The Red Lotus Of Chastity

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Somadeva: The Red Lotus of Chastity

The Red Lotus of Chastity is a romantic fiction written by Somadeva. The book is about

faithfulness between engaged couples. As the husband character, Guhasena leaves his wife

behind while going on a business trip, his wife Devasmita believe that he is going to be

unfaithful. For the wife to remain confident in his husband, both were given two Lotus of

morality that would wither away if one party decided to be untrustworthy. During the husband’s

stay on his business trip in Cathy, four merchant brothers decide to plot against her to break the

honor of her husband (960). The four brothers got the support of the nun who tried to manipulate

his wife to be unfaithful to her husband. While reading the story, I thought the sister managed to

trick Devasmita when she told the nun:

You introduce me to those handsome men

I have a lot of curiosity after reading the book because it is tough to explain how

Devasmita discovered the truth about the plot against her instantly and even managed to teach

them an unforgettable lesson. She is either physic on the chastity lotus was secretly transmitting

info to her.

The book has four scheming characters who depend on trick precisely disguise to attain

their objectives. For instance, the dishonest nun’s follower by Siddhikari the name depend on his

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deceiving style to gain the confidence of a wealthy business man for whom he had a scheme to

steal all the money from by harming anyone who tried to stop him. For him, the deceiving

character is significance to gain the trust of the other person to attain the wealth.

The four brothers in the book who act as the main characters support the book’s central

theme of female empowerment. In the book, the four brothers are inquisitive by the red lotus

Guhasena, a merchant who lives on the Island of Cathy. These four brothers planned a plot on

the best approach to use to know the importance the never-withering lotus possess. After

discovering his secret, they plan and develop a scheme to find their way into going to his house

to go to bed with his wife known by the name Devasmita. Due to their actions, the writer of the

book generates the book’s theme of female heroism (961).

These four merchants brother are first introduced in the book when they strike their

interest in the Lotus Guhasena carries in his bag wherever he goes. They are quite curious about

the wealth Merchant’s good fortune plus a happy life, and so they do everything possible to

discover what is in his lucky life. Curiosity is a very crucial aspect of the book because, without

any obstacle in the ways of the main characters, then there is no story to tell. The curiosity aspect

of the story says much about the identity and traits of the main characters, and in most cases, it is

an indicator of insecurity.

The four brothers who have an aroused curiosity, are all set to sail and doing even the

impossible to undo the honor of the Guhasena wife. These four characters have a severe

obsession with the lout, how to cause harm to it and destroy and cause ruin to the faith that the

two couples have in one another. Their willingness to destroy Guhasena and his wife relationship

verify another defining characteristic of the two brothers. These brothers blatantly regard

unintelligent female beings who are easy to manipulate via their plot to take Devasmita to bed.

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Their scheme fails terribly when the wife discovers their plan and outwits them. The defeat by

Guhasena wife demonstrates the theme proto-feminists that lies in the story (963). Devasmita did

not only outsmart the first brother who attempted on her but, also the other three. Each brother

had too much to even confess to one another that they could not achieve their goal and that a

woman outsmarted them.

I admire the fact that the writer has a strong female protagonist who is independent-

minded and can handle herself with care. It is very admirable to see her exercising the rules that

the writer laid down in his book “The Prince.” In one particular instance, the punishment that the

female protagonist exposes the three brothers to when they decided to seduce her so she can

break the chastity agreement between her and her husband. After all, the fact that she managed to

drag the three men and stripping of all their human decency via brandishing an iron on their

bodies and later throwing them into the sewage pit is not precisely what one would call a

forgiving character. It serves as a reminder of our class discussion with the professor and how he

told us about the importance of not being too sweet in a world where the good becomes the prey

of the bad ones. This is very clear on the deceiving nun’s character than the obscene nature of the

three brothers (962). According to the writer of the book, we as human have no other choice but

to act evil to survive in this world. The world is full of crafty people who will do anything to take

advantage of the other’s weaknesses and, that is what the female protagonist does to protect her

dignity as well as remain faithful to her husband.

The manner in which Devasmita controls her emotions is similar to a story in Sakuntala.

After her encounter with the nun who tells her a story on how to satisfy her sexual needs while

her husband was away, she manages to ignore the story and to leave it behind her mind. Instead,

she can reason out via the situation and even predicts what has happened to her partner the real

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intentions of the evil nun. This aspect of the book is very similar to the development of the king

towards the end where he meets with his son and learns how to apply intellect and feelings

together to analyze the situation and come up with conclusions. On the contrary, the three

brothers were unable to constrain their emotions due to their desire outweighing the logical

thinking which eventually led to severe consequences that expose them to shame. The three

brother are selfish and their act of pretense that nothing happened after visiting Desmavita just

they wouldn’t face the shame alone (963).

For her to successfully carry out the plan to save her husband, after punishing the four

brothers, she has to disguise herself as male. She even went ahead and shared the story with the

public about why she was out looking for the four brothers who made the audience laugh at her.

Even she revealed to the audience that she was a woman, they did not reprimand her for the way

he treated the four evil brothers and she event received an award from the king. The word given

to her demonstrates the value of justice and their culture and how men women are considered

equal regarding status quo.

The practice of loyalty is a very significant theme in the story. However, it is evident that

the male protagonist believed in his wife completely and he did not want to test her love. Even

so, his wife wanted to prove his love, and she also had insecurity issues, and she did not have

faith in her husband as he was about to go on a business trip. It is evident also that the Chasity

lotus given to each couple had no importance since neither of the two parties committed any act

of infidelity nor neither of the two loti withered as expected in case of cheating. The lotus only

manages to arouse the curiosity of the four brothers but did not directly affect the marriage

between the two couples.

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The way in which the writer begins the story is fascinating. When the Merchant asks, the priest

told him that:

The Brahmins can bring about everything on earth using the scriptural sacrifices, (964)

The statement sounds like a dream come true to the merchant, but in life, wishes come

with prices and impacts. As it is well known from the story of the barren king who sacrificed his

only son to get many sons, the merchant had to sacrifice some of his riches to appease the priest

so he can have a son of his own. Sacrifices are evident in the entire story. When Devasmita

decided to run off with her husband, she had to give up her parents and leave behind her

responsibility of being a good daughter. For one to attain one thing, one has to let go of another.

Another act in the book that portrays sacrifice is when Guhasena sacrificed his time with his wife

to take over his father’s business hence making a trip in the Island of Cathy and therefore in life,

there is always a tradeoff in getting something in return.

The story reminds me so much of once in the European culture where families who

followed old traditions and gave so much importance to boy children and women only seen as

useful during childbirth to the boys. The same thing is evident in Sakuntala when the king is

desperately in need of a son as his successor and also in the lotus of honor where the king

sacrificed his only son in the hope of getting more in return. The author also demonstrates that

only woman become jealous in a relationship. In the case of Devasmita which according to my

opinion I feel it is partially a consequence where men are always given privileges with more

rights than women. Even though I dislike this aspect of the book where man is treated like the

only beings who have rights, I love how the writer presented of the traits of the leading female

character as a woman who does not keep quiet and obeys to the rules. Instead, the female

protagonist is brilliant and makes her voice heard and took control of her life (966).

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The female character in the book portrays an independent person. Most of the stories I

have read in the past describe female characters as individuals who are easy to manipulate by

their emotions. For instance, in the book Venus and Adonis, Venus is subjected to her feelings

for Adonis hence letting it get in the way of her responsibilities. However, the lotus of morality,

we finally encounter a female protagonist who manages to efficiently uses her reasoning and

logic throughout the entire story. Her firm character is demonstrated when the nun tried to

deceive her, and she managed to differentiate between the truth and the lies logically. She

managed to quickly decide how she should go forward and go ahead and punish them. The acts

shoes how intelligent and independent the character since she depends on anyone to make the

right decisions (967).

Davasmita in her character was sensitive enough to play along in what some could

consider immoral to get her husband back to TamRalipti. The story was a clear example of how

people survive in a world where others trick you for personal reasons all the time. Even though

Devasmita shows morality by refusing to go to bed with the immoral men while her husband was

away, she did not hesitate to take the role of the evil character to win her battle against her

enemies which the nun and the four brothers were not expecting.

Devasmita helps maintain a stand that women could think and make a decision for

themselves and make up their minds and also manage their homes without the help of a male

figure. Moreover, loyalty was another characteristic displayed in the book. The leading female

surpassed the temptations and maintained her dignity and marriage agreement even with her

husband away from her. Due to her bond character, she managed to protect both her integrity and

her husband’s, and she received honor from all upright people. The role of disguise in the book

suggests that the understanding of female makes them a great asset to male. Men and women

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protect each other. While men have the responsibility to provide for their wives, the most

considerable assets that women possess is their capacity to use their minds to craft ways to

remain useful and fulfill their feminine desires (967).

The leading female character is a smart and dignified wife who cannot be easily tricked.

Even after being tempted at a very critical life in her marriage, she still chose to remain faithful

to her husband. The book central theme portrays the power of women to withstand rough

moments in their lives without depending on others to help them. The book serves its purpose

well in demonstrating the independence of women in the society. The book is fascinating and

suitable for everyone to read to understand the importance of gender equality in the community.

Everyone deserves a chance to live their lives fully without others treating them as inferior since

everyone is essential in their way. Marriage is the foundation for the development of a society

hence faithfulness in a marriage is very important since our society values are losing their worth

because of the adverse impacts of broken marriages.

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Work cited

Somadeva. “The Red Lotus of Chastity.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin

Puchner. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 960-967

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