The Plight of Voiceless and Subjugated Widows in Indira Goswami’s The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker

Abstract

After the untimely demise of her husband merely eighteen months into their marriage, Indira Goswami experienced a period of profound psychological distress, for which she depended on medication to attain a semblance of stability. The personal suffering found creative articulation in her seminal novel The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker.  Better known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami, she emerged from Guwahati, Assam, as one of the most distinctive voices in modern Indian literature, noted for her deep humanitarian consciousness and her engagement with issues of social justice. Originally composed in Assamese in 1986 under the title Dontal Hatir Une Khowa Howdah , the novel makes extensive use of the Kamrupi dialect, thereby embedding the narrative within the linguistic and cultural landscpe of the Kamrup region. Goswami later rendered the text into English in 2004, broadening its reach beyond regional boundaries. The novel offers a poignant exploration of widowhood and female subjugation within the framework of a patriarchal Assamese society. It exposes the persistent injustuces endured by women in familial and social institutions