend them and get reunited with his family, especially with his daughter. The old man teaches Sakeena various techniques of making bangles and acts as a fatherly figure for Sakeena that she never had and Sakeena as his daughter that he has been searching almost half of his life. By the end of the novel, we see Sakeena as self-dependent, confident with the most humble and modest qualities. Moreover, she’s honored with twenty-five thousand cash prize for her artistic skills and manages to open her own shop with the help of her children and the old man. However, Usha Kiran Khan is not handing over the happy ending that her audience was expecting from her, she plays with our emotions and twists our minds, and gives her novel the perfect climax that there could have existed. After Sakeena becomes well established with her lac bangles business, the old man who was one of the most essential pillars of her success, unfortunately, gives in to the eternal rest, stricken with grief on the news of his demise, Sakeena cries her heart out just when the elder members of her family arrive at the situation and recognize the old man. Sakeena was stunned and traumatized by the revelation that the old man was no one else but her long-lost father, Osman, for whom she was looking all her life, and just like that the novel ends, leaving Sakeena with everything she could ever ask for, to make her life contented but on the other hand, with a space in her heart where all the fatherly love that she needed left her along with the departure of Osman.

 

Through her novel, Khan brings our attention to the Lahari community of Bihar and Mithila whose livelihood is based solely on their skills of making lac-bangles. Lac from which the bangles are made comes from the natural resin produced by an insect and then gradually heated over flame till it’s in the shape of the bangle, the traditional craft of making lac bangles have been passed on to the young generation of Mithila/Muzaffarpur/Samastipur and even in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Maharashtra. However, even though the Lahari community represents a major proportion of the culture of Mithila, the conditions of the people inside this profession are way worse than one could imagine. It seems to be the end of the road for the bangle makers due to no representation of the issues these bangle makers face in the election propaganda, the government has just ceased to be concerned about this substantial industry of lac-bangles and no aid is provided anymore as it used to. Schemes that ensured their access to withdraw the loans at lower interest rates at government banks are not implemented or accessorized to them. Furthermore, these bangle makers have to compete with other bangle making industries of states like Rajasthan that are rapidly replacing them due to lower input costs as they buy the raw material from countries like China. Hence in order to survive in the market, the bangle makers of Bihar are compelled to lower their prices, even lower than they put in during the production. Many of the bangle makers living in the state of impoverishment argue that instead of their bangles getting sold in the other states, people from outside with monetary support and more polished bangles due to access to better machinery are expanding their businesses and swapping them permanently. Bangle makers even mention that they were used to be brought opportunities to put their craft as an exhibition in other states of India to make people showcase the pride these bangle makers took in their craft and to make the companies invest in these indigenous businesses at the expense of government and their ancestors were, consequently, able to purchase lands and were living self-sufficiently, that has all ended and now, as a consequence of which these bangle makers are forced to leave this profession and do labor works to sustain their families. Young people rich with skills, due to lack of support are already migrating from the state as they no longer believe that pursuing this profession will do any good to them or their children’s future and have accepted the harsh truth that this tradition will be lost forever someday and bangle makers will continue to dwindle if the things remain the same.

Haseena Manzil offers a nuanced portrayal of the lives of women within a deeply patriarchal society. Khan uses the novel as a platform to elevate the voices of women, particularly the ways in which their strength and contributions have historically been ignored or suppressed. The novel showcases women not as passive or secondary characters but as protagonists whose experiences, struggles, and triumphs form the core of the narrative. In this sense, Khan subverts patriarchal expectations by making these women central figures who shape their destinies, challenging the societal structures that often limit their freedom and expression. A postcolonial feminist reading of Haseena Manzil highlights how women’s experiences are shaped by the lasting impacts of colonialism, both within the family and the broader society.

Through her female characters, Khan critiques the patriarchal norms that confine women to domestic spheres, and instead, she paints them as resilient and multidimensional figures. Haseena and Sakeena discover their way out of the vulnerable situation where they were put in by their hypocritic husbands who once took vows of taking the miseries of life down with each other but now are nowhere to be found. The women of the novel not only just make their living out of nothing but also been able to raise their children without making them bereft of any basic needs of life, be it education or food or clothes. They were brought up well and respected by their mothers on their own hook. Whereas, Sakeena takes the quantum leap and not only looks after her children till the end but also been able to create her own name in the village making her small business thrive, that eventually becomes a well-established and reputable shop which she names ‘Haseena Manzil’ where she sells a ton variety of magnificent Lac-Bangles, by the time novel, reaches the end. This is not only a celebration of women’s agency but also a call for a rethinking of their roles in society. By foregrounding these characters, Khan effectively sets a new standard that encourages the acknowledgment and validation of women’s contributions, which were often rendered invisible in traditional discourses.

In addition to gender, Khan weaves in the social and cultural challenges faced by the Lahari community, a group historically marginalized and defined by specific cultural practices in the region. Post-independence, many of these communities, including the Lahari, faced significant struggles for social recognition, economic stability, and cultural preservation. Khan's depiction of the Lahari community is crucial because it highlights the intersection of cultural identity with gender, showing how marginalized groups are doubly oppressed—both as members of lower social strata and as women within these communities. The struggles of the Lahari community are central to understanding the socio-economic context in which the characters live. Khan’s exploration of their hardships, combined with her focus on gender dynamics, creates a narrative where the women of the community are not just passive victims of circumstance but active agents of change. Through their struggles, the novel sheds light on the complexities of caste, class, and gender, all of which intersect in the experiences of these women.

One of the standout features of Haseena Manzil is how it brings women’s voices to the forefront. During the period when the novel is set, women’s voices, especially from marginalized communities like the Lahari, were often overlooked. Khan challenges this historical silence by providing a platform for these women to speak, assert their identities, and contribute meaningfully to their society. The act of narrating the lives of these women becomes an act of defiance against a system that systematically undermines their agency. In Haseena Manzil, the female characters are given space to express their desires, frustrations, dreams, and aspirations. This act of storytelling in itself serves as an assertion of selfhood. Moreover, the narrative structure ensures that these women are not only celebrated in terms of their emotional or familial roles but also for their intellectual, social, and cultural contributions. Their voices are allowed to be heard, both within the novel and as part of the broader social conversation.

The setting of Haseena Manzil in post-independence India adds another layer of significance to the novel. During this period, India was undergoing a process of nation-building, yet many traditional social structures remained entrenched, particularly in rural regions like Bihar. Khan’s portrayal of the Lahari community’s struggles reflects the broader issues faced by many marginalized groups during this transitional period. The changes brought by independence were not immediate or equitable, and the novel critiques this disparity. Women in this context are often caught between the old world’s conservative traditions and the new world’s evolving notions of progress and rights. Haseena Manzil thus becomes a critique of post-independence societal promises that were often broken or slow to materialize, especially for women and marginalized communities. Through the women’s perspectives, Khan critiques both the physical and ideological shackles that bind them, while also portraying their efforts to assert their rights and create a space for themselves in a rapidly changing world.

Thus, Usha Kiran Khan’s novel Haseena Manzil is a powerful literary work that delves into themes of gender, society, and cultural identity, particularly focusing on the women’s contributions within a patriarchal framework. Set in post-independence India, especially within the context of Bihar, the novel becomes a tool for social critique, challenging the norms and shedding light on the struggles of marginalized communities, specifically the Lahari community. It is not just a novel about individual lives but a larger commentary on the intersection of gender, culture, and social justice. By focusing on the lives of women from the Lahari community, Khan uses the novel to set a new standard—one in which women’s voices and contributions are celebrated and heard. The text serves as both a historical critique and a call for societal reform, pushing against the patriarchal structures that have long dominated. Through its vivid characters and nuanced depiction of post-independence struggles, Haseena Manzil becomes a celebration of resilience, resistance, and the unyielding spirit of women in the face of systemic oppression.

 

References

Daily Pioneer. “Foregrounding Unconditional Love over Knowledge.” The Pioneer, 26 Feb. 2017, www.dailypioneer.com/2017/sunday-edition/foregrounding-unconditional-love-over-knowledge.html. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Usha Kiran Khan, Haseena Manzil. Vani Prakashan 2012.