Water by Bapsi Sidhwa: A Critique of Women Exploitation and Child Marriage

Abstract

Based on the exploitation of widows at Varanasi, Bihar-Bengal-border, the novel Water by Bapsi Sidhwa fictionalize the child marriages and women (widow) predicament through widow houses. The women like Chuyia, Kalyani became the victim of patriarchal domination and religious fundamentalism where women voice has no value. Besides the tragedy of widows, the novel centers on child protagonists like Chuyia and her predicament. Water is also known as the post-colonial novel and it is purely based on women exploitation. The religious conventions and social traditions are the centers of humiliation and exploitation of women.