Women in Translation Month: Works of fiction by women authors from ten Indian languages

The Loneliness of Hira Barua: Stories, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated from the Assamese by Ranjita Biswas

Hira Barua, an ageing widow living in a conflict-ridden region of Assam with her beloved Tibetan spaniel fears she is beginning to resemble a lonely Englishwoman from her past. A vicious sexual assault by the invading military drives a group of women into a shelter home. On a fateful night, a group of prostitutes make an extraordinary sacrifice for the safety of their companions.

In these, and thirteen other piercing, intimate portraits, women navigate family, violence, trauma, ambition and domesticity with caution, grace and quiet resilience. Written in a variety of styles, from gritty social realism, and folklore to magical realism, The Loneliness of Hira Barua is a modern classic of Indian literature.

A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There, Krishna Sobti, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell

Delhi, 1947. The city surges with Partition refugees. Eager to escape the welter of pain and confusion that surrounds her, young Krishna applies on a whim to a position at a preschool in the princely state of Sirohi, itself on the cusp of transitioning into the republic of India. She is greeted on arrival with condescension for her refugee status, and treated with sexist disdain by Zutshi Sahib, the man charged with hiring for the position. Undaunted, Krishna fights back. But when an opportunity to become governess to the child maharaja Tej Singh Bahadur presents itself-and with it a chance to make Sirohi her new home once and for all-there is no telling how long this idyll will last.

The Lesbian Cow and Other Stories, Indu Menon, translated from the Malayalam by Nandakumar K

A Gond tribal activist is kidnapped by the goons of a giant mining company forcibly acquiring land in his village. In order to defame him, they shoot a porn film with him and a young prostitute who turns out to be his childhood sweetheart; a cobbler skins his daughter’s hanging corpse to make the special “Cinderella shoes” he had once promised her; an LTTE female tiger accused of plotting the assassination of an Indian leader ruminates on the deaths of a Sri Lankan Tamil separatist leader and a French priest who tried to assassinate Louis XV on the same date centuries apart; a nurse with bovine features stalks a female patient whose live-in partner confronts the lesbian cow and is assaulted by her.

Indu Menon’s stories are not for the fainthearted. At the centre of all that blood, gore and broken bones lies the inveterate spirit of wronged women, who refuse to go down without a fight.

The Princess and the Political Agent, Binodini Devi, translated from the Manipuri by L Somi Roy

The Princess and the Political Agent tells the love story of the author’s aunt Princess Sanatombi and Lt Col Henry P Maxwell, the British representative in the subjugated Tibeto-Burman kingdom of Manipur. A poignant story of love and fealty, treachery and valour, it is set in the midst of the imperialist intrigues of the British Raj, the glory of kings, warring princes, clever queens and loyal retainers.

Binodini’s perspective is from the vanquished by love and war, and the humbling of a proud kingdom. Its sorrows and empathy sparkle with wit and beauty, as it deftly dissects the build-up and aftermath of the perfidy of the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891.

A Rag Doll After My Heart: A Poetic Novel, Anuradha Vaidya, translated from the Marathi by Shruti Nargundkar

First published in Marathi in 1966, this unique novella in free verse tells an age-old story: that of a woman’s deep desire to be a mother

Setting out life as a game in which the moves are predetermined, and yet where rules exist only to be twisted, perhaps negotiated, sometimes even changed, Anuradha Vaidya deftly engages the reader in a sort of play, suggesting a joining of the dots, a connecting of line endings that lead the reader deeper into the story.

As the story traces a relationship that begins with unquestioning love that, over time, transforms into tension and distance, the reader is encouraged to linger, or jump back and forth across stanzas and lines, to navigate, interpret, and savour the beauty of the expression, both in the turn of phrase and the coinage of new words.

Tell the Tale, Urvashi, Dalip Kaur Tiwana, translated from the Punjabi by Bhupinder Singh

This is the tragic intergenerational saga of a landed Sikh family in late 20th-century Punjab. Devinder, his three sisters and their widowed, deeply religious mother form a close-knit family. Devinder’s special bond with his eldest sister Kuldeep is challenged by his marriage to Alka, a beautiful, restless woman constrained by traditional roles and expectations.

Exploring the dynamics of family life, human relationships, the evolving roles of women and the social structures within which they are rooted, the novel addresses questions of identity and alienation, tradition and modernity against the backdrop of a wider cultural disorientation of our times and hauntingly captures the search for the meaning of life, loss and death.

The Curse: Stories, Salma, translated from the Tamil by N Kalyan Raman

In The Curse, author and poet Salma blasts through the artifice of genre and language to reveal the messy, violent, vulnerable and sometimes beautiful realities of being a woman in deeply patriarchal societies. Loosely rooted in the rural Muslim communities of Tamil Nadu, these stories shine a light on the complex dramas governing the daily lives of most women moving through the world.

In the title story, a young spinster is caught between her desire for marriage and a dark family history that haunts her like a curse. In “Toilets”, a woman recounts in stunning, visceral detail how access to the most basic human space has been regulated by trauma, shame and the male gaze. In “The Orbit of Confusion”, a daughter writes a heartbreaking letter, struggling to come to terms with her anger and love for the woman who raised her. In these and five other emotionally charged stories that are at times humorous, even spooky, Salma crafts exquisite and contradictory inner worlds like Alice Munro with the playfulness and spirit of Ismat Chughtai – in a voice that is entirely her own.

Cracked Glass Jar and Other Stories, Chandra Latha, translated from the Telugu by CLL Jayaprada

The fifteen stories in the collection reflect contemporary cultural changes in Indian families. They stand witness to social, political and economic changes in globalised India and are in a way histories told from below. The writer’s interests are wide-ranging – from children and women issues to unethical practices in professions, to the devastation of farmers’ lives and environmental degradation. In her stories, nature is the real friend of her lonely characters. However, damaging the current divisive and destructive forces are, her characters fight against these at times boldly and at others quietly, and live in hope and find happiness while playing positive roles in other's lives.

The Crooked Line, Ismat Chughtai, translated from the Urdu by Tahira Naqvi

The youngest in a large but indifferent family, Shaman is a lonely child who convinces herself that she is unlovable. Her adolescent fears and desires grow even as she does – from unruly child to diffident student leader, then idealistic school principal and finally bitter wife to an Irish Army Captain with whom she – a staunch nationalist – is fundamentally incompatible. Although able to form some deep friendships, Shaman’s sexual and romantic passion remains unfulfilled, deeply impacting her sense of self.

The social mirrors the personal and as her beloved Hindustan struggles towards independence, so Shaman too gropes for some unifying narrative that will help her make sense of an unhappy life. In The Crooked Line, Ismat Chughtai reveals the core of the female psyche. She exposes all in this rich and powerful novel, a triumph of Urdu literature.

The Murderer’s Mother, Mahasweta Devi, translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha

The Murderer’s Mother takes readers to the late 1970s in the Indian state of West Bengal, where the Communist Party-led Left Front has just been voted into power. It tells the story of Tapan, who has been installed as a gang leader by the most powerful man in the locality in order to kill “unwanted obstacles,” which he does, one after another. Tapan knows there is no other way he can earn a living, but at the same time, he is desperate to protect his family. He tries to stop petty crime and assaults on women, even as he protects his patron’s interests. Through the dissonance, he becomes both a feared and revered figure, but his patron’s game becomes clear: now the murderer, too, must be elimina

Disclosure: Arunava Sinha is the editor of Books and Ideas section of Scroll.