Lamps in the Whirpool is a story of the dilemma the modern Indian woman faces who she should be: a dutiful wife and mother, an obedient daughter-in-law or a woman with a life of dignity. The story is set in Delhi of the 1980s and Girija, the educated housewife, is forced to acknowledge the loveless emptiness of her life, burdened by the archaic Brahminical custom of madi. For seventeen years, she has meekly accepted exploitation by orthodox matriarchy and typical patriarchy, until a visit to Haridwar and the river Ganges opens her eyes to the choice she must make - between servitude to family or an unfettered life and loss of access to her children.
This story is considered the first feminist novel in Tamil. The author. Rajam Krishnan, was the first Tamil woman to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award. Krishnan set a trend for women-centric novels in contemporary fiction in Tamil and deftly exposed the brittle bricks on which the much-glorified institution of family stands and how fragile the bonds of marriage can be. The story, thus, serves as beacon for the new woman, independent, self-reliant and strong, cutting across regions and class.
Born and educated in Chennai, Prema Seetharam holds degrees in Chemistry, History, Library Science and French. In collaboration with Uma Narayanan, she has translated literary fiction from Tamil and French into English. The Tamil- English translations include Lamps in the Whirlpool and When the Kurunji Blooms, both by Rajam Krishnan, as well as Ambai, Novellas and Essays. The works from French to English are Empire of Dust and Jahanara.
Prema Seetharam has worked extensively with the visually impaired and has set up Braille and Audio libraries for them.
The novel Lamps in the Whirlpool is frontally feminist in its theme, treatment and language. The feminism that breathes through the story is of an indigenous variety. It stems from the writer's milieu and culture but raises issues which will find an echo in the hearts of many a repressed woman, cutting across culture and language. It asks the reader to ponder how we treat the woman in our society, the woman who is the linchpin of the family, who effaces herself as a person so that she may be a wife, mother, daughter-in-law most of all. Virginia Woolf long ago wrote in Professions for Women about the 'Angel in the House':
She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. If there was a chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught she sat in it - in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathise always with the minds and wishes of others. Above all I need not say it- she was pure.
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