Summary Of Sanskara And The Offspring By Indira Goswami

Examining Indira Goswami’s story “Sanskara” or “The Offspring” this paper will explore the disabilities and functionalities of region specific caste system in India. As it analyses the complex nuances of marginality in terms of caste, it also reveals the complementary nature of caste and class in certain cases as Indira Goswami has demonstrated, that leads to unique identity formation at multiple levels. In this Story Damayanti’s course of actions heightens the fact how the age old discourse of ‘caste-purity’ and ‘othering’ of people on the basis of the difference in creed/religion continues to flow furtively through our blood and how difficult it is to be liberated from inside even though there is exterior freedom.
In this story indira Goswami has depicted how the inheritance of the traditional canon crushes the souls with rigid dogma and the way the inhuman rituals that have survived into our times, displace the life blood of healthy emotions …show more content…
Like its theory of origin, caste, is definitely plural in nature in India for it depends broadly on local aspects. While discussing the origin of caste, A.P.Barnabas and Subhash C. Mehta in Caste in Changing India aptly comment on the plurality of the caste theories: “…there are also so many theories on the origin of the caste system in India – some seeking its roots primarily in the racial and ethnic differences, some in the socio-spiritual evolution of the tribal characteristics of India in ancient times, some only in the occupational differences, some merely in the spiritual beliefs of the pre-Aryans and Arayans in India and so forth. It is likely that several factors working jointly led in course of time to the emergence of the Indian caste system, its social, economic and ideological factors being specially influenced by several