The essays investigate the images of women and femininity found in the traditions of the Marathi language region of India, Maharashtra, and how these images contradict the actualities of women's lives.

The essays investigate the images of women and femininity found in the traditions of the Marathi language region of India, Maharashtra, and how these images contradict the actualities of women's lives.

This volume, a companion to Images of Women in Maharashtrian Literature and Religion (SUNY Press, 1996), approaches more closely the realities of women's lives. Using historical documents from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and photographs, interviews, and conversations from the twentieth, the book constructs images of the conditions of women's lives in the modern state and traditional region of Maharashtra over the past three hundred years. The authors search for the ideas, understandings, and judgments that have shaped those conditions, for the conscious and unconscious images that have made women's lives what they have been. The contributors examine ways femininity and the power, status, and potential of women have been viewed; actual women emphasizing ideas about women. Understanding ideas of this kind is a necessary first step toward understanding, and perhaps eventually affecting, the actualities of women's lives. This book is divided into three parts. Part I is based on documentary sources from the eighteenth century. Part II explores the subjects and terms of the conservatism versus reform debate in Maharashtra, and thus complements recent studies on images of women in Bengal and other parts of North India during the colonial period. Part III, which presents contemporary images of women in Maharashtra, includes an examination of village women's work, a photo essay, an oral life history, and a bibliographical essay.

Explores the conditions of women's lives in the modern state and traditional region of Maharashtra.

This innovative, interdisciplinary collection of essays by scholars based in Europe and the United States offers stimulating approaches to the role played by religion in present-day South Asia.

The Essays In This Volume Examine The Socio-Cultural Continuities And Discontinuities That Resonate Through All Of India With Its Specific Echoes In Maharashtra. The Essays Range From Studies Of Mainstream Religion And Folk Beliefs, The Moulding Of Identities In Response To Colonial Rule, Socio-Economic Studies Of Scheduled Caste Groups In A Changing Society, Social Reform Movements And Their Effects On Women And Cultural Traditions. Underlying These Themes Is The Question Of Identity Of Cities, Communities And A Region.

Presents stories and commentaries on women saints from the Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions.

This book offers a variety of scholarly studies in the idea, situation, and definition-including the self-definition-of women in India, from the earliest historical period up to the present day. Both in its range of topics and depth of research, this volume creates a sustained focus that is not presently available in the literature of women in India. Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India comprises 25 essays contributed by a diverse mix of Indian, Canadian, American, and British women scholars, most of whom have lived in South Asia either for all of their lives or for extended periods. Arranged chronologically, these groundbreaking essays set aside the myths and prejudices that often clutter discussions about women in India. Part I, which is dedicated to the ancient period, defines women's positions as depicted in the sacred law, considers subordinated women in major Hindu epics, describes women's roles in ritual and their understanding of religion, and examines the patriarchal organization of women's lives in Buddhism. Part II begins with an essay on Tantra, a major force in medieval India that influenced both Hinduism and Buddhism and placed women at the center of its sacred rites. Other essays in Part II look at the life and legends of a medieval woman saint poet, the portrayal of a Hindu goddess in medieval Bengal, and the role of women from Mughal harems in decision making. Part III describes the colonial perception of Indian women in the late nineteenth century and shows how women's self-perceptions have been expressed through their art and writing as well as through their political action in the twentieth century. Providing informed and balanced analysis of extensive primary source material, this book will be an essential resource for students of women's lives in India.

Are Indian women powerful mother goddesses, or domestic handmaidens trailing behind men in literacy, wages, opportunities, and rights? Have they been agents of their own destinies, or voiceless victims of patriarchy? Behind these colorful over-simplifications lies the reality of many feminine personas belonging to various classes, ethnicities, religions, and castes. This two-volume set looks at Indian history from ancient to modern times, revealing precisely why ideas of gender rights were not static across eras or regions. Raman's work is a reflection on the various ways in which women in a non-Western culture have developed and expressed their own feminist agenda. Are Indian women powerful mother goddesses, or domestic handmaidens trailing behind men in literacy, wages, opportunities, and rights? Have they been agents of their own destinies, or voiceless victims of patriarchy? Behind these coloful over-simplifications lies the reality of many feminine personas belonging to various classes, ethnicities, religions, and castes. This two-volume set looks at Indian history from ancient to modern times, revealing precisely why ideas of gender rights were not static across eras or regions. Raman's work is a reflection on the various ways in which women in a non-western culture have developed and expressed their own feminist agenda. Individual chapters highlight the enduring legacies of many important male and female figures, illustrating how each played a key role in modifying the substance of women's lives. Political movements are examined as well, such as the nationalist reform movement of 1947 in which the ideal of Indian womanhood became central to the nation and the push for independence. Also included is a survey of women in contemporary India and the role they played in the resurgence of militant Hindu nationalism. Aside from being an engaging and readable narrative of Indian history, this set integrates women's issues, roles, and achievements into the general study of the times, providing a clear presentation of the social, cultural, religious, political, and economic realities that have helped shape the identity of Indian women.

Indian writing in English (IWE) is now a widely recognized and awarded genre, boasting of world renowned authors in its ranks. The ‘fathers’ of IWE, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, and Raja Rao, have now been canonized and their works widely studied. Yet, very little scholarly attention has been paid to the pioneering literary contributions of Indian women to analyse their effect on the cultural history of their times. Mothering India addresses this lack and concentrates on early Indian women’s fiction written between 1890 and 1947. It not only evaluates the influence of women authors on the rise of IWE, but also explores how they reassessed and challenged stereotypes about womanhood in India, adding their voice to the larger debate about social reform legislations on women’s rights. Moreover, in choosing to write in the colonizer’s language, they seized the attention of a much wider international readership. In wielding their pens, these trendsetting women stepped into the literary landscape as ‘speaking subjects’, refusing the passivity of being ‘spoken-of objects’, and thereby ‘mothering’ India by redefining her image.