Prereading Exercises for Yuka Canti

1. The Author: The author of this story, Jeyakanthan ×÷¿´Ôÿ»¨ is a prolific writer, having written many stories, essays, and other works. A useful account of his early life can be found at this site Jeyakanthan was born in and spent his early life in Cuddalore, where this story takes place. A list of Jeyakanthan's writings is given at this site
2. The Setting:
   • Cuddalore: is the district "capital" of the administrative district of Vallalar, one of the 28 administrative districts of the state of Tamilnadu. Cuddalore is on the seacoast south of Madras City, between the former French colony of Pondicherry and the important temple town of Chidambaram.
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   • Chidambaram: Though this story takes place in Cuddalore, Gouri PaaTTi was born in Chidambaram, a famous temple town about 50 miles south of Cuddalore. Read some more about Chidambaram here. The importance of Chidambaram to the story is its orthodoxy, a place of ritual purity and tradition, which Gouri is seen to embody. Later her adherence to the orthodoxy is challenged. Chidambaram is only one of a number of famous temple-towns. South Indian temples are famous within India, and the most famous are those constructed by the Cholas (|coo7a|) whose empire extended over a large territory of South India and into Sri Lanka from approximately the 2nd century, becoming politically dominant in the 9th century (great temple-building activity from the 9th century onwards), and then finally beginning to wane in the 13th; . Read about the temples of S. India at this site. Read more about the history of the South Indian dynasties (Cholas, Pallavas, Pandyas) at the following sites:

     • Cholas
     • also at this site.
     • as well as this one.

   • Neyveli: Neyveli, also mentioned in the story, is a grimy, industrial place where lignite coal is mined and burned for electrical energy, as well as a location for chemical and pharmaceutical plants of various sorts. It was exploited with Soviet assistance during the 1950's, and became a boomtown, with all the social (and environmental) ills of boomtowns. As a 'new' town, it was a logical place for an unorthodox widow to take up employment, and even contemplate remarriage. Later the German government got involved in financing the extraction of lignite at Neyveli. Read about environmental and social mitigation planned for coal extraction sites that were formerly subsidized by the GOI at this site

3. Themes: This story deals in several ways with the problem of widow remarriage, an issue that has deep cultural roots in India, and is still a problem today. Read about modern responses to the taboo of widow remarriage here. You can learn more about a movement to abolish strictures against widow remarriage, and encouraging education for women (especially orthodox widows) by going to the following:
• Marriage and Separation of Spouses
  
• STATUS OF INDIAN WOMEN AND THE ROLE OF LEGISLATION
• Brahmo Samaj and widow remarriage.
4. Jajmani: Gauri paaTTi, as an orthodox Brahman widow, is served by a barber (who shaves her head on regular occasions) who is in a jajmani relationship with her. The Jajmani (Yajamani) system involved "barter-exchange of the surplus product from the various producing castes in a village." These workers received their share as payment for the services they rendered to other castes of the village. That meant that it was right to perform the work involved, and their right to receive the compensation, hereditarily. When the father died, the son inherited the jajmani right, and these rights could not be abrogated. Similarly, the person who did certain work was obligated to do it for the family/caste he/she was serving, and could not quit. In modern times, industrialization, urbanization and other social forces have undermined this system, and the caste system it is embedded in, so that few vestiges of it remain.

   Read more about the jajmani system here and here.