Contestation and Compliance
Retrieving Women’S ‘Agency’ From Puranic Traditions
Price: 950.00 INR
ISBN:
9780199451821
Publication date:
27/10/2014
Hardback
304 pages
216.0x140.0mm
Price: 950.00 INR
ISBN:
9780199451821
Publication date:
27/10/2014
Hardback
304 pages
216.0x140.0mm
Jaya Tyagi
This book is a study of the shifts in historical context of ritual observances from Vedic to Puranic traditions. It looks into the representations of women in early textual traditions to explore how women's identities are not only established in ritual spaces but are also constantly reworked and negotiated. It is in this context that this book attempts to're-read' the Matsyamahapura?a and through the study of vratas and myths, reconstruct the anxieties that theological traditions have with regard to women and women's responses to these anxieties.
Suitable for: This book will be of considerable interest to scholars and students of ancient Indian history, gender studies, social and cultural history, religious studies.
Rights: World Rights
Jaya Tyagi
Description
The early Puranic textual traditions of ancient India seem to indicate considerable involvement of women in the religious and ritualistic realms. This can be perceived as women exercising an ‘agency’ which had been denied to them in early Dharmasastric traditions. Ironically, the very socio-political system that permitted the inclusion of women in religious rites also ensured that it reinforced the prevailing structures of authority, limiting their participation in the larger world. While women negotiated spaces for themselves, the image of the devout and dutiful wife bolstered patriarchy and became an important supporter of varna and theistic loyalties. It is in this context that Contestation and Compliance ‘re-reads’ the Matsyamahapurana. Through a detailed analysis of vratas and myths of the Puranic traditions, Jaya Tyagi throws light on the two spaces where the domination of women was most visible: their bodies and the domestic sphere. She contextualizes the Puranic tradition and locates it in a dialogic relationship with other earlier and contemporary beliefs and practices. The work reaffirms how patriarchal traditions constantly reinvent themselves to deal with the negotiations and contestations that women make.
Jaya Tyagi
Table of contents
Jaya Tyagi
Jaya Tyagi
Description
The early Puranic textual traditions of ancient India seem to indicate considerable involvement of women in the religious and ritualistic realms. This can be perceived as women exercising an ‘agency’ which had been denied to them in early Dharmasastric traditions. Ironically, the very socio-political system that permitted the inclusion of women in religious rites also ensured that it reinforced the prevailing structures of authority, limiting their participation in the larger world. While women negotiated spaces for themselves, the image of the devout and dutiful wife bolstered patriarchy and became an important supporter of varna and theistic loyalties. It is in this context that Contestation and Compliance ‘re-reads’ the Matsyamahapurana. Through a detailed analysis of vratas and myths of the Puranic traditions, Jaya Tyagi throws light on the two spaces where the domination of women was most visible: their bodies and the domestic sphere. She contextualizes the Puranic tradition and locates it in a dialogic relationship with other earlier and contemporary beliefs and practices. The work reaffirms how patriarchal traditions constantly reinvent themselves to deal with the negotiations and contestations that women make.
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