VOICING THE SUBALTERN: DIVINE INTERVENTION AND FEMINIST EMPOWERMENT IN PRIYA’S SHAKTI THROUGH GRAPHIC NARRATIVES

Nighat Falgaroo; Khursheed Ahmad Qazi

doi:10.29121/shodhkosh.v4.i2.2023.3244

Authors

Nighat Falgaroo Research Scholars & Corresponding author, Department of English, North Campus, University of Kashmir.
Khursheed Ahmad Qazi Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Kashmir, North Campus

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v4.i2.2023.3244

Keywords:

Myths, Empowerment, Graphic Novel, Gender Justice, Divine Intervention

Abstract [English]

Priya’s Shakti is a 2014 progressive and ingenious graphic novel by Ram Devineni and Dan Goldman that has half-and-half spiritual power, feminism and activism to grapple with the theme of sexual violence in India. The paper probes into the interchange of mythical voice and empowerment by applying the theory of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s postcolonial feminism. Using the concept of Spivak’s “Subaltern”, the paper examines how Priya, the female protagonist, in the novel metamorphosis from a marginalized voice to an empowered figure through the spiritual power of Goddess Parvati with the help of the tiger. The paper delves into the examination and treatment of women character using the seeable and sayable medium of narration. By employing a mythical voice in the narration, the author cerebrally creates a space for survivors of sexual violence to repossess power with modern feminist discourse. The text also presents the concept of Dues ex machina as a force to combat patriarchal norms and inspire other women.

References

Baetens, J. & Frey, H. The Graphic Novel: An Introduction. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177849

Devineni, Ram and Vikas K. Menon. Priya’s Shakti, Rattapallax, 2014.

Gupta, Shipra. “The Priya Series-Twenty First Century Comic Avatar.”

Hirsch, M. Editor’s Column: Collateral damage. PMLA 119 (5), 2004, pp. 1209–1215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1632/S0030812900101695

https://doi.org/10.1632/003081204X17798 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1632/003081204X17798

Mukherjee, Sharmila. Modern Language Studies, vol. 45, no. 2, 2016, pp. 60–64. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/stable/44864059.

Nayar, P. K. The Indian Graphic Novel: Nation, History and Critique. Routledge. 2016 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659435 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315659435

Prakasan, Raveena, Kochi Edappally, and India MG Priya. “Reading through the “Coloured Canvas”: Unveiling Cultural Graphics in Indian Mythological Graphic Novels." journal of arts & humanities: 65.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the subaltern speak?” Imperialism. Routledge, 2023. 171-219. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003101536-9

—. “Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: New Nation Writers Conference in South Africa.” Interview by Leon de Kock. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, vol. 23, no. 3, 1992, pp. 29-47.