The Right of Entry - Spatial Politics and the Gendered Home in Kundanika Kapadia’s Seven Steps in the Sky

Priyadarsini Pradhan; Dr. Pranati Das; Dr Sudarsan Sahoo

doi:https://doi.org/10.63942/brjssh.v5.i10.p59.4720

The Right of Entry - Spatial Politics and the Gendered Home in Kundanika Kapadia’s Seven Steps in the Sky

Priyadarsini Pradhan, Dr. Pranati Das and Dr Sudarsan Sahoo

Listen to the introduction

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of spatiality, gender, and agency in Kundanika Kapadia’s seminal Gujarati novel, Seven Steps in the Sky (Sat Pagla Aakashma). Moving beyond purely Western spatial theories, this study employs a framework grounded in Indian feminist criticism and post-colonial theory—engaging with the works of Partha Chatterjee, Tanika Sarkar, and Michel Foucault. It argues that the domestic sphere in the novel functions not merely as a private dwelling but as the “inner domain” of cultural preservation, where the female subject is surveilled and silenced to maintain the sanctity of the patriarchal kula (clan). The paper analyses the protagonist Vasudha’s trajectory from the stifling enclosure of her marital home to the limitless expanse of the “sky”, interpreting this journey as a radical reclamation of the swadharma (self-duty) that transcends traditional domestic obligations.

Domesticity Gendered Space.Indian Feminist Literature Kundanika Kapadia Panopticon Seven Steps in the Sky Spatial Politics

Read Article Download PDF

Readers can now gain more insights about this research manuscript using chat. Powered by Scholar Lens AI.

MCP BRJ now support Model Context Protocol

Or import this page into a chat

ChatGPT

Claude

Gemini

Research ID

Universal Unique Research ID

Citation Generator

Cite This Research Manuscript

Pradhan, P. et al. (2025-12-15). The Right of Entry - Spatial Politics and the Gendered Home in Kundanika Kapadia’s Seven Steps in the Sky. Boston Research Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 5(10), 59-66.

References

Bachelard, G. (1994). The poetics of space (M. Jolas, Trans.). Beacon Press. Beauvoir, S. de. (2011). The second sex (C. Borde & S. Malovany-Chevalier, Trans.). Vintage Books. Chatterjee, P. (1993). The nation and its fragments: Colonial and postcolonial histories. Princeton University Press. Cixous, H. (1976). The laugh of the Medusa (K.1 Cohen & P. Cohen, Trans.). Signs, 1(4), 875–893. Das, V. (1996). Language and body: Transactions in the construction of pain. Daedalus, 125(1), 67–91. Dev Sen, N. (2002). The wind beneath my wings. Indian Literature. Sahitya Akademi. Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books.2 Foucault, M. (1986). Of other spaces: Utopias and heterotopias (J. Miskowiec, Trans.). Diacritics, 16(1), 22–27. Friedan, B. (1963).3 The feminine mystique. W. W. Norton & Company. Jain, J. (2011). Indigenous roots of feminism: Culture, subjectivity and agency.4 Sage Publications. Kakar, S. (1978).5 The inner world: A psycho-analytic study of childhood and society in India. Oxford University Press.6 Kapadia, K. (1994).7 Seven steps in the sky (Kunjbala & W. Anthony, Trans.). Penguin Books.8 Kishwar, M. (1989). Women Bhakta poets. Manushi, (50–52). Lefebvre, H. (1991).9 The production of space (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Blackwell.10 Menon, N. (2012). Seeing like a feminist. Zubaan/Penguin Books. Nabar, V. (1995). Caste as woman. Penguin Books India. Pateman, C. (1988).11 The sexual contract. Stanford University Press. Sarkar, T. (2001). Hindu wife, Hindu nation: Community, religion, and cultural nationalism.12 Permanent Black. Satchidanandan, K. (1999).13 That’s it. Indian Literature, 43(5). Tharu, S., & Lalita, K. (Eds.). (1991). Women writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present. The Feminist Press. Woolf, V. (1929). A room of one’s own. Harcourt, Brace and Company.

Copyright

© 2025 Pradhan, Das and Sahoo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Priyadarsini Pradhan

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.