The transfiguration of submissive kumauni women as portrayed through the women protagonists in the novels of namita gokhale to the entrepreneurial aptitude of the present kumauni women

The function of literature has always been to educate, to entertain, and mainly to memorialize actual or fictional events. Thus its function is to leave records of people, places and things, and to keep language intact. Unraveling past and forgotten stories and events through literature has done wonders in analyzing the metamorphosis of people and events. Amongsta host of Indian writers one, who has left behind a storehouse of memories in books is, Namitha Gokhale. Though she was born in Lucknow yet she was very intimate with the issues of Kumauni women because she spent a major part of her life in ‘Naineetal’, a tourist place in Kumaun region. Amongst her novels, two novels which elucidate upon life of Kumauni women during the British Raj, are ‘Mountain Echoes’, and ‘Things to leave behind’. She has portrayed Kumauni women struggling to deliver themselves from the shackles of patriarchy while simultaneously engaging themselves in keeping intact the Kumauni culture. Her role was completely domestic. She struggled to access her domestic rights only. The paper highlights a contrast between the timid and submissive Kumauni women of the British Raj; whose success was defined by her exhibition of domestic chores only, as portrayed through the women protagonist in the novels of Namitha Gokhale, and the entrepreneurial quality that the Kumauni women have inculcated over decades. The scenario has completely undergone a mutation in the hand of the tool of education and an increasing awareness of gender equality. The Kumauni women have not only worked hard in preserving the culture of Uttarakhand but have also been involved in income generating activities. In spite of problems and prospects of women entrepreneurship, small units of micro enterprises have been set up. This has generated employment for Uttarakhandi rural women. There were a number of traditional activities which were suffering from inadequate income generation but, with confidence and a keen desire to make themselves financially sound and independent, majority of women entrepreneurs have endeavored in it and have emerged out successfully, providing a source of income to rural Uttarakhandi women.