“Mahamaya”

A Literary Research Paper

By
Alondata, Ayupan, Calapit, De Jesus, Gatchalian

Submitted to
Ms. Cielina Fe T. Soriano and Mr. Mark John G. Macola
3/13/2019
 Indian culture has been around for several thousand years, different states have different
traditions, and the story Mahamaya by Rabindrath Tagore seems to focus on the topic of arranged
marriages in India. Arranged marriage is part of Indian culture, it is Indians are accustomed to
marry somebody chosen by a family member, and not by their hearts.

An arranged marriage is one in which one or both spouses do not (or, in the case of some
adults with learning or physical disabilities or mental incapacity, cannot) consent to the marriage
and violence, threats, or any other form of coercion is involved. The pressure put on people to
marry against their will can be physical (including threats, actual physical violence and sexual
violence) or emotional and psychological (for example, when someone is made to feel like they’re
bringing shame on their family). Financial abuse (taking your wages or not giving you any money)
can also be a factor. It is part of culture so it is considered to be normal for Indians to marry
somebody whom are picked by a family member (usually the parents, but in some cases the older
siblings). It usually involves little to no genuinely romantic feelings, causing conflicts such as
violence and coercion to occur during the spouses’ union.

The process of arranged marriages in India are long, drawn-out processes. Finding the
perfect match may take months, or sometimes years. In some cases, parents send out word to look
for match. Some recruit a local match maker. Once a match is established, the elders of the family
first meet at a neutral place to talk and also to figure out the suitability of the match firsthand. In
these meetings, the families try to judge the financial and cultural barometer of each other through
direct or indirect talks.

The top criteria would be the religion and culture. Families with the same religion and
culture will most likely appeal more to each other. Hindus will marry Hindus, while Muslims will
look for a match within the Muslim community and Christian families will prefer their children
getting married to a Christian. This is to preserve culture of their region or religion.

There are some other criteria for deciding for a match such as caste, horoscope, appearance,
stature. But we will choose to focus on the history of the tradition which has been held on for a
long time until the present.

In the story, Rajeev asked Mahamaya to marry him but she refused, their different social
statuses her main reason for doing so. To further prevent her from marrying rajeev, her brother,
Bhavanicharan, chooses a person for her to marry instead of rajeev. He chose someone sick and of
old age. The man Mahamaya was to be wed with, died the next day, so she had to be cremated
with him per culture. Funeral pyre is the term for being burned with your spouse when s/he passes
away.

In Indian culture, a funeral pyre is thought to be a way for someone to be reincarnated.

They believe that the souls should be detached from the material world, so an open cremation is
needed. The soul would reach the sky immediately. This was around for quite a long time ago.

When Rajeev proposed to Mahamaya, she was clearly in disbelief, irritated that the
possibility of a union was brought up. She was well aware of what her family wanted for her, her
thoughts showed that she knew that her family had too much pride to let her marry someone like
Rajeev, a man of a lower class and a man who was financially insecure. With the application of
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, it can be understood that the text clearly shows the effects of Indian
customs and tradition to its people’s decisions and sense of self.

Mahamaya is observed to be avoiding the thought of following her heart by the line “Love
is one thing but marriage is another” by dismissing her feelings for Rajeev. This denial may also
be the reason why she was being unreasonable after Rajeev’s proposal, acting like she didn’t care
that Rajeev was leaving the village.

When it came to the point that she was to be cremated alive to be with her dead spouse, she
changed her mind again, proving that she never really meant what she said, she told Rajeev to wait
for her. It is clear that she is unsure and unstable, unable to truly mean what she said. The fact that
the old Brahmin was dead, gave her hope, and made her think it was possible for her to do what
she wanted.

Mahamaya was described as a beautiful woman. She was confident and bright, her outer
appearance was her greatest asset. The scars she attained from the funeral pyre took this away from
her, ruining her entire left cheek. Believing that her outer appearance was all she was, she agreed
to stay with Rajeev if he promised to never take her veil off out of insecurity.

Mahamaya secretiveness affected Rajeev, making him feel out of place and lost. So, out of
pure desperation and curiosity, Rajeev eventually took Mahmaya’s veil off while she was asleep,
disobeying his wife’s orders. The sudden betrayal triggers Mahamaya to leave Rajeev out of fear
and broken trust.

Her society made her vulnerable. This caused her to develop a fear of being herself, a fear
of disappointing others and the fear of being disappointed with others. She developed feelings of
distrust and distress leading to insecurity. She chose to leave the things that triggered her to feel
insecure.