Gita Mehta's Raj Book Analysis

The in-depth study of the novel reveals the fact that the miseries and trails are the same as a woman in a patriarchal society whether she is a peasant or a princess. The novel Raj under the veil of historical events it represents a woman’s – constant struggle to live with dignity. The novel revolves around the central character Jaya and her transformation from a mute observer to an active individual. Her struggle begins with her birth. It is a time of Indian renaissance. In her childhood, she learns the lesson from the Renaissance. She is educated and sophisticated. However, she is like an ordinary woman has faced many problems with her husband and never be treated as a genuine life partner by her husband. She struggles very hard to protect …show more content…
It is intricately interwoven with the political events but it has the tears and romance of a woman’s existence in India which saves the work from being a mere record of the all-too-well-known history of our freedom struggle, or a racy account of the grandeur and frivolity of the exorbitant life-style of the princess. (Bande 239)
Gita Mehta's Raj reflects a crucial period in the Indian history comprising Imperial British India and Royal India under the Princes. Raj opens the year 1897 with the birth of Tikka, the brother of Jaya and concludes in 1950, the end of an epoch when India attained freedom and the princely states merged with the Union. It is a clear historical episode that follows the progression of a young woman born into the Indian nobility under the British Raj. Besides presenting socio-political and cultural events Mehta has also depicted the romance of a woman’s existence in …show more content…
He brings up both his son and his daughter equally in all respects. The influence of western ideology to bring up both his children at equal level is clearly seen in the very opening lines of the novel,
“On a cold January morning when Jaya was five years old, her father insisted she accompany him into the jungle. The Maharani objected. The Maharajah overruled her” (Mehta 1)
Maharani insists that Jaya should be brought up with traditional manners and as true Rajput woman in conservative family traditions and customs. That’s how Raja Jai Singh arranges an English tutor Captain Osborne for Tikka to teach him the western education. At the same time, he arranges Mrs. Roy an Indian nationalist, for Jaya. It is with her Jaya has come to know about the national movement and gets a chance to meet the influential national leaders of the