Emergence of Feminism in Indian Literature: An Overview

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Emergence of Feminism In Indian Literature: An Overview

Introduction

Feminism basically means guarding equal rights for women as enjoyed by men. Feminism does not talk only about the social rights but also about the political as well as economic rights of a woman. Feminism is a search for the identity of the most marginalized creature on earth, that is, woman. In India, women have always been considered weak or inferior by the dominating patriarchal society from ages. They are considered merely a subject of oppression and dominance. Women have not been marginalized now but it is continuing from ages, however, even the idea of feminism had been established since the inception of the universe. There is a myth that Lord Brahma first created man but then he, in his generosity, decided to give man a companion. Since he had already used all the material in creating man, he borrowed a lot of material from nature and created woman. The idea of feminism is established when Lord Brahma introduces woman to man saying that “She will serve you lifelong and if you cannot live with her, neither can you live without her”. This shows that woman has always been considered as someone who is weak, self-sacrificing, inferior and has only one purpose of life and that is just to obey and serve the traditional dogmas created by the patriarchs. This paper deals with the state of women in India from the inception of the universe till today. It focuses on the emergence of feminism in India which has been divided into three phases- first phase from 1850-1915 in which many social evils of the society were banned or abolished and reformers propagated the need to educate women; second phase from 1915-1947 in which women participated in the freedom movements...

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...s their worth and rebel against the tortures inflicted on them. However, education has played a major role in creating awareness amongst women about their social, political and economic rights. Therefore, equal rights for women can only be achieved if they receive equal respect and support from their male counterparts.

Works Cited

Hans, Anjali “Feminism as Literary Movement in India”

“The Emergence of Feminism in India 1850-1920”

Basu, Aparna “Women’s History in India: An Historiographical Survey”

Roy, Anindyo “Civility and Empire: Literature and Culture in British India”, 1822-1922

Basu, Aparna “Indian Women’s Movement”

Desai, Anita. “Cry, The Peacock”. Penguin Books, New Delhi, (1963)

Desai, A. "The Indian Writer's Problems" Perspectives on Anita Desai. ed. Ramesh K. Srivastava.

http://www.irjabs.com/files_site/paperlist/r_904_130610215832.pdf

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