Images of Women in Maharashtrian Literature and Religion

Anne Feldhaus is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Arizona State University.

"Many fine and illuminating never-before published translations from the Marathi (especially the poetry and folk epics) are provided in this book. Among South Asia scholars, Maharashtra is well-known to be one of India's most significant 'culture-producing' areas. That is to say, many influential movements and leaders have had their roots in this region. It is moreover a region of special significance to many of India's Hindus, because of its long resistance to Moghul and then to British rule during the seventeenth and earlier eighteenth centuries. Despite this significance, it has until recently been a surprisingly under-studied region, especially in Western countries." — Nancy Auer Falk, Western Michigan University"While focusing on one geographical and linguistic area of India, the book covers a range of approaches. The contributors cite either sound literary evidence or sociological facts to back their arguments. I do not read Marathi myself, but I found the translations of verses fresh and pleasant." — Nalini Devdas, Carleton University"We lack any sustained treatment of images of women in Maharashtra. The book will join other region-based studies on women that have already appeared (on Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Bengal, etc.) to provide a more nuanced understanding of literary images, women's rites and lore, and gender ideology in South Asia." — Kathryn Hansen, National Endowment for the Humanities

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart IImages of Women in Contemporary Marathi LiteratureWoman and Goddess in the Poetry of P. S. RegePhilip EngblomMale Playwrights and Female Characters: Are Marathi Plays about Men or Women?Mahadev L. ApteLanguage and Power in Images of Indian WomenJanet A. ContursiStri Dalit Sahitya: The New Voice of Women PoetsEleanor ZelliotPart IIWomen and Goddesses in Maharashtrian ReligionSivaji's MotherJames W LaineAll the God's WivesGünther D. SontheimerGoddess as Sister: The Case of BhivaiAnne FeldhausIn Quest of Saubhagya : The Roles and Goals of Women as Depicted in Marathi Stories of Votive DevotionsMary McGeeSati in the Maratha Country: An Historical PerspectiveA. R. KulkarniPart IIIImages of Women in Old Marathi LiteratureCakradhar and WomenS. G. TulpuleJanabai and Kanhopatra: A Study of Two Women SantsSarah SellergrenWomen Saint-Poets' Conception of LiberationTara BhavalkarThe Concept of Woman in the Poems of TukaramIrina GlushkovaAbout the ContributorsIndex