Iqbal Zainab

About the Text

Title: The Herb of Sin (Junglee Booti) Author: Amrita Pritam Language: Hindi Publication Year: 1968

About the Author

Amrita Pritam, Born 31 August 1919, was an Indian author who penned her novels, short stories and poems in Hindi or Punjabi. She is renowned for her works, particularly dealing with partition and post-partition narratives, along with her staunch feminist narratives. Her works brought her several accolades which include a Sahitya Akademi Award, which she received in 1956, followed by a Padma Shri in 1969, Padma Vibhushan and Sahitya Akademi fellowship in 2004. She has been a notable author beyond her language domain, spearing several translations of her works into other Indian and foreign languages.

Plot

The narrative is centered around a conversation between the narrator and a character Angoori, which it briefly yet sufficiently hints towards various aspects of female positioning in society, marriage, patriarchy, love and sin. With calls to the past and quirky metaphors, the story extends beyond its conversation.

Characters

• The Narrator
• Angoori
• Prabhati
• Ram Tara
• Prabhati’s masters
• Angoori’s parents

Summary

Narrated from the perspective of the author, the story follows the character Angoori, a girl given into the second marriage of a servant in their colony, named Prabhati. The description begins with the narrator reminiscing about the first time Angoori had moved into the colony and the story of her marriage. Angoori was given into the marriage with Prabhati after his first wife had passed away. It is seen that Angoori was extremely young at that age, hence, had to live with her parents for few years before she could move in with her husband. Angoori is an extremely vibrant and playful girl, proudly displaying her jewellery and making new friends, after coming over her initial shyness. The story's core lies in the conversation between the narrator and Angoori. Where the narrator notices how Angoori doesn’t fit with Prabhati, and how females are sidelines while thinking about a [[metaphor],] with dough balls. The narrator enquires into the marriage rituals and customs in the village that reveals a wide array of practices that dissent female positions. This includes narratives that say reading is a sin for female and so is falling in love. Here, a belief is mentioned that a girl falls in love with a boy, only after the boy discretely feeds her a wild weed, the symptoms of which are considered rather negative. The story concludes with Angoori displaying the symptoms of being intoxicated by the weed, only to allude to her romantic appeal towards the colony’s chowkidar Ram Tara.