Narration of Diverse Marginalization and
Cultural life in the Theoretical Context of the Literary Text, The Miniaturists of the Creative Writer
Kunal Basu
Dhananjoy
Garai
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
Kulti College
Kazi Nazrul University
Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal, India
Abstract: Kunal Basu is a versatile creative writer. He
is writing still now. He presents the unpresented and the unrecorded
marginalized people. Antoni Gramsci, the Italian Marxist critic has used the
term subaltern in his Prison Notebook. By subaltern, he refers the unorganized
peasantry class. Later on, Gayatri Chakrabarty Spivak, the Nobel winner of 2025
has elaborated the term subaltern in her famous essay Can Subaltern Speak?
Kunal Basu is writing on these subaltern classes in his literary writings.
Kunal Basu is also writing on the cultural life of the global people. His
literary canvas captures the cultural lifestyle of the people. Culture refers
the faith, believes, customs, language, dress code, festivals and rituals
shared in a community or a nation. This text The Miniaturist describes the
marginalized Bihzad, the excluded bird women, the oppressed Harem women and the
suppressed eunuchs such as Hiral Khan. This text also vividly depicts the
medieval Muslim culture, Harem culture and the culture of art and artisans
under the reign of King Akbar.
Keywords: Versatile, Subaltern, Cultural, Excluded,
Marginalized, Global, Community, Nation, Medieval, Art, Reign
Introduction:
Kunal Basu is a postmodern creative writer. He writes on the unsaid
history and the unrecorded marginalized people. The terms Margin and subaltern
are used to refer the diverse unorganized oppressed groups. Antoni Gramsci, the
Italian Marxist critic has applied the term subaltern for the first time in his
Prison Notebook. By subaltern, he
refers the unorganized oppressed groups, generally the peasantry class. These
farmers are politically unconscious and not aware of their rights. Gayatri
Chakrabarty Spivak who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Humanities has
elaborated this subaltern term in easy language in her popular essay – Can Subaltern Speak? Kunal Basu has
presented these subaltern figures in his text The Miniaturist. Basu has also described the culture of the people
of the globe. Culture refers the common faith, common believes, similar
customs, same language, dress code, festivals, religious doctrine and rituals
shared in a community or a nation. Culture refers to the healthy practices of
the community. Culture transfers from one generation to the next via habits,
learning. Educational institutions, religious organizations play an important
role to spread culture. In these aspects, Suchibrata Sen defines
culture:
“After
political, economic and social history the historians have, in recent years,
become increasingly interested in culture history. The culture, according to
the anthropologists, is a capacity to conceptualize the world and to
communicate those conceptions symbolically.” [P - 9, Popular Culture: its Meaning and reflection]
Kunal Basu has written on this cultural life in his famous text The Miniaturist.
Discussion
In The Miniaturist, Kunal Basu
has foregrounded the unsaid historical facts of the Mughal Empire. Basu narrates the story of an imaginary
artist of King Akbar’s reign. This artist, Bihzad belongs to sexual minority
class for his homosexuality and is a marginalized figure. He was a famous painter and great artist in
the court of King Akbar in Agra. He drew the homosexual picture of his own with
King Akbar. This homosexuality was not permitted in the patriarchal society and
the religious doctrine. Hence, he was banished from the state of King Akbar for
his homosexual desire. The homosexuals are not considered as normal. They are minority
section. They are considered as abnormal by the mainstream majority of the
population. The patriarchal rules allow only the heterosexuals. Homosexuals are
treated as deviants from the natural life. T. S. Sathyanarayana Rao and et al
assert on homosexuality:
“It is unlikely that a unique set of
characteristics or a single pathway will explain all adult homosexuality.
bisexuality and trans-sexuality to encompass all related issues, while current
social usage argues for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), which
focuses on identities.” [P - 1, Homosexuality and India]
He became a wanderer and had arrived in the kingdom of Hazari. He was
welcome by the King. He started to dream
his new position as an artist:
“A
secret dream filled him. Perhaps one day Hazari's kitabkhana would rival
Sikri's, perhaps the afghan would send spies over to steal the Haji's coveted
albums. Perhaps the emperor of Hindustan would come to hear of him, and invade
Hazari to capture her artist. Lying awake on his bed, Bihzad imagined himself
entering the gates of Sikri, not on a mule cart but on an imperial elephant.”
[P –178, The Miniaturist]
Bihzad was oppressed by the
rules of the contemporary patriarchal society. Basu has projected another
unrecorded historical picture of Mughal Harem. Harem generally refers the
inhabitants of the females. In Mughal history, harem plays important roles in
the affairs of the state. King Akbar had a harem of 5000 inhabitants. Harem women were confined within the harem
campus and they were oppressed section of the society. The harem females were
guarded by the castrated eunuchs. Sharmita Ray states on the
institutionalized Harem of King Akbar:
“By Akbar’s reign, the harem had become a
much more expanded domain with a great deal of internal politics of
diversification. With the numbers of ladies residing in the harem being
suggested to be close to five thousand in Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari, the number
of people managing the administration of the harem also increased in number and
complexity. Women and eunuchs were appointed in specialised positions with
designated responsibilities. Some of these posts included the darogas
(matrons), mahaldars (chief lady officer), mushrifs (superintendents),
tahildars (accountants) and begis (women guards) among others.” [P – 93, The Multifaceted Women of the Mughal Harem: A
Historiographical Essay ]
Harem Women of King Akbar were not connected
to the outside world. They were excluded class. They were marginalized section
of the society. Only Zuleikha was allowed from the outside world into the harem
for her cosmetic and perfume business. King Akbar had no child in his early age
and hence the female of the harem was interested to please the King Akbar with
a baby. There was a continuous competition among the females of the harem of
King Akbar to be his favorite wife.
Enakshi Banerjee has quoted in her research article entitled Novel as History:
A New Historical Reading of the Mughal harem in Kunal Basu’s The Miniaturist on
the marginalized position of the Harem women:
“This was part of the connubial arrangement
that made them the sole precious possession of the emperor and they were not to
be exposed to the sight of any other man, but him. Akbar was the master of his
harem, and all his wives, concubines and the slave girls were only vassals to
his desire. In their secluded world, their sole ambition was to be their
master’s favorite, and their nights and days were given in pursuit to obtain
his attention. Akbar was like their god, and they were ever so eager to serve
him in the best of their abilities. A perpetual joust thus kept them busy
throughout their day .Each trying to look prettier than the other, to obtain
the attention of their master.” [P -
249, Novel as History: A New
Historical Reading of the Mughal harem in Kunal Basu’s The Miniaturist]
The harem was protected by the man made eunuchs. The castrated eunuchs
are the excluded class. Hiral Khan has narrated the sufferings of the castrated
males. The males were castrated to make eunuchs. The pain, agony and the
unbearable sufferings are the part and parcel of the life of eunuch. These
eunuchs belong to the Third Gender category.
Prof. Shilpa Khatri Babbar states on the sufferings of the Third Gender
people:
“Denied the full rights and protections of
citizenship, they endure shaming and assault; exclusion from the rights and
privileges of marriage and parenthood; curbs on their rights of expression and
association; the absence of sexual autonomy; demeaning stereotypical depictions
in the media; harassment and disparagement in everyday life; and exclusion or
marginalization in public spheres and deliberative bodies, all of which are
injustices of recognition.” [P – 14, The
Socio-Legal Exploitation of the Third Gender in India]
The Bird women are excluded
section of the society. They have taken shelter on the Hindukush Mountain. They
have resisted the patriarchal oppression by leaving their society and the male
culture. Their land is only for female who are victimized of the male
chauvinism.
Kunal Basu has also projected the cultural life of the people. Culture
is the life style of the people. The past culture is influenced by the present
culture and the present culture is influenced by the past culture. It belongs
to the past and the present. Culture is theorized by the New Historicism of
Michel Foucault, Louise Althusser and Cultural Materialism of Raymond Williams,
Terry Eagleton. Identity and culture are related. Religion plays an important
role in cultural life of a community. Start Hall describes cultural identities:
“Far
from being grounded in a mere 'recovery' of the past, which is waiting to be
found, and which, when found, will secure our sense of ourselves into eternity,
identities are the names we give to the different ways we are positioned by,
and position ourselves within, the
narratives of the past.” [P - 112, Cultural identity and Diaspora]
The medieval Muslim culture is described by the writer Kunal Basu. The
medieval Mughal culture is projected by the novelist in this text. The Persi
culture and the Mughal culture created a kind of diasporic culture and sensibilities. King Akbar had many Hindu wives. They would
maintain their Hindu culture. Khwaja was Persi. Zuleikha was accustomed to her
own customs and rituals. The native Indian culture and the foreign culture
crossing the borders create a kind of ‘Third Space’ of Homi K. Bhabha. Deb Narayan Bandyopadhyay states:
“In fact, Basu very cleverly creates an
intelligent façade that conceals his real fictive agenda. He elaborates on the
diasporic anxiety of the Persian artists: Khwaja or Mir Sayyid Ali frequently
foments the tension between Persian and Haîndustani culture.” [P – 183, History / Metahistory: A Study of Kunal
Basu’s The Miniaturist]
Basu has presented the Sufi minority culture, the minority Hindu culture
along with the minority foreign Christian culture. The medieval art is
highlighted in this text. The art became a kind of weapon for social, political
and cultural progress in the Mughal period.
Bihzad drew many portraits. He
was an excellent painter and artist. But in the Kitabkhana of King Akbar, there
were many rival artists of Bihzad. The art and artisan such as Bihzad are
described by the writer vividly. The
Miniaturist depicts the L.G.B.T.Q culture through the protagonist Bihzad.
Bihzad was homosexual figure. The Harem culture is also depicted. This text
describes the Harem females, Zuliekha, the eunuchs etc. The garden, the
architecture, the historical palaces are vividly narrated in this text.
Conclusion
Kunal Basu has exposed the invisible historical facts which are not
narrated in the traditional history in his popular text, The Miniaturist. He has focused the unrecorded past historical
events in his literary writings such as The
Miniaturist. He projects those unsaid history, historical facts and the
excluded people in this text, The
Miniaturist. Bihzad, the protagonist has been driven way from Agra court
for his homosexuality. He is excluded figure. The Harem females were confined
within the chamber and they were marginalized. The eunuchs of the Harem were
castrated and made eunuchs. They had to lead a life of shame. These eunuchs
were excluded class under the reign of the King Akbar. Only Zuleikha, Zukha and
the Bird Women are not oppressed by the male patriarchal society and the male
culture. Kunal Basu also describes the global culture also in this text The Miniaturist. He has presented the Harem
culture under the rules and regulation of the male culture. The eunuchs refer
to the L.G.B.T.Q culture. Basu has
highlighted the minority Sufi culture, the minority Hindu culture along with
the minority foreign Christian culture. Basu highlights all these excluded
people and the culture of the people. Hence this present paper has tried to
describe the excluded figures and the medieval culture as described by the
creative writer Kunal Basu in his text
The Miniaturist. .
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