Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Set in 1954, this story follows an educated village girl, Rukmani, whose father’s straightened circumstances force her arranged marriage to an older tenant farmer when she is 12. Now an old woman, Rukmani is recalling the events of her life and the hardships she faced as urban development forced farming families like hers away from villages and into overcrowded cities.
Markandaya wrote simply and with tenderness. I fell in love with Rukmani, who has neither Lakshmi’s artistic talent nor Radha’s rebellious nature, but does have the determination and reliance of both sisters in The Henna Artist.
Classic Short Stories About Women by Rabindranath Tagore
Born in 1861 to a prominent, literary Bengali family, Tagore wrote poetry, prose, music and drama. Critical of British rule and sensitive to the plight of women caught in traditional, subordinate roles, Tagore wove these themes in his stories.
In a nod to Tagore, I made Kanta Agarwal, the young England-educated housewife in The Henna Artist, a distant relative of his. In 2019, Netflix added “Stories by Rabindranath Tagore,” a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous film series with acclaimed actresses in the lead roles of the writer’s novels and short stories. Each highlights a woman who defies convention and must live with the consequences. See it if you get a chance!
The Nature of Passion by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Although she was born in Germany to Jewish parents, Jhabvala should be declared an honorary Indian. Her marriage to an Indian architect led her to India, where she lived for 24 years, raised her children, and wrote many novels that described daily life in North India, deftly handling issues of caste and class as well as the challenges of living in a patriarchal society.
Several of these novels were turned into films by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. Although she went on to write both the novel and screenplay for the award-winning Heat and Dust, and screenplays for A Room With A View, Howard’s End and others, it’s her early novels about India I love best. Her ambivalent feelings about the country and its layers of caste/class lend an objective air to her narratives. The charming screenplay Shakespeare Wallah (produced by Merchant Ivory in 1965) was my inspiration for Parvati Singh to have the “Shakespeareana Group” perform at her Holiday Party in The Henna Artist.
From Purdah to the People by Rani Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat
On a 2009 visit to Jaipur with my mother, I met a Rajput family and their 87-year-old matriarch, Rani Lakshmi Kumari. She gifted me her book because she was so pleased to learn I was writing a novel set in her beloved Rajasthan and one that featured a strong female character (the Rani was a formidable public figure, having come out of purdah to run for Congress).
From this book, I gleaned a lot of background information about the lives of the two Maharanis in The Henna Artist. Lily Rathore, the Rani’s daughter (and the writer of the book’s Forward), shared stories about her Rajput caste and about attending MGD, Maharani Gayatri Devi public school for girls, founded by the late Maharani of Jaipur. MGD was my model for the Maharani School for Girls in my novel.
Collection: Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark Room, The English Teacher by R.K. Narayan
Narayan wrote with warmth, humor and compassion about the inhabitants of a small, fictional South Indian village in the 1940s, when Indians were making huge strides towards Independence.
Railing against British control, and India’s traditional views toward marriage, domesticity, and women’s subservient roles, he wove his beliefs and his autobiography charmingly into each story he wrote. And he married for love.