भैरवी

by Shivani

भैरवी ‘‘कैसा आश्चर्य था कि वही चन्दन, जो कभी सड़क पर निकलती अर्थी की रामनामी सुनकर माँ से चिपट जाती थी, रात-भर भय से थरथराती रहती थी, आज यहाँ शमशान के बीचोंबीच जा रही सड़क पर निःशंक चली जा रही थी। कहीं पर बुझी चिन्ताओं के घेरे से उसकी भगवा धोती छू जाती, कभी बुझ रही चिता का दुर्गंधमय धुआँ हवा के किसी झोंके के साथ नाक-मुँह में घुस जाता।’’ जटिल जीवन की परिस्थितियों ने थपेड़े मार-मारकर सुन्दरी चन्दन को पतिगृह से बाहर किया और भैरवी बनने को बाध्य कर दिया। जिस ललाट पर गुरु ने चिता-भस्मी टेक दी हो क्या उस पर सिन्दूर का टीका फिर कभी लग सकता है? शिवानी के इस रोमांचकारी उपन्यास में सिद्ध साधकों और विकराल रूपधारिणी भैरवियों की दुनिया में भटक कर चली आई भोली, निष्पाप चन्दन एक ऐसी मुक्त बन्दिनी बन जाती है, जो सांसारिक प्रेम-सम्बन्धों में लौटकर आने की उत्कट इच्छा के बावजूद अपनी अन्तर्रात्मा की बेड़ियाँ नहीं त्याग पाती और सोचती रह जाती है - क्या वह जाए? पर कहाँ?

Genres: Novels, India

121 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

There is more then one author who writes using the name Shivani. See Shivani ., Shivani . and Shivani ..

(1923– 2003) was one of the popular Hindi magazine story writers of the 20th century and a pioneer in writing Indian women based fiction. She was awarded the Padma Shri for her contribution to Hindi literature in 1982. Almost all of her works are in print today and widely available across India.

She garnered a massive following in the pre-television 60s and 70s, as her literary works were serialised in Hindi magazines like Dharmayug and Saptahik Hindustan, and in TV serials n films.

Upon her death in 2003, Government of India described her contributions to Hindi literature as, “…in the death of Shivani the Hindi literature world has lost a popular and eminent novelist and the void is difficult to fill”

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There are two ways of dealing with sadness. One by keeping a sad, long face and the other by laughing and sharing stories and knitting and spinning to forget your sadness."

"Have you not been able to understand women's nature till now even though you're one yourself? You tell me, in this world are there even two sisters who know everything about each other?"

"Even after being freed of one's shackles, their conscience shackles them forever. They look at their life transformed by just a moment and wonder, where would they go?"

This book is written so beautifully. It's lyrical and poignant. It defines both the curse and the blessings of the beauty of women, how it's interpreted and how it's a weakness and a weapon.


Go for this book if you want to read books from a woman's perspective about women and the society we live in. It's emotional, it's gripping, it's excellent.

Some parts do come out quite sexist and quite senseless as to show the reality. Because these things do happen in real. It's the dilemma the women face that's hard to believe unless you witness it in real.

Love the book.

The ending was satisfying yet I still need some explanations.

[Ashwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

'It is not difficult to run away from your husband’s house, Bhairavi,' Maya Didi had once said to her swaying in her intoxication. 'What is difficult is returning there. The door you had opened and jumped out of, will you be able to return to it?'

The freedom of escape for the protagonist Chandan, is an emergency, and its urgency leads one to jump off a moving train before they get to the end of the line with no way back and the only way forward is smoldering will. Such an attempt leaves one bled of life, coloured with an anonymity like the saffron-hued silhouettes in the blazing ghats. Yet, from the ashen grounds of aghori ascetics, Chandan rises anew as Bhairavi, a name that embodies terror and beauty in equal measure. While many feminist works of fiction rely heavily on such symbolic rebirth, Shivani's Bhairavi doesn't end here.

The novel is a continuation of Shivani's overriding enquiry; meditation on the woundedness of Indian women whose lives bear the scars and injuries of the society, and the way in which women make sense of their circumstances. But what’s most striking about Bhairavi, though, is how much Shivani has to say about these women, and often women of a particular kind: those whose lives appear to be dictated almost entirely by middle-class restraints.
Through a layered plot, weaving its way between
events in Dharchula, Delhi and Shahjahanpur, the runaway bride Chandan's story gradually unfolds within the shadowy corners of the akhada. And as the flames leap, so do these shadows, revealing the forbidding memory of violence that is still raw. Unfortunately though, about a quarter of the way through the book, I was taken aback by the author's disposition to archaic notion of caste purity and beauty, that occasionally crept into the pages. While the book was published forty years ago, this can still taint the experience of contemporary readers.

Shivani brilliantly portrays the atmosphere of festering tension in the mind of Chandan – alarmingly underpinned by a darkness that runs deep beneath the narrative. A darkness which rises up to the surface as the story approaches its end, as much as there is one – again, it is left unsaid. The strength of Shivani's work lies in her ability to make abstract ideas - such as fear, abuse and injustice - real and tangible. She carefully constructs these scenes of the quotidian, in a way that is at once visceral and alive in our mind's eye. So real that they cut through our ability to turn away. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that stays with me a long time.

Thank you Simon & Schuster India for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

पुस्तक पढ़ कर उतना आनंदित नहीं हुआ। मुझे कहानी ठीक लगी।

[Mridula Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

With steady but cautious steps, I turned to the first page of 'Bhairavi- the runaway.' It's not because I haven't heard of Gaura Pant/Shivani, but I am sceptical about translations and the essence that is sometimes lost, muddled up with the originality of the author.

Chandan, a beautiful woman with spellbinding features marries into a loving family, but a mishap forces her to jump off a moving train. She suffers severe injuries as her broken and battered body is taken in by an Aghori, his ashram emanating the foul stench of black magic and unrequited love. She spends her days with Maya Didi and Charan- mysterious and chatty respectively and yet, both harbouring boundless love for their Guru.

Chandan hails from a family with a dark history. Her mother, Rajrajeswari was married to a sweet seller after her rendezvous with a local boy was discovered. As a teenager, she didn't understand society's need to get a girl married as soon as she was of age (this book was first published sometime between 1950 and 1970). But as she raised Chandan- alone and through sheer will power, she finds herself walking in the same steps her parents did years ago, the fear of a beautiful and unmarried daughter being the attraction of a thousand pair of young eyes.

'Bhairavi' is equally about a family, damages by the society and relationships that thrive bitterly under the shadow and steady gaze of such a society. Not just Chandan's choices and her inevitable fate but Maya Didi's unfulfilled desires and Charan's hasty decisions are all an outcome of the same shrewd society.

'Bhairavi' is captivating, the narration traversing through landscapes and relationships. It stirs emotions through an unrelenting plot and characters shackled by the rules of the society they live in. Rich in traditions, customs and history, this is a book that must be read.

[Deepan Maitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Bhairavi” filled me with a very hollow sort of sadness, the moment I turned the last page. I closed the book, and looked up to the ceiling and stared for a while. I thought of the fuzziness of the story, its huge vastness and of the helplessness of the characters.

This book is truly tragic. An eternal sense of melancholy was hanging in the lines right from the start, and as I went on reading, this feeling solidified more and more. As the story juggled between the present and the past, and as its various tributaries got expressed… I kept on feeling sorry for the wide array of characters, none of whom end up happy and satisfied.

Then I thought…what is the actual point of the story? What is the underlined idea that the author was setting up brick by brick? I concluded upon quite a few things. Firstly, I saw the grand interplay of Fate: the cruel and fiery dance of destiny that makes earthlings only puppets in its hands. The extent to which humans find themselves entangled in the sticky web of time, it's hard to grasp and realize—that whatever we are doing, could be a result of random probability. Secondly, I was again made to witness the vibrating tremors that keep coming in the life of a woman, and the wounds that keep resurfacing, no matter how much they tend to the cuts. This book makes us see each event in their lives as a stamp that was casting a permanent insignia onto their bare bodies, rendering them absolute witnesses to the storm that had passed. Perhaps, there is no escape from the past. What is gone is really very far, but we carry the remnants of that bygone time—right within us. Thirdly, I experienced through this book a vivid sense of meditative power, a power that transcends above creation to become energy, vibrations and vibes. This power is all-knowing, liberating and the truest sense of truth and the taste of freedom.

Set into the locations of Delhi, Shahjahanpur and Dharchula, the storyline follows the newlywed Chandan in an akhada of sadhus and devoted ascetics. Finding herself among intoxication, chants, devotion and power—Chandan tries not to mingle her previous lifestyle with the one she suddenly finds herself in. In a loss of identity where she is renamed as ‘Bhairavi’ and is made to spend her days in the vicinity of gurus and yoginis smoking chillums and making their eyes bloodshot, Chandan’s new life gets a fresh dose of stigma, tremor and darkness. Her life back in her homeland had been marked with nothing special. She had grown up with her widowed mother Rajrajeswari, who had tried to make the ends meet in order to find Chandan a suitable groom. When Chandan had found peace in the arms of her loving husband, one unfortunate night had caused her to jump off a speeding train—and simultaneously, jumping into a terrain unknown.

In the akhada, although Bhairavi continues to live with her past life buried under the soil, she is after all a runaway bride. Her past gnaws at her, she discovers new meanings of societal hurdles, new leases of marriage, love and settlement. She tries hard to balance between her homely past and her dark present—crafting scenarios of fantasy that are almost too unreal to be true.

Author Shivani's writing bases itself on a foundation of feminist point of view. In a narrative that is highly women-centric, the book attempts to place women of contrasting ideals in different zones on the hilly landscape of life. The story covers the vastness of womanhood as it encompasses and includes all sorts of terror, peace, love and compromise. Rooting deep into the notions of identity, the storyline allows the lives of its many women to openly twist and bend the lives of the other—constructing a colourful picture stained with both individualism and community sentiments. It also gives a new look to freedom, to the liberty of actions and the liberty of starting afresh.

Thanks Simon and Schuster India for the copy.

[Sneha Pathak (reader_girl_reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Left me feeling a little underwhelmed. Was expecting more from a writer of Shivani's stature. Certain aspects of the book, especially some of the women characters, felt dated.

[Ujjwala Singhania · Rating 5 out of 5]

भैरवी, शिवानी जी द्वारा रचित एक लघु उपन्यास है जो एक एक बार पढ़ने बैठो तो पूरा पढ़ कर ही उठोगे I ये कहानी आंरभ होती है जब नायिका होश में आने पर अपने को एक भैरव के आश्रम में पाती है l
शिवानी जी ने बहुत ही सरलता से नायिका के इस आश्रम में आने से पहले की कहानी और बाद की कथा को एक साथ मार्मिकता से पिरोया है l
एक ओर उन्होंने पहाड़ों की सुंदरता, वहाँ के लोग, उनकी जीवन शैली, आपस के परस्पर संबंध को चित्रित किया और दूसरी ओर एक भैरव का आश्रम, साथ में श्मशान और चिता की भस्म लगाए डरावने फिर भी आकर्षित करते हुए भैरव मंडली I
ये केवल एक नायिका की कहानी नहीं है परंतु समाज में स्त्री के स्तर की कहानी है l एक माँ जिसका संपूर्ण जीवन उसकी एक गलती से दुष्कर हो जाता है, वह कैसे अपना जीवन एक संघर्ष बना लेती है इस उपक्रम में की उसकी बेटी को एक अच्छा भविष्य दे सके I पर कैसे नायिका का जीवन एक पल में बदल जाता है जब वह देखती है कि उसके माँग में सिंदूर की जगह माथे पर चिता की भस्म है और उसके लिए अपने घर वापस लौटने के सब रास्ते बंद हैं I

[Aadya Dubey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fuck you Vikram.
Seriously.
Fuck you.

[Divya Pal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping yarn about beautiful women trying to survive in a patriachal Hindu India, specifically the Kumaon hills and more specifically within the chthonic Brahmin community. Although the male characters – whether an ascetic, a king, or a playboy husband – are flat and wimpy individuals, but as a community exert inordinate power over their women – daughters, sisters, wives or even mothers. However, the females have been powerfully presented. It says a lot for the insecurity of a community that ‘family honour’ is dependent on the purported ‘purity’ of the womenfolk. A premarital dalliance will besmirch the character of a girl and ruin her prospects of getting a ‘good’ groom; however, for the male partner of this romance, there is no penalty.
The translation could have better - some metaphors have been literal in their translation leading to hilarious results!

[Pretty Little Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bhairavi was a stunning book and I loved it in its entirety. Even during the parts where the characters were not particularly likable or the situation they were going through was not entirely conducive, I thought that it was so real and something that could have perhaps happened to someone we know.

Talking about the writing style and the language used, I think it was very earthy and very Indian in the sense that even though it was in English, it really had an essence that was essentially that of a particular people and their cultures. It also had a very folktale-ish vibe as if it is an iral story that is being narrated to you. I think this is because of the ways in which the author has incorporated the folktale traditions of India into her writing - for instance, when narrating the anecdotes or talking of the relationships between people and so on.

Then comes the most compelling and riveting and at the same time, the off-putting relationship of the mother-daughter duo. Chandan is a beautiful girl, an 'apsara' and that is the reason and excuse for why her mother binds her in the way she does. Rajeshwari is an over-protective mother and when one learns of her past, it is in a way the reason why she is like that. But then again, having gone through what she had as a young girl, I believe she should have been more understanding of her daughter and her wishes. But then again, I suppose the saying is right - we grow up to be like our parents. But is that justification enough? Is it even right?
While I believe it is certainly getting better in contemporary times, I cannot deny that there are still some parents who unjustifiably coddle their daughters. Let me rephrase that, they are over-protective and downright oppressive. Wouldn't that explain why so many of the kids we know nowadays, are good at sneaking and lying? I think a certain bit of leniency is needed so that both the kid and parents learn to trust each other's decisions and not lie and sneak around.

There are also various prejudices that were shown via the thoughts of Rajswari in this book. Westernized people do not get any respect from her; rather, she curses her meat-eating neighbour and then is surprised by the way modern women live. All in all, I do believe it is a good reflection of the times that the book is set in, but I do hope we take a lesson from it. Just because it used to be that way in that past, doesn't mean we do not change the way it goes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and Chandan's journey was a long and learning one. Of course when the book ended, she still had a long way to go, but she finally was in control of her fate and life, as it were. Beautiful writing and real-living characters, with an honest portrayal of the various issues that plagued society then (and in some ways, even now)!

[Meera Nair · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young, married woman, on her honeymoon, jumps off a train and is brought to an Aghori ashram. What propelled her to take such drastic measures, and what’s to become of her amongst people whose lives look dissonant from her own?

A novel translated from Hindi, Bhairavi is the story of how circumstances change the paths in front of us.

I stumbled across this book during a sale. Prior to that, I hadn’t heard of Shivani, which probably says something about how a lot of vernacular Indian authors still aren’t as widely celebrated and discussed as they ought to be.

The introduction written by the author’s daughter sheds light on the context within which the author’s works were published and how they were received in society.

I quite liked reading that section as it resonated with me and the literary analysis informed my thinking in a way.

That being said, I haven’t read any of Shivani’s works in Hindi, so I wouldn’t be a fair judge of how well the story has been translated. Yet, the cultural motifs and linguistic nuances are apparent in this book, thereby retaining an essence of the original text.

Chandan’s character is an almost passive presence throughout the story until we get to the flashback point where we find out what happened to her before she arrives at the ashram.

There isn’t much to... Read the rest of the review on my blog.

[Anamjyot · Rating 4 out of 5]

(9 of 2021)
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'भैरवी' शिवानी द्वारा ft. रूढ़िवादी मानसिकता
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शिवानी 'गौरा' पंत मेरी पसंदीदा लेखिकाओं में से एक हैं। उनकी कहानियों में व्याप्त सादगी और पहाड़ी जीवन का पुट, ख़ासकर आजकल की लेखनी में, सहज ही देखने नहीं मिलता। परन्तु, चाहे तुच्छ ही सही, एक समीक्षक होने के नाते किसी रचना में दिखे दोषों की बात करना भी उतना ही ज़रूरी है जितना कि उसके गुणों का। इन्ही की कृतियों की समीक्षा की श्रृंखला में इस बार की पुस्तक है भैरवी। 122 पृष्ठों में अपनी कहानी कहने वाली इस पुस्तिका को नावेल के बजाय नावलेट कहना उचित होगा।
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भैरवी कहानी है चन्दन की - जिसका (लेखिका की नज़र में) अभूतपूर्व सौंदर्य ही उसका एकमात्र गुण है। कैसे यह सुंदरता उसे सफलता के चरम सोपान से लेकर पीड़ा के गर्त तक ले जाती है, कहानी इसी बारे में है। शाहजहांपुर में पली-बढ़ी चन्दन का अल्मोड़ा से धारचूला और फिर महानगरी तक का सफर बड़े मनोरंजक ढंग से बयान किआ गया है, पर उसके बाद, शाही ठाठबाठ से सन्यासिनी बनने की कहानी ये सोचने पर मजबूर करती है की क्यों कई बार समाज की कुरूपता का खामियाज़ा एक स्त्री को भुगतना पड़ता है। स्पॉइलर के डर से कुछ ज़रूरी घटनाओं के उल्लेख करने से गुरेज़ करते हुए, एकबारगी इस किताब को पढ़ने की सिफारिश आपसे ज़रूर करुँगी। लेकिन हाँ, कहानी के निष्कर्ष के बारे में आपकी टिप्पणी जानने को आतुर रहूंगी।
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मैं इसे एक प्रिविलेज ही कहूँगी जो हम उस समय में हैं जहाँ हम खुलकर मानवाधिकार और नारी के अधिकारों के बारे में बात कर सकते हैं। चाहे आज भी औरत का शोषण पूरी तरह से ख़त्म नहीं हुआ, पर प्राय ही इसे हेय दृष्टि से देखे जाना भी सामाजिक प्रगति का प्रतीक है। शायद जिस वक्त यह किताब लिखी गई, तब इतनी सुधि न होने से ये कहानी आज, मुझ जैसे, आपको भी अप्रासंगिक या अन्यायपूर्ण लगे लेकिन बात करना ज़रूरी है।
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धारचूला के खूबसूरत विवरण और शौक संस्कृति के दुर्लभ विवरण के लिए इस नावलेट को मै दूंगी 3.5/5
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आप क्या सोचते हैं यह जानने का इंतज़ार रहेगा। बताइएगा ज़रूर..
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#anamslibrary #nerdfest #anamsreview #shivani #bhairavi #hillsofIndia

[Sudarshan Wagh (swish_ndflick) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A translation that captures the gist!

I am not a very big fan of translations, haven't read a lot, to be honest. But the description and blurb of 'Bhairavi - the runaway' was so engrossing, I ended picking this book up. And I must say, I am starting to like the translated versions of the original texts!

First of all, the story is not set in current times. Yes, surprisingly, it is set in the 1970s acting as a replay or a time travel back to that decade. Kudos to the author for going away from the mainstream writing style then, and addressing some still omnipresent issues. The dark plot, encompassing death rituals, cremations, aghoris, and dark magic served the best Halloween read this year though.

The emotional turmoil in a mother-daughter relationship, devastating decisions, women and her role in the society then, how they were perceived, and how an unnerving past can affect our present and future are some of the most crucial issues addressed quite boldly and confidently through the pages. There are a lot of topics addressed in the book, the discussion of which is beyond the scope of this review. But I must say it did leave me with mixed feelings, some quite disturbing, some quite enlightening. Maybe the book is a result of the author's mixed thoughts regarding death rituals and cremation.

So overall, the translation did pick up the essence of the original text, because it seemed to be so real, fascinating, and disturbing at the same time. The story was completely unexpected for me and that's what the extra star is for.

[Sudarshan Wagh (swish_ndflick) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A translation that captures the gist!

I am not a very big fan of translations, haven't read a lot, to be honest. But the description and blurb of 'Bhairavi - the runaway' was so engrossing, I ended picking this book up. And I must say, I am starting to like the translated versions of the original texts!

First of all, the story is not set in current times. Yes, surprisingly, it is set in the 1970s acting as a replay or a time travel back to that decade. Kudos to the author for going away from the mainstream writing style then, and addressing some still omnipresent issues. The dark plot, encompassing death rituals, cremations, aghoris, and dark magic served the best Halloween read this year though.

The emotional turmoil in a mother-daughter relationship, devastating decisions, women and her role in the society then, how they were perceived, and how an unnerving past can affect our present and future are some of the most crucial issues addressed quite boldly and confidently through the pages. There are a lot of topics addressed in the book, the discussion of which is beyond the scope of this review. But I must say it did leave me with mixed feelings, some quite disturbing, some quite enlightening. Maybe the book is a result of the author's mixed thoughts regarding death rituals and cremation.

So overall, the translation did pick up the essence of the original text, because it seemed to be so real, fascinating, and disturbing at the same time. The story was completely unexpected for me and that's what the extra star is for.

[Rila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok first of all, this is all new to me. Every single thing is new to me. By reading this book I came to know many things.

There are casteism, sexism, forced marriage, weird Aghori practices and rituals, supression and what not.

But I do love the way the author captioned the essence of the old traditions and practices. The protagonist Chandan had to literally jump of a train to be reborn into Bhairavi.

Chandan was brought up by a single mother with broken past but she didn't let it affect Chandan and things were going smooth for the beautiful child but for how long?

Mysterious caves and dangerous people with dark practices changed Chandan's life completely.

I get that the book is written some 50 years back but still the author's casual mention of sexism and castesim and the description of how a woman should be affects me.

On the other hand, l loved the way the author spoke out harsh truth of life and how subtly she managed to say how women should get freedom, get out of the confinement the society has created for her to know what is outside the bubble just to realise what she wants.

Bhairavi is about family and the choices and sacrifices the characters have to make to survive in this cruel world.

[Ernst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inarguably my top read of 2022! I would congratulate the translate of this book originally written in Hindi who has done such a splendid job in capturing the essence of Shivani's writing. The book stays with you. Shivani would make sure that you would want to read this book in one sitting.

[Visalini Kumaraswamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me hooked till the end. And, the climax. Huh, I will not forget this book ever!

Just read it and get whipped by the actual sense of reality!

[Lahari De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book 👌 . No spoilers from me. But this book is about bravery and

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunned, devastated, and speechless.
This translation was a masterpiece.
Oh, Chandan! Oh my poor Chandan!

[Anushka (adishka_diaries) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Fate had drowned her in such a strange swamp.”
🥀

Reading Shivani's stories feels like returning to my childhood, when I would see my Mum enjoying her novels, while I would be busy consuming Enid Blyton.

I've grown up listening to Shivani's stories and despite certain themes & characters feeling redundant or stereotyped today, chronicle the attitudes of then era & on a larger scale, some of them continue to resonate because of society's existent obsession with stereotypical standards of beauty, women's honor & purity, and the endless bigotries of upper caste/class privileged folks.

"Bhairavi: The Runaway", translated with finesse from Hindi by Priyanka Sarkar, is regarded as one of Shivani's darkest novels, which exudes a classic Gothic aura; but instead of a mansion, it structures its narrative inside a dark cave, hidden within a dense forest, sheltering Aghori ascetics whose sex & tantric rituals, in the company of snakes, bones, skulls & human bodies burning in the cremation ground underlays the darkness of the tale.

But what led one to this cave?

As the groundwork of haunting imagery is laid, we tread back in time to witness a multi-generational family saga, where women are used as pawns in a man's world, the internalized misogyny that accompanies a woman herself & what does choice means to a woman.

Although at first glance, Bhairavi seems like a tale of a woman found half dead by the Aghori sadhus, nursed back to health & sheltered by her saviors; the context runs deeper when she sees a life different from what she's been taught & once her societal constructs start fading, bringing her self more in sync with her present, she finds herself displaced again, facing the same horrors she once ran away from.

The real horrors are not the snakes & human skulls, but the stories of women shunned by society when their worth dwindles as they pave their destinies or when they fail to conform to the patriarchal standards, or when the criminal lust of a man is justified.

Bhairavi was first serialized in a popular Hindi weekly & later published as a novel, so you might come across inconsistencies in the narration, but putting that behind, it delves into a sharp assessment of perceived love as threads leading to horrors & seldom freedom.

I liked how the past & present weaved with razor-sharp words represent the horrific behavior of the society with a cold demeanour to it, but a lot of issues were left unresolved & up for the reader's imagination.

The end though inconclusive, leaves an impact when it questions the status & position of women in a patriarchal world, and this leaves you rooted, contemplating & wondering how true those societal & internally driven stigma sound true even today, nearly four decades since the publication of this book.

If you're looking into exploring Indian literature & translated reads, then I would recommend you give this book a chance, especially in this spooky season.

[P M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bhairavi is the search of soul by women who have faced unbearable examinations at the hand of life. Shivani, the exemplary author deft at portraying the different layers of her characters, paints a kaleidoscope of femininity within the Indian context. It raises genuine questions over the role of family in determining the real well-being of women in India.

It does not prop up any of its characters including the prima donna Bhairavi as the heroine of the whole saga. The underlying vulnerability of Bhairavi despite her plunge in spirituality signifies the strength of clutches that our society has on our existence. How the process of individualisation is subdued by the uncompromising demands of the society comes out the fore when Rajrajeshwari treats her only daughter Chandan the same way she was treated by her parents.

Shivani bares the concept of love with unalarming rawness. The way an Aghori falls for Bhairavi and gives spiritual justification for it is a telltale of the role played by our senses. We might suppress them but cannot deny the way they cling upon us. Transcending them is extremely difficult and not short of freeing oneself from the shackles of life. Moreover, Rajeshwari accepts her fate as the wife of an old man and devotes herself to him despite having loved someone else to the extent of eloping with him. Such an attitude poses very genuine questions about the feminine psyche within our social milieu. What does a woman really want?

Chandan becomes Bhairavi to escape the stigma of sexual assault. She again seeks to become Chandan when the supposedly safe spiritual shelter assumes an inherent danger of exploitation of her physical beauty. She is clueless when she finds that her love of life did not wait for her return. He moved on with the mundane routine of life. Married and father to a newly born son, he could not accept Bhairavi into his fold again.

Love is an illusion when it comes to the social setting. Shivani essays it brilliantly with her pensive ending where Bhairavi is unable to come to terms with herself. Stung by dilemma, she is unaware about the present and future. Burdened by the past, she knows nowhere to go. Divinity and its creation have abandoned her. What was supposed to be a life full of comfort and safety became an endless ordeal for her because of her beauty.

Shivani describes the beauty of women in the novel with utmost finesse. It is this beauty that seems like a curse when valued on the scale of real-life existence. Is such beauty that curses you to the unending pain worthy of poetic exclamations? What really makes this life and the relations therein worthwhile?

Bhairavi asks many such poignant questions of which the readers would surely seek answers once they flip the last page of the novel!

[Ankit Modi · Rating 3 out of 5]

एक बहुत ही रहस्यपूर्ण सा आकर्षण है इस क़िताब में। शिवानी द्वारा लिखी मेरी यह पहली किताब है और बहुत अरसे बाद मैंने इतनी शुद्ध और कठिन हिंदी पढ़ी है - कभी-कभी गूगल का भी सहारा लेना पड़ा, पर यह अनुभव बहुत संतोषजनक रहा।
चन्दन नाम की मासूम सी लड़की की भैरवी बनने के सफर की कहानी है। इस कहानी की पृष्ठभूमि में पर्वत, चिलम फूंकते शिवभक्त, श्मशान और उसके आस पास का परिवेश, बंगाली का स्पर्श इत्यादि का मिश्रण इसे गहरा रहस्यात्मक रंग देते हैं। मैंने जितने हिंदी उपन्यास पढ़े हैं (जो की काफी कम है ), उनमे ये सबसे अलग है।

भैरवी निश्चित तौर पर आपको शिवानी की और किताबों को पढ़ने पे मजबूर करेगी ।