BEYOND THE ZENANA: GENDERED SPACES AND RELATIONAL AGENCY IN TAGORE’S FICTION

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore’s literary vision is distinguished by a poetic sensibility that intertwines philosophical depth with psychological realism. His fictions, especially concerning women’s lives, unfolds in domestic spaces where identity, ethics, and emotion intersect. This article explores how Rabindranath Tagore reimagines gendered spatiality in his fiction, focusing on the negotiation between domestic and public spaces in Chaturanga, Chokher Bali, and Nashtanirh. Drawing on feminist spatial theory, especially of Luce Irigaray and Doreen Massey, it examines how his women characters navigate and transform the “zenana” or inner domestic quarters. These female protagonists are active agents who subtly reshape their spatial and emotional environments. Irigaray’s concept of the feminine as both a site of inscription and ethical disruption, coupled with Massey’s view of space as relational and fluid, provides critical lens to analyze how gender, space, and agency intersect.  The zenana, often emblematizing patriarchal control, becomes a liminal space where emotional labour and relational agency subtly challenge and reshape gendered subjectivity. Through a feminist-materialist lens, the article shows how Tagore’s domestic interiors operate as terrains of ethical inquiry and emotional resonance, challenging rigid dichotomies between public and private, and spiritual and material life.