Wise people often say that the extent to which the country is civilized can be deducted from the place which is given to women in the society. On one hand this statement is rather truthful, because in the majority of cases the countries where women have equal rights with men are economically and politically developed, and the general welfare is highly-rated. On the other hand, there still exist some countries where women occupy rather low position and have much less rights compared to men, however, these countries prosper and find the ways for development keeping to the same old restrictive traditions.
India remains one of the most interesting countries in the world in terms of religion, traditions and customs, rather striking difference between various strata of population and class division. At the same time people find this country and its inhabitants to be very harmonious within the frames of their traditions. Some explain it by religious background of the country which reflects old and checked wisdom. Others say that in comparison to other countries and other religions, the place granted to women in India was very high and namely this was the reason of India’s developed culture.
This paper intends to explain the main themes of Shudha Mazumdar’s book, “Memoirs of an Indian Woman”, a religious theme among them as the most important and defining one, and its place in cultural heritage of India and its usage as a guide to understand Indian philosophy better.
The main heroine of the book “Memoirs of an Indian Woman” is an embodiment of many women’s similar life stories, the main issues connected with position of an Indian woman in society from childhood and till the end of her life are depicted in a close-to-life manner. To understand why the events in the novel took certain direction it’s necessary to get acknowledged with the political, economical and cultural position of the country in the beginning of 20th century…
