Magical realism and female empowerment in Moniru Ravanipur's "Satan's Stones"

Satan's Stones

Moniru Ravanipur's "Satan's Stones" is a short story in a collection of short stories of the same name. The story is set in the remote regions of Iran where it explore facets of relationships in contemporary Iranian life, particularly ever-shifting relations that can be found in the rural villages. This story represents a literary experimentation and a new style in Persian fiction in the vein of "magical realism." The fundamentalist Iranian government has banned "Satan's Stones." Its openly frank explorations of these relationships in Iranian society offends the majority of Islamic leaders in the modern Islamic Republic of Iran.

While the literary style in "Satan's Stones" is an issue, a much deeper one is the evocation of the Iranian past, particularly a non-Islamic Zoroastrian Persian past that antedates the Islamic period and with an eclectic folk magical tradition that flourished during times in Iranian history when the Shiite society was more liberal and has went into seclusion when times are repressive. In Zoroastrian tradition, women are treated equally with men and a male is not needed to deliver the honor of the family in the next life (Jayaram).

It is this more level playing field and a more respectful male attitude toward the female half. In this vein, Maryam's relationship with the old matron is critical in translating the abstract world of the stories of the djinn into a concrete present reality that will uplift women in the eyes of Shiite Iranians. Iranians have heard such stories straight from the mouths of the mullahs which they believe in as religious dogma. It is this "kosher" entrance to the pre-Muslim Iranian heritage that Ravanipur is attempting to use. Also, selecting a figure named Maryam secures the heroine a respected place in the present world of Orthodox Shiite Islam. She is the connection with the present Iranian woman.

A. The World of Abstract Perception

1. Maryam as a Heroine in Islam

Ravanipur's magical realism is not just in the past. She moves into the Islamic era in a complete way by identifying her heroine Maryam with the one positively portrayed woman in the Koran, Maryam and her relationship with her older Aunt and matron Anna (Channah in Arabic) (Pennington). The use of Maryam as a transformative instrument directly relates back to the abstract idea of Maryam as relationship to the old tradition represented by the old matron and bringing it into the present Shiite reality to try to raise the perception of the value and role of women in contemporary Iranian society. However, there is a definite double symbolism as the old Matron chides a village woman for seeing her as a vision of the "Virgin Mary (Rav-n?

p-r, and Ghanoonparvar, 6)."

2. Pre-Islamic Tradition

Unfortunately, things become even more difficult for the matron. She is scared and shuts the windows shutters with a bang (Rav-n?

p-r, and Ghanoonparvar, 5). Like the old Zoroastrian traditions, she is locked away in a closet or behind closed doors, just as the Zoroastrians would have secluded an unclean menstruating woman. While the villagers have relied upon her in the past to combat the black djinn, they can not admit it openly.

To battle the djinn, she needs the magical bowl from which at 14 years of age divines that she must remain a virgin forever to fulfill her live mission (ibid, 6-7). The incantation bowl that the matron uses to combat the djinn is definitely a link with a pre-Islamic past with ancient folk mystical Judaism and perhaps even Mandaen traditions where the device is an important magical object. The demon they may be trying to ward off is Lilith, the fabled first partner of Adam who refuses to follow his sexual dictates and who now preys upon human infants both during and immediately after birth. It is meant to trap the evil spirit by being turned upside down over them and then made into a protective part of a house's foundation. Written on the inside of the bowl are personal details about the person, her family, the names of God and also the names of demons, particularly Lilith (Kedar).

Perhaps it is the incantation bowl that is particularly offensive to the Iranian authorities because of the Jewish connection to an ancient Gnostic religious tradition that is out of the control of the Muslim clergy that rule Iran, especially in rural Iran among non-Persian minorities, including non-Muslims. It empowers its adherents outside of the authority of the Koran. This cross-cultural magical, religious tradition is likely still in effect as Ravanipur is relating an incident that she heard about or witnessed personally in her life in rural Iran. In this tradition, women are treated more equally with men, though they are not on a par as modern Westerners would see as proper.

Also, when a neighbor woman was in delivery, the old matron pulls a burning palm leaf from a brazier to ward off the djinns (Rav-n?

p-r, and Ghanoonparvar, 8). The belief in the djinn is confirmed among the people due to its acceptance and transmission by Islamic clerics (Donaldson 185 -- 194) . This is a definite hearkening back to the Sassanid Persian Zoroastrian sacred fires that provided light before the present Islamic nightmare came into being in the Revolution. In the opinion of this author, this is the light of enlightenment that Ravanipur is trying to bring back. In the Zoroastrian tradition, fire conveys purity and fights impurity. In the case of the woman in delivery, this the impurity brought out by the blood present at birth. In addition, in the Zorastrian tradition, pregnant women light lamps and fires as a protective measure (Beyer) .

Conclusion

To sum up, Moniru Ravanipur's "Satan's Stones" is a short story in her collection of short stories of the same name. This story represents a literary experimentation and a new style in Persian fiction in the vein of "magical realism." The fundamentalist Iranian government is uncomfortable with its positive view of pre-Islamic traditions.

While the literary style in "Satan's Stones" is an issue, there is a much deeper one, the evoking the Iranian past, particularly a non-Islamic Zoroastrian Persian past that antedates the Islamic period and with an eclectic folk magical tradition that flourished during times in Iranian history when the Shiite society was more liberal and has went into seclusion when times are repressive. In Zoroastrian tradition, women are treated equally with men and a male is not needed to deliver the honor of the family in the next life (Jayaram).

It is this more level playing field and a more respectful male attitude toward the female half. In this vein, Maryam's relationship with the old matron is critical in translating the abstract world of the stories of the djinn into a concrete present reality that will uplift women in the eyes of Shiite Iranians. Iranians have heard such stories straight from the mouths of the mullahs which they believe in as religious dogma. It is this "kosher" entrance to the pre-Muslim Iranian heritage that Ravanipur is attempting to use. Also, selecting a figure named Maryam secures the heroine a respected place in the present world of Orthodox Shiite Islam. She is the connection with the present Iranian woman.