Assignment 207 Ecofeminism in Myth of Manasa devi in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island

 Assignment 207:Contemporary Literatures in English

Ecofeminism in Myth of Manasa devi in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island

Name: Bhavyata Kukadiya

Roll No.: 04

Enrollment No.: 4069206420220018

Paper no: 207

Paper code: 22414

Paper name: Contemporary Literatures in English

Sem.: 4 (Batch 2022- 2024)

Submitted to: Smt S.B. Gardi Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University

About Writer:-

Amitav Ghosh (born 1956) is an Indian novelist and writer whose works explore themes of identity, colonialism, and environmentalism through complex narratives and blended genres. Born in Kolkata to a diplomat family, Ghosh lived in several countries growing up before studying at Delhi University and Oxford. After an academic career, he turned to writing full-time, producing novels like The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, and The Glass Palace that established his literary reputation. Ghosh gained further acclaim for the Ibis trilogy of historical fiction set during the Opium Wars. His recent novels like Gun Island address climate change through the lens of myth and legend. In 2018, Ghosh became the first English writer to receive India's highest literary honour, the Jnanpith Award, recognizing his significant contributions exploring postcolonial identity, migration, and the environment across genres spanning fiction and non-fiction.

About Novel:-

Published in 2019, Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh is a genre-blending novel that seamlessly weaves together historical fiction, contemporary narratives, mythology, and urgent environmental themes. The story spans multiple locations globally, including Kolkata, Venice, Los Angeles, and the Sundarbans delta region in Bangladesh. 

The protagonist is Deen, a rare book dealer from Kolkata, who travels to the Sundarbans to investigate the legend of the Gun Merchant, a mythical figure said to have exchanged guns for slaves. There, he meets Piya, a Bangladeshi-American marine biologist researching the delta's degrading ecosystem due to climate change. Together, they embark on a quest to unravel the truth behind this ancient myth

Through Deen and Piya's journey, the novel vividly depicts the catastrophic impacts of rising sea levels, cyclones, and flooding on the Sundarbans delta and its inhabitants. It poignantly examines the region's colonial legacy and how slavery has shaped its history and identity.

Deen becomes increasingly obsessed with validating the Gun Merchant fable, leading him to Venice where he encounters Cinta, who claims to communicate with spirits. She recounts a tale of Bangladeshi refugees who fled the 1971 war and settled in Los Angeles, convincing Deen it may unlock the myth's origins.

Gun Island adeptly intertwines narratives exploring humanity's deep connections to cultures, environments, and the power of myths to shape understanding of our place in the world. Critically, it underscores the urgency of addressing climate change's devastation on vulnerable communities worldwide. Ambitious and thought-provoking, the novel offers a rich, nuanced examination of migration, ecology, and the interwoven tales binding humanity together.

Ecofeminism in Myth of Manasa devi 

Ecofeminism is a philosophical and theoretical perspective that explores the interconnections between the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature. It argues that patriarchal structures and attitudes contribute to the subjugation of both women and the environment. The Myth of Manasa devi in Amitav Ghosh's novel "Gun Island" provides a fertile ground for exploring ecofeminist themes.

In the novel, Ghosh draws upon the ancient Greek myth of the goddess Mnasa, who was transformed into a shapeshifting serpent after being raped by the god Dionysus. Mnasa's story represents the violation of the feminine principle and the subjugation of nature. Her transformation into a serpent can be interpreted as a symbol of the interconnectedness between the feminine and the natural world.

Ghosh weaves this myth into the contemporary setting of the Sundarbans, a vast mangrove forest in the Ganges delta region of India and Bangladesh. The Sundarbans is not only a unique ecological ecosystem but also a site of ecological struggles, where the lives of marginalised communities, particularly women, are inextricably linked to the fate of the environment.

Through the character of Piya, a cetologist (a scientist who studies whales and dolphins), Ghosh explores the relationship between women and nature. Piya's efforts to protect the endangered dolphin species in the Sundarbans can be seen as a metaphor for the preservation of both nature and the feminine principle.

The novel also delves into the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on the lives of the inhabitants of the Sundarbans...

In all her forms, the Goddess Manasa Devi symbolises the unity of all life in nature. Her power is present in water, stone, tombs, caves, animals, birds, snakes, fish, hills, trees, and flowers. Ghosh believes in perceiving the sacredness and mystery of everything on Earth in a holistic and mythical way. Legend says the Goddess gradually retreated into deep forests or mountaintops. Today her presence is limited to beliefs and fairy tales. When humans become disconnected from nature and the earth, the result is chaos, which we see in contemporary society. However, cycles never stop, and as revealed in Gun Island, the Goddess re-emerges from forests and mountains to remind us to revisit and return to our basic human roots. In the novel, Goddess Manasa Devi represents nature's protective, possessive, and passionate spirit. Her ability to regenerate, reproduce, and replenish breathes life into the earth, even when annihilation seems complete. Her spirit and presence pervade and persist throughout the book. Gun Island moves from Brooklyn and Kolkata to Venice. Ghosh returns to themes of migration and climate change, examining them through the lens of oral narratives, new histories, migration, and old and new myths.

Ghosh's narrative, a story within multiple stories, begins at a temple in the Sundarbans in West Bengal. The temple, supposedly built by the Gun Merchant to honour the snake goddess Manasa Devi, propels the winding plot forward. The legend surrounding the temple drives the protagonist Deen to uncover its truth. Visiting deep in the Sundarbans, Deen encounters the king cobra guarding the temple. Pridefully, his companion Tipu tries subduing the cobra and gets bitten, sparking a series of strange, fantastical journeys blurring the natural and supernatural across geographies and time for Deen. 

Against backdrops like Los Angeles, the Sundarbans, Venice, and New York, these locations metaphorically represent entry points for explorers who built empires by extracting riches from defenceless nations. The conquered lands' slaves were carried across oceans to serve ruthless masters. Now the characters are immigrants of another kind, escaping poverty to cross borders for new homes. Gun Island tells of a man long ago attempting to escape the wrath of a goddess, interweaving stories of illegal immigrants seeking imagined lands and sea mammals whose homes industry and capitalism destroy.  

The myth of Goddess Manasa Devi from Bengali folklore drives the plot's core rivalry. The Snake Goddess epitomises feminism and earth, while the merchant Chand Saudagar represents patriarchal, money-driven male power blessed by Lord Shiva's patronage. Manasa has command over snakes as her sole defence against Saudagar's overbearing strength from gender, capital, and divine favour. She relentlessly campaigns for respect using this meagre resource. Today, Manasa is a feminist icon - a semi-divine female confronting patriarchal establishments personified by Shiva or Saudagar's capitalist authority, uncomfortably questioning feminine energy against male power like Sita did. Fiercely independent, the lone warrior goddess negotiates calculatingly to extract her dues rather than selflessly give, defying expectations of women.

By weaving Manasa's story, Ghosh depicts the catastrophic displacement of humans and animals alike. Her pursuit of the merchant warns human predators - capitalists and profiteers - of the havoc and impending doom wrought on Earth. And unless this is persistently overcome, Ghosh argues there is no way out.

Ghosh wants to convince big business to save the earth. In the Sundarbans, farming waste and chemicals from factories are killing lots of fish and making dolphins leave. The water is different now. The sea is higher. Piya sees all this happening.

“The flow of freshwater diminished, saltwater had begun to intrude deeper upstream making certain stretches too saline for the dolphins.”

A sense of bewilderment and chaos pervades, as neither humans nor animals seem to know where they belong anymore. Both Piya and Moyna realise that like humans, animals too are repressed, oppressed and stressed, constantly on the move in search of new habitats. In Gun Island, Ghosh explains that life originated from the sea. It's unsurprising then that destruction's impacts are most acutely felt in the waters. In Garjontola, in the Sundarbans, Rani the dolphin and her entire pod had beached themselves. Birds circled overhead, leaving the region reeking with a putrid, hellish stench. As Piya observes, the reason for this mass stranding is the man-made sounds from submarines and sonar equipment. The unnatural noise pollution has disrupted the delicate marine environment, rendering it uninhabitable for its previous residents. Ghosh paints a haunting picture of the widespread devastation wrought by human activities, leaving both people and animals as displaced refugees searching for new homes.

“Marine animals use echolocation to navigate. If something messed with that they could become disoriented and run aground.”  

Amitav Ghosh reinforces the myth of Manasa Devi through the architectural details of the shrine, built in the 17th century around the same time as the Little Ice Age. He traces the merchant's path in hot pursuit through the shrine's symbols, friezes, and carved panels. The physical appearance of the king cobra establishes the tangible connection between myth and living belief systems. The king cobra follows Deen but does not attack him, as if acknowledging his unthreatening entry into its domain. However, it strikes Tipu when feeling threatened by his brash actions. Tipu pays the price for his pride and insensitivity, as Rafi's grandfather notes in Gun Island,

 "If a cobra puts something in you, you can never be rid of it." 

The cobra represents the myth's enduring power - those who respect it are left unharmed, while those who arrogantly disregard it face lasting consequences. Ghosh deftly intertwines the ancient serpent myth with the contemporary setting, highlighting its persistent relevance.

Once Nature is harmed, it's hard to fix. In Tipu, Manasa Devi has a way to remind people of their mistakes. She shows up after Tipu encounters a cobra, making him more aware of the bad things happening in the environment. Tipu starts having visions of the future and warns Piya about an endangered dolphin named Rani. Piya tracks Rani with GPS but is surprised when Tipu's predictions come true. In Los Angeles, Deen is warned by Tipu about a disaster, which turns out to be wildfires. Snakes start showing up in unexpected places, like Venice beach, because of climate change. Ghosh uses the myth of Manasa Devi to highlight the impact of global warming on animals and humans. Spiders also start appearing in Venice due to rising temperatures. Manasa Devi seems to be sending a message about the consequences of ignoring nature's warnings. Ghosh's message is clear: we need to take better care of the environment before it's too late.

The myth of Manasa Devi presents an eco-feminist challenge against the corporate patriarchal system. Deen realises the tender nature of her pursuit when he sees it "from the perspective of...the goddess herself. And then the pursuit no longer seemed vindictive but something more fraught, and even tender, a search driven by fear and desperation."

 Manasa Devi was

 "a negotiator, a translator, a voice carrier between two species that had no common language or means of communication. Without her mediation, there could only be hatred and aggression between animals and humans." 

For communication, she must gain trust from both sides. The merchant and fellow humans refused to acknowledge her voice. Hence, the urgency to find the Merchant. If her authority was questioned,

 "all those unseen boundaries would vanish" 

and merchants seeking profit would trample the earth's creatures with

 "no restraint towards other living beings."

 Manasa Devi had to thwart his concealment at all costs to save him, other creatures, and strike a balance of harmony and peace. The myth's power is confirmed when Tipu tips off Piya about dolphins beaching in the Sundarbans, bringing them near extinction - mysteriously connected to the gun merchant's movement. The ensuing catastrophe, Cinta argues, has rational explanations like global warming, changing habitats, increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by cars, planes, factories making once unneeded gadgets - all inevitably linked to history.

Nature, like the goddess Manasa Devi, is disrespected and humiliated by modern "gun merchants." She is forced to take back her power through force or revenge. Like magic practices, something has taken control of humans' ability to react and respond - we are no longer in charge of what happens to us. Cinta explains we live in a world of impersonal systems that slowly take over as our presence fades away; a demon-like possession has overcome human beings. Ghosh says

 "everybody knows what must be done if the world is to continue being a livable place...yet we are powerless. We see shocking and monstrous things all around us and we look away: we willingly surrender ourselves to whatever it is that has control over us." Ghosh cleverly compares 17th century Venice to modern Venice, seeing it through the Merchant's eyes. He describes the deadly plague epidemic of 1629 only stopping through the Virgin Mary's miraculous help. Interestingly, Cinta connects the Black Madonna to the Greek snake goddess Ariadne, similar to Manasa Devi. Ghosh takes readers to present-day Customs House Point hoping to spot the monster that once lived beneath the embankment, last seen in 1930 but disappearing as the area became Venice's busiest canal network. Now shipworms, invading due to warming lagoon waters, are eating away the city's wooden foundations while Deen and Cinta hear sirens warning of floods - Nature taking back control from humanity's impersonal systems.

Human displacement is inextricably linked to climate change and the Gun Merchant myth. Tipu and Rafi flee darkness, closing in on their Sundarbans home, risking traffickers to seek new lives in Europe. Deen explains how modern technology fuels relentless pursuit of desires, moving people globally to produce more merchandise they can't enjoy. Today's youth crave phones and cars over nature. The refugee "Blue Boat" symbolises issues like inequality and climate change. Ghosh presents the Manasa cult's feminine "fighting spirit" - her aggressive self-interest and untiring quest can inspire. The relentless ecofeminist subjugates patriarchy through vindictive power and eco-feminine strength. Readers feel gratitude at being freed from bewilderment by Manasa and nature's mysterious forces, which offer hope of generosity as long as they persist.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh powerfully explores the interconnected struggles of women's oppression and environmental exploitation through the ancient myth of the goddess Manasa Devi. The novel sends a clear message - modern society's pursuit of profit and disregard for nature has catastrophic consequences for both the earth and marginalised communities, especially women. However, Ghosh offers hope that by heeding the warnings of myths and feminine spiritual forces tied to nature, humanity can rectify its path. If we realign to respect the delicate balance with the environment before irreversible damage is done, the novel suggests there is still potential for an outpouring of generosity, love and the reclamation of our fundamental human roots in harmony with the natural world. Ghosh's ecofeminist lens reveals the way forward is by rejecting patriarchal systems subjugating both women and nature in favour of an ethical, sustainable ecocentric worldview.

                                 Work Cited

Ferdous, Mafruha. "Ecofeminism during Pandemic: A Study of Amitav Ghosh’s Sundarbans Trilogy." European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies 10.8 (2022): 33-41.

Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. Penguin Random House India Pvt. Limited, 2019.

Luebering, J.E.. "Amitav Ghosh". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amitav-Ghosh. Accessed 25 April 2024.

Mies, Maria, and Vandana Shiva. Ecofeminism. Zed Books, 1993

Shiva, Vandana. Staying alive: Women, ecology, and development. North Atlantic Books, 2016.

Plumwood, Val. "Gender, eco-feminism and the environment." Controversies in environmental sociology 1 (2004): 43-60.

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