Preoccupation and Absence of Desire: Voyeurism and Caste in Samskara and Kusumabale

Abstract

The paper explores the different forms of desires in the novels Samskara (1976) and Kusumabale (2015). In Samskara, there is a preoccupation with the theme of desire and the form and narration of the novel imbibes a voyeuristic male gaze. The valorisation of inter-caste relations is performed through this voyeuristic male gaze where desires of upper caste men are manifested through women, they either become the objects of desire or disgust. Their wives, the upper caste women, are portrayed as unattractive while the lower caste women are objects of the upper caste men’s erotic fascination. Through the feminist lens of Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze, I analyse how women lack any conscious agency in the novel as they are limited to their bodies, and caste determines the desirability or the lack of it. In comparison, the portrayal of inter-caste relations in Kusumabale does not involve any explicit articulation of desire and the narrative does not cater to any form of voyeuristic gaze. Instead, the novel portrays the deadly consequences of inter-caste relations which often leads to violence. The novel becomes the exact inverse to everything that Samskara tries to achieve be it through form, thematic style, or narration.