Sunday, September 13, 2009
Fate or Religion
Umrao states, “I was totally without religion, and completely resigned to fate.” Umrao believes that her entire life has been submitted into the hands of fate rather than following the ways of religion to guide her life. She lived her life as a courtesan because she believes that is what fate had planned for her, and that if her life were lived through religion her life would have been different. In a sense is true because if she had abided by religion when she was little she would have never stepped outside where the strange man was in the yard waiting to kidnap her, and her whole life would have been different. Then again there is the fact that she did find religion later in life and yet she continued to be a courtesan when called upon, even though it is shunned by religion. My question is, would religion really have made a difference on her life?
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I think that if we make a quick link from fate to history in the context of this quote, we may have an interesting idea about the resignation of Umrao Jan's life to history rather than to religion. Though religion expresses agency in some very powerful ways, I think there is a way of understanding colonization, the Mughal's fall from hegemony, and the later bandying about of religion to create two dualistic national-religious identities as events that happened outside of religious agency. Thus the religious crisis to which Thanawi responds and to which Ruswa, in his own way, responds
ReplyDeleteI think that Umrao Jan would think that her life is based on what God's plan for her was. It isn't her fault she had to be a courtesan it was Dalivar Khans, and it isn't her fault she stepped outside of the house because it must have been God's plan. This is the story of a devout Muslim woman?
ReplyDeleteI like this idea of fate vs. religion. It makes you really think about who is in charge up there. Is it some arbitrary thing called “fate” that decides the events of our lives, or is it God. I would like to agree with Roberta that Umrao would believe God to be completely in control of her life. Since she was such a spiritual person already, I think Umrao would have liked to believe in a higher power that is watching over her. Although it was extremely sad how Umrao was torn from her home, I think Umrao would have believed that God has a plan for everything, even the bad parts of your life.
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