Treatment of Women in Bhabani Bhattacharya’s A Goddess Named Gold

Abstract

Bhabani Bhattacharya is not only a creative storyteller but a socially conscious novelist who consistently interrogates the complex relationship between individual lives and larger cultural, historical, and ideological forces. His novel A Goddess Named Gold functions as an allegory that intertwines the themes of material greed, social exploitation, and gendered subjugation. At the centre of the narrative is Meera, a young peasant girl who embodies both the vulnerability and resilience of the rural female experience. Presented as submissive, superstitious, and naïve, Meera’s character reflects the entrenched limitations imposed on women by poverty, patriarchy, and illiteracy. Her misplaced trust in male authority figures—particularly the manipulative merchant Sheth—demonstrates how women are exploited under the guise of reverence and myth. Bhattacharya’s skilful blending of fable and social realism exposes the paradox of women being exalted as “goddesses” while simultaneously being denied agency and autonomy. The novel critiques the cultural rhetoric that idealises women as Griha Lakshmi but strips them of power whenever they resist male dominance or challenge patriarchal norms. Through satire, Bhattacharya highlights the hypocrisy of a system that venerates women symbolically yet marginalises them socially and economically. A Goddess Named Gold ultimately portrays the treatment of women as a reflection of broader social contradictions: they are celebrated for their supposed moral strength, yet constrained to roles of servitude, sacrifice, and obedience. The novel thus stands as a significant commentary on gender inequality, illustrating how women’s identities are shaped and suppressed within the intersecting forces of myth, material desire, and patriarchy.