Gender, Religion, and Modern Hindi Drama

by Dimitrova, Diana

• ISBN13: 9780773533646
• ISBN10: 0773533648
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ Pr

Summary

Gender, Religion, and Modern Hindi Dramastudies the representation of gender and religion in Hindi drama from its beginnings in the second half of the nineteenth century until the 1960s. This is the period when urban proscenium Hindi theatre, which originated under Western influence, matured and thrived. The focus is on how different religious and mythological models pertaining to women have been reworked in Hindi drama and whether the seven representative dramatists discussed in this book assert conservative or liberating Hindu images of the feminine. The book examines how the intersections of gender, religion, and ideology account for the creation of the canon of modern Hindi drama, specifically for the assertion of a conservative interpretation of orthodox Hindu images of the feminine as well as for the exclusion of dramatists who introduce innovative liberating images of the feminine. The overt reason for the negative attitude toward this innovative representation of gender is that it is perceived as "Western" and thus "non-Indian." By contrast, the author's analysis of Hindu mythology, religion and theatre history reveals that the new interpretation of gender is deeply embedded in Hindu tradition and is thus both Hindu Indian and modernist Western in character.

Author Biography

Diana Dimitrova is assistant professor of Hinduism and South Asian religions, Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

An Invitation to Modern Hindi Theatre	p. 3
Images of the Feminine in Hindu Traditions	p. 15
Remythologizing Tradition: Confinement or Liberation for Women?	p. 23
Subverting Tradition: The Liberating Innovations of Upendranath Ask	p. 49
The Heroines	p. 71
Conclusion: Creating the Canon of Hindi Drama	p. 86
Summary of Dramas	p. 99
Glossary of Hindi and Sanskrit Words and Hindu Terms	p. 103
Notes	p. 109
Bibliography	p. 123
Index	p. 143
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