DSpace Collection: UGC-CARE Enlisted National Level Peer Reviewed Annual JournalUGC-CARE Enlisted National Level Peer Reviewed Annual Journalhttp://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/54132024-03-28T22:43:28Z2024-03-28T22:43:28ZSurpanakha’s Mutilation or That of Womanhood? An Inquiry into Two Feminist RetellingsDe, Aninditahttp://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/54322020-06-21T12:35:57Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Surpanakha’s Mutilation or That of Womanhood? An Inquiry into Two Feminist Retellings
Authors: De, Anindita
Abstract: Traditional mythological narratives have been chiefly dominated by male writers and reflect patriarchal ideologies. Revisionist mythmaking is a process of re-explication of patriarchal myths; it is the substitution of female elements from margin to centre. The central motif of the re-tellers is to break down the preconceived fabrication of woman and womanhood. The female revisionist writers of the Ramayana have attempted to give voice to the ignored or peripheral women of the mainstream epic through the lens of feminism. They have discovered many hidden shades of Surpanakha who is nothing but a fearsome demon in Valmiki Ramayana and also have questioned patriarchal prejudices through her eyes. In their retellings, she has been represented as a love-thirsty woman who has been mutilated by patriarchy for her bold expression of her erotic desires. The paper focuses on the mutilation scene of Surpanakha and attempts to investigate how these feminist perspectives have inquired into her character in different ways. Two retellings- Lanka’s Princessby Kavita Kane and “Rajkumari Kamaballi” by Nabanita Debsen have been selected for the study. The objective of the paper is to analyse how these feminist discourses of the epic have delineated the mutilation episode and raised questionson women’s position in a male dominated world and also to investigate how the female re- tellers have attempted to expose the sexist stereotyping of women in Ramayana and advocated gender consciousness through their re-interpretation of Surpanakha and re- evaluation of Sita-Surpanakha dichotomy.2020-01-01T00:00:00ZExperience of Menarche: Pain and Celebrationin Selected Modern Indian NarrativesGupta, Ankitahttp://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/54312020-06-21T12:33:35Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Experience of Menarche: Pain and Celebrationin Selected Modern Indian Narratives
Authors: Gupta, Ankita
Abstract: Menstruation has been meted out with an unjustified treatment in the discourse of literature for many centuries. Where most writers of the past have tried to pigeon hole menstrual and menarcheal experiences as uncomfortable, unwanted, mysterious and evil; it is the job of the modern writers to bring out the humanistic aspects to menarche and menstruation, thus aiming for eventual de-taboofication. The present study tries to analyze the experiences of menarche containing both celebratory and painful tones through the medium of Modern Indian Narratives that comprise My Story by Kamala Das, Mayil Will Not Be Quiet! by Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran, I Died a Little by Soibam Haripriya, First Flush by Anamika, Udaylee by Sujata Bhatt, Kocharethi by Narayan, The Moth Eaten Howdah of Tusker by Indira Goswami and Paas Sootalar Kathakata by Arupa Patangia Kalita. The study tries to establish that the selected texts on experiences of menarche try to bring forth the multifacetedness of a human experience that has long been hidden under the debris of patriarchal and misogynistic customs and beliefs.2020-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Representation of Dalits in the History of Bengal from Ancient to Medieval Period (Around1000 B.C.-1757A.D.)Karmakar, Debabratahttp://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/54302020-06-21T12:31:26Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: The Representation of Dalits in the History of Bengal from Ancient to Medieval Period (Around1000 B.C.-1757A.D.)
Authors: Karmakar, Debabrata
Abstract: This paper aims to explore the representation of Dalits in Bengal in ancient and medieval period through a subaltern intervention in institutionalized historiography. The paper will investigate the narratives of established historians of ancient and medieval history of Bengal like R.C. Majumdar, Nitish Sengupta, Niharranjan Roy, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Richard M. Eaton and others, from a subaltern perspective in order to discover the missing Bengali Dalit history. It will show through Foucault’s concept of Right, Power and Knowledge/Truth triangle how the history of the underprivileged is subverted by institutional hegemony. In a caste-ridden Vedic society, there were prohibitions concerning sacred Vedic texts and Hindu temples that denied accessibility to Shudras or untouchables. These prohibitions interrelate, reinforce and complement each other to form a complex web of power and desire to dominate the untouchables in order to reproduce labour power. Vedic society possessed another principle of exclusion–division in society that rejectedShudrasand appropriated them by the proposition of “reason” to justify Vedic texts and rituals; and “folly” of the untouchable’s previous birth (much like the Divine Right of the Kings) for which he/she has been degenerated in his/her present life. The priests and Aryan kings actually created what Althusser calls common people’s “imaginary transposition of the real conditions of existence in order to ‘represent to themselves’ their real conditions of existence.” By fortifying this discrimination the Aryans encounter with the culture of Bengal, which was dominated by indigenous cultural signifiers like the worship of local goddesses, the dialects of ancient Bengal, non- Brahmanic social structure (counter to Manu), and so on, saw loss of representation of the Bengali Dalit voice in the process. This happened due to intermingling of cultures where non-Aryans deities were adopted in the Aryan pantheon and certain strict rules slackened to incorporate non-Aryan Bengali culture. This lost narrative due to hybridization of cultures is evident in texts like the Caryapadas, Mangal Kabyas, and other extant literary compositions of the time. The paper attempts to give a glimpse of that history which was in subaltern aphasia.2020-01-01T00:00:00ZFootnotes to the Archive: Memory in the Digital AgeGoswami, Gourabhttp://inet.vidyasagar.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/54292020-06-21T12:28:38Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Footnotes to the Archive: Memory in the Digital Age
Authors: Goswami, Gourab
Abstract: Memory is often seen as a tool to recapitulate the past. But this process of recapitulation can be seen as a process of understanding a marginalized notion of the past. Seen from this standpoint, there is a proper dichotomy between the notions of memory and history. More will be discussed about the dichotomy between these two notions later. To focus on the aim of this paper first; I must state that there has been a lot of recent focus on the notion of material memory. But within its brief scope, this paper will look to understand the philosophical underpinnings and by products of the creation of a digital archive with images of objects that evoke memory. The paper will look to deal with questions like- how does the horizon of memory connected with a particular object expand with the process of archiving? What exactly is being stored in an online archive? And what are the basic differences in approach while creating differing sorts of archives? (165 words)2020-01-01T00:00:00Z