A Feminist Exploration of Marriage in Kundanika Kapadia’s Seven Steps in the Sky

Abstract

Woman is honoured as goddess among the Hindus in Gujarat and India. She is also respected and worshipped as Shakti (goddess of power) and Laxmi (goddess of wealth). She is considered an idol of love and sacrifice. But she is also exploited in the name of tyagmurti (idol of sacrifice). The social issue of marriage becomes the prominent one in Gujarati novels. It takes varying interpretations so as to make an analysis on basis of feminism. In this paper, I intend to work on the same lines. By keeping the novel Saat Pagla Aakash Maa by Kundanika Kapadia at core, I’ll analyze the issue of marriage in Kapadia’s novel from feminist perspective. Marriage for Vasudha was like making her an ideal woman not real woman. The decision to leave her husband and stay in Anandagram proves her identity as a real woman. For the entire life she suffered like mother earth to keep her promises of the seven steps, the words literal meaning the starting of a new life after marriage. Marriage has been considered as the promise of happiness and freedom in life but the novel of Kundanika Kapadia portrays it in contradictory manner.