Vol. 6, Issue 9, Part D (2020)

Abstract
Kamala Markandaya, an outstanding women novelist, portrays an authentic position of women in the society. Her female protagonists reveal how economic and social distortions affect women more adversely. Her novels evolve universal concept of love, caring and concord and ensure the endurance and vitality of Indian womanhood. They are reflective of the awakened feminine sensibility in modern India. The novelist skillfully presents the pathetic condition of women because of the conservative and dominant patriarchal culture. Nalini of ‘A Handful of Rice” and Rukmani of ‘Nectar in a Sieve’ suffer due to economic strains while ‘Some Inner Fury’ of Kamala Markandaya shows that only money can’t ensure happiness. The novelist focuses on the shared humanity of man. She emphasizes that harmonious concern between human beings is essential to solve the social problems. Her characters overcome the inequalities, the invisible barriers against the fair sex in the existing social system. She protests against allotting rights according to wealth, power and sex rather than plain humanity. The orthodox concept of women as a patient sufferer is changing gradually to be perceived as having the same needs, ambition and humanism as men.