Motherhood Beyond Boundaries: A Philosophical Study of Ashapurna Devi and Sara Ruddick/ মাতৃত্বের নতুন পাঠ : আশাপূর্ণা দেবী ও সারা রুডিকের দার্শনিক ভাবনা

Abstract

‘Motherhood’ is often seen as something naturally tied to womanhood. I have always found this idea both simple and complicated. In this paper, I try to look at it a bit differently. My discussion moves between two very different writers, one is our Bengali author Ashapurna Devi and the other one is Western feminist thinker Sara Ruddick. As I read their work, I keep noticing how the idea of motherhood changes with context and culture. Feminism, as we know, has long questioned traditional norms and demanded freedom from gender-based injustice. In contrast, Care Ethics, which grew more recently, reminds us that feelings and relationships are also a kind of moral wisdom. Within this space, the idea of motherhood becomes rich and worth thinking about. Ashapurna Devi’s trilogy (Prathom Protishruti, Subarnolata, Bakul katha) always draw me in. As all we know She never called herself a feminist, yet her characters often speak of quiet resistance. Through their daily lives and small choices, they challenge the old rules without even naming it. When I read her, I feel a closeness to the feminist way of thinking, though she never used that word herself. Sara Ruddick, writing from a different world, sees motherhood as a form of thinking, a practice of patience, care, and reflection. Though the two women lived in separate cultures, both see motherhood not as duty alone but as a moral way of being. By putting their ideas side by side, I try to see how feminism, care, and motherhood connect. It is not a fixed concept anymore, it grows and changes with emotion, experience, and time.