Manottama: Narrative of a Sorrowful Wife

Published in 1868, Manottama is the first Bengali novel written by an unnamed Bengali woman identifying herself as ‘A Woman belonging to the Hindu Lineage, ’ which is technically not a pseudonym. Somehow evading the attention of literary historians, the text, or any detailed information about it was unavailable for a long time till it was unearthed by a researcher in London only in 2010. The subject of this novel is interesting because it tells us about the pitfalls of female education in the nineteenth century, a period that also saw the emancipation of Bengali women through education in a significant way. Written in the traditional Indian Puranic style of narration, with plenty of sub-plots and digression and without conforming to the western dictates of unity of time, place, and action, it provides a domestic picture where an educated wife has to compromise with the activities and worldview of an uneducated husband. A rudimentary attack on patriarchy, the slim novel needs greater attention now after more than a century of neglect