Khona: A Silent Voice of Female Leadership in Patriarchal Hegemony

<p>Khona, a legendary figure of ancient Bengal,<br>is famous for her ‘bachan’ or saying on<br>climate, agriculture and other environmental<br>issues, which survive in Bangladesh and<br>other parts of this region. In some versions<br>she is identified as a Sinhalese princess who<br>came floating to Bengal with her childhood<br>companion, Mihir, to the court of<br>Vikramaditya. As Khona or Leelavati, her<br>actual name, reveals to the court astrologer,<br>Baraha, that Mihir is his son, Baraha accepts<br>them. Mihir and Leelavati are both<br>astrologers and her deductions relating to the<br>newly born prince earns them a position at<br>the court. As Leelavati gradually attains<br>popularity, she turns into a threat for Baraha<br>and a terrible conflict due to gender<br>difference begins between the two. For<br>Baraha, Leelavati’s femininity is being<br>destroyed through her activities in the<br>masculine realm of the concerns of life<br>outside the four walls of a house. This is a<br>clear exposition of the idea of the<br>construction of ‘gender’ and it continues even<br>today. Khona’s life is a prime example of<br>how patriarchy denounces female leadership<br>and suppresses beneficial knowledge and<br>power when it comes through a woman. This<br>power provides a woman with a voice and<br>this voice is regarded as a threat to patriarchy.<br>Baraha combats this threatening voice by<br>silencing it; but, ironically, she attains<br>immortality through her proverbs handed<br>down the ages as ‘Khonar Bachan’. The<br>paper studies the phenomenon of ‘Khona’ as<br>part of the Asian women’s struggle to<br>establish their leadership through knowledge<br>and power and attain a decisive voice in the<br>policies of the state. </p>