Analysis Of Chira Banerjee's A Mistress Of Spices

Chitra Banerjee’s The Mistress of Spices is a diasporic tale built amidst a stream of voices, both male & female, sharing their joys and sorrows as immigrants to the United States. The author interweaves her text with strands of Magical Realism, Postcolonial Criticism and Feminine discourse to produce a patchwork of messages that overlap but never contradict.
The novel relates the story of Tilo, a Mistress of Spices. She is a priestess who knows the secrets of all spices. Her background has been etched out to leave an indelible impression on the mind of readers:
In the opening scene, the story appears to be a normal story located in India where the birth of a girl is still looked upon as a curse. People visit temples, offer prayers and perform rituals and beg for a male child. The Hindus
It was an island occupied by females only and it immediately brings to our mind tales related to feminist utopia. An island populated by females only. The Old woman would hold hands of the young girls and watched. If the hands were smooth and pliant; if the spices placed on the palms sang their songs, the girls would be accepted or else they were hurled into the sea:
Spices have strong colonial connotations and they also symbolise the subversive power of the postcolonial era. When we look back down the lanes and by lanes of history, the spices had first allured, enchanted and enslaved the foreign travelers with their latent powers. In the course of time these travelers became the rulers of the land. In this tale of dreams and desires, the spices are mastered by a female, incidentally called Mistress rendering a distinct colonial master-slave flavour. As long as Tilo follows the rules of the game, the spices obey her silently. Once she transgresses, the equation changes