From Myths to Markets

Uma Chakravarti teaches history at Miranda House, Delhi University. She has worked on both ancient and modern India, and written on issues of caste, labour and gender. Among her published works are Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism and Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai.Kumkum Sangari teaches English at Indraprastha College, Delhi University, and is at present a fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. She has written on British, American and Indian literature, on critical theory and on gender issues such as labour, law, widow immolation. Among her published and edited works are Politics of the Possible: Essays in Gender, History, Narrative, Colonial English and Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History. For the past two decades, both Uma Chakravarti and Kumkum Sangari have been active in women’s issues and democratic rights.

• PrefaceDisparate Women: Transitory Contexts, Persisting StructuresDecentering a Patriarchal Myth: Bhisham Sahni's MadhaviThe King's Household: Structure and Space in the S'a-stric Tradition Women and the 'Domestic' in Tamil Folk SongsDivine Family and World Maintenance: Ganega in the Bengal Puranas A Book of Her Own. A Life of Her Own: Autobiography of a Nineteenth-century WomenRealities and Reflections: Personal Narratives of twoWomen from Nineteenth-century MaharashtraWomen's Education in the Madras Presidency: Issues of Class and Patriarchy Gender and the Logic of Brahminism: Periyar and the Politics of the Female Body Transitory Residents, Invisible Workers: Rethinking Locality and Incorporation in a Rajasthan VillageIdeology, Culture and Hierarchy: Expenditure-Consumption Patterns in Rural HouseholdsGender in Neo-Classical Economics: A Conceptual OverviewAnalysing Women's Work Under PatriarchyPatriarchy and State Systems in North-East India: A Historical and Critical PerspectiveWomen's Empowerment: Paradigms and ParadoxesInterrogating Psychology: Some Feminist Issues and ImplicationNotes on Contributors