Voices Beyond Silence Trauma, Gendered Oppression, and Resilience among Devadasi Women in Sudha Murty’s Three Thousand Stitches

Abstract

Three Thousand Stitches: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives (2017) by Sudha Murty is an important literary and autobiographical portrayal of women within the parameters of Devadasi and the society around it. This study attempts to look at the titular text, not as the story of philanthropy and rehabilitation, but as a story of trauma, gendered oppression, caste-based marginalisation, voicelessness, agency and collective resilience. The article is interdisciplinary, employing theories of representation, feminist criticism and intersectionality as well as trauma studies. In particular, the study draws on Herman's theory of trauma and recovery and Crenshaw's critique of single-axis models of oppression, because the marginalisation that is mirrored in Murty's story can only be understood in relation to other forms of oppression. A study of Devadasi communities shows how caste, class, sexuality, religious sanction, economic precarity, and patriarchy intersect in historically specific ways to generate differentiated vulnerabilities (Torri, 2009; Geetha, 2021). The paper also uses qualitative textual analysis to decode the women's initial mistrust of Murty, not only as a sign of opposition to reform, but as a possibly protective response in the context of histories of exclusion and unequal power dynamics. It is significant that in the process of their involvement in education, in economic organisation, and in community based projects, they have moved from a situation of being given a victim role to a situation of collective agency. Meanwhile, the paper asks questions about Murty's role as the privileged narrator who intercedes for the experiences of the marginalised. It speaks of the success of rehabilitation, but it also refers to the process of becoming a community: a community of memory, solidarity, dignity and resilience, created through the metaphor of “three thousand stitches.” The article therefore suggests a story line of moving from structural oppression and trauma, to distrust and negotiated recognition, to collective voice, agency, and relational resilience.