A Gendered Space: Through the Eyes of a Medieval Sandeshakavyam

Malavika Binny

Centre for Historical Studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University

As social scientists have argued, space can be read as a language with its own grammar and
vocabulary. If a space is analogous to language, I would like to argue that it is a language in
which the nouns are barely gender-neutral. It is also a language which has changed or moved
on with the times; the notion(s) of space; be it in terms of physical territoriality or mental
geography has seldom remained static. Space assists in defining a sexual division of labor; it
reproduces attitudes towards sexuality and body.1A pertinent question in this context is on
how spaces impact and is in turn impacted upon by the articulations of the body.Taboos ,
proscriptions and prohibitions on access and denial of access to women to certain spaces must
be considered in this regard.The use of conceptual and material boundaries to mark and
maintain difference means that the same spatial grid may underlie the social and symbolic
distinction between people, between those people and their world and between their and the
world of their gods.2 The organization of space enforces notions of social identities as well as
providing margins where identities defined through rights may be subverted. 3Space thus
serves as an analogy for the reproduction of social hierarchies and gendered divisions. The
notions on/of space are historically conditioned and since space provides the platform where
people meet, socialize and labor on an everyday basis, it is also the arena for the routinization
and embodiment of identity - specifically gender identity.
The paper seeks to explore the representation of women and also men in South Indian courtly
literature of the medieval period. Space serves both as a tool of analysis and a medium of
reference as the paper tries to explore the notions of power, morality and domesticity as
represented in medieval Sandesakavyas. While Unnuneelisandesham, a Manipravalam4
message poem composed in 12-13th century C.E. will be a primary text taken up for analysis,
other texts of the same genre such as Unniadicharitam and Chandrolsavam will also be
1

Roberta Gilchrist, Gender and Material Culture,Routledge, New York,1994,p.17

Henrietta Moore,Space, Text and Gender,Guilford Press, New York, 1996,p.4
3
Marie Louise Stig Sorenson, Gender Archaeology,Polity Press,2000,p.150
4
Manipravalam is a medieval performative language which is combination of Sanskrit and Tamil and was
mainly used for composition of courtly literature in Kerala.
2

perused as well other Sanskrit and Malayalam/Manipravalam texts of the same period has
also be used to provide for comparative analogies. The paper will be arguing for the fluidity
of spaces in the premodern period and the many accomodations and mechanisms by which
what was considered to be normative was subverted by both genders under specific social
scenarios. In sum, the paper seeks to argue for the use of space as an effective tool for
historical and gender analysis as it cracks open new portals and insights into historical
situations and seeks to bring to light certain female characters(who the texts refers to as
Nayikas or heroines) who effectively challenged social stereotypes.