This course is intended to help students to ways of reading through different periods of Literature so as to study Literature and Women’s Studies integral to each other and get a glimpse of the perception of women through these periods.
Women’s Studies in relation to Sanskrit literature: representation of social life and patriarchy – Ramayan and Mahabharat
Ways of Reading and Reconstruction characterization of women in Ancient Indian literary text – Shakuntala
Medieval Period
The genre of folk forms and position of women in it.
Oral Narratives as medium of Women’s knowledge making. eg Vrata katha, Savitri’s story
Emergence of female voice in Bhakti Literature: Mira, Mahadevi Akka (A.K. Ramanujam’s critical piece), Chokyachi Mahari, Bahina Gai.
Female voice in Sufi tradition – Amir Khusro, Rabia, Lal Dev, Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain.
Autobiographies of women: Tarabai Shinde and Mahashveta Devi
Study of the genre in the 19th century; Readings:Tanika Sarkar, Meera Kosambi, Meenakshi Mukherjee
The Controversies: The memoirs of Ismat and Manto over the court case on their writings about women.
Contemporary Women’s writings in other Indian languages: Ashapoorna Devi, Nabaneeta Dev Sen ( Bangla), Indira Goswami, Tilottama Misra (Asamiya), V Geeta (Tamil).