the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

9
goddess with the human mother, imposlng the virtues of the
goddess on the human mother, and thus idolislng her. Indla
has a long hrstory of mother worshrp In the form of Aditi,
the mother of gods, Prichvi, the mother-earth, Slta, the
daughter of Mother-Earth, Durga, Saraswathi. Ganga, Yamuna,
Godavarr, Cauvery, Gayatli, Devl, Amblka Mythologically,
there are varlous shades to the mother-image - Kuntl, who
abandoned her ~llegitimate chlld, Gandharl, who cared for a
thousand Kauravas. Ka~keyi, who exlled her stepson for her
son's beneflt, Yashoda, one of the earllest surrogate
mothers The Hlndu woman In Indian l~terature 1s usually
based on mythic models from the Ramayana and Puranas, S~ta.
the silent sufferer - the archetme of Indlan womanhood, the
Earch-Mother, forbearance personlfled, the playmatze and
beloved Radha. the devotee Meera Of these, the Image of
the woman as Mother Earth, symbolrs1ng forbearance and
endurance, is the most persistent (Allad1 1989 11
1.3.2. Llke thelr Indlan counterparts, the Black mothers
have to contend wlth prevalllng stereotypes of Black
Motherhood In Afrlcan religlon and myth The Afrlcan Yomba
proverb says 'Mother 1s gold', ideallsing the mother-f:gure
ln African myth The women are deplcted as guardians of
traditions, and the strong Earch-Mother stands for
forbearance, stability and security It 1s generally
assumed that the black mother, more than the white mother,