It was a breathtaking page-turner. The life of Bhaunri, guided by the values instilled within her by her mother—the one who decided her own fate. Bhaunri’s mother, a feminist icon in her own right, dared to escape the fate sealed by bride price. Married to an old man who couldn’t please her, she fell in love with a lohar of a nomadic tribe. She denied her husband to pay the bride price, to which the smitten man said, I am not buying you, I am selling myself to you. Bhaunri, though married as a child, was brought up in a household with a strong mother and looked at her father as a dedicated husband. As she turned into a teenager, it was time for Bhaunri to go to her sasural, with her mother’s advice that hearts must be united, if not then the marriage is that of a sin.
The story evokes the ethos of the nomadic lohar tribes of Rajasthan, briefly exploring their history and how such tribes came to an understanding with the government to settle in allotted land. It is reminiscent of folktales and fables. The descriptions are picturesque beginning from Bhaunri’s clothes to the mango tree under which Bhaunri becomes one with her husband.
Bhaunri is a tale of power, love, desire and how each of these can bring about destruction when it turns into obsession. There’s a constant dialogue between behaviour of men and women, especially when it comes to men’s promiscuity and women’s duty to tolerate it. There’s a constant powerplay between the genders and eventually, between Bhaunri and her mother-in-law too.
Throughout the reading, I kept hoping for Bhaunri to not fall for praises from men who find strong, vocal women challenging and hence, more attractive than the docile ones who believe serving their husband is the be-all, end-all of their lives. The end took me by surprise but also brought an evil satisfaction.
Is Bhaunri, the character, a feminist icon? It’s difficult to say. She is spine-chilling and there’s an abominable admiration towards her.
Is Bhaunri, the story, feminist? Hell, yes! Is shows the destructive side of desire without glorifying it and how!