Following Françoise d’Eaubonne’s creation of the term “ecofeminism” in 1974, scholars around the world have explored ways that the degradation of the environment and the subjugation of women are linked. In the nearly three decades since the publication of the classical work Ecofeminism by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva in 1993, several collections have appeared that apply ecofeminism to literary criticism, also known as feminist ecocriticism. The most recent of these include anthologies that emphasize international perspectives, furthering the comparative task launched by Mies and Shiva. To date, however, there have been no books devoted to gaining a broad-based understanding of feminist ecocriticism in India, understood in its own terms. Our new volume Indian Feminist Ecocriticism offers a survey of literature as seen through an ecofeminist lens by Indian scholars, which places contemporary literary analysis through a sampling of its diverse languages and in the context of millennia-old mythic traditions of India.

“Poetry is finest because it is purest; it is purest in that it appeals to five senses that send external impressions/perceptions in order to be churned by mind, heart and soul. Great poetry has the capacity to purify and ennoble human beings.” - Dr. B. C. Dash, Dept. of English, AUDC “Ladak neli kelanglong ahirjir angbong ta akeong aphai ahirjir ke angkung, arno, ateot pachingbar pen ketoksi keong. Lahui ahirjir angkung arno pachingbar alam matha patherong amat alangli kipudamji pu alam amokha ke pechok/pepleng thektherem si keong. Lake ilitum non malom ahirjir pen ining, iphu, pachephosapsedet apot, kelang kasanthin kadure apot. Non ateng pen chekirla lote meponbom chok ponbom po. Ilitum ahirjir ta pirthe adorbar along amethang amen chethang dun po.” - Sar’et Hanse, Eminent Poet

This anthology, Verses is a distinct avowal to not take tradition on trust. The poems of sixty-eight Assamese poets are a cornucopia of good news. Beginning with the poet Kamalakanta Bhattacharya of the mid-nineteenth century and ending with Kushal Dutta in the latter half of the 20th century, Verses have branched out with poems, like the sky with ribbed clouds. There is a curiously heaving picture of grief, bright hope, social angst, diversified norms, subtle and pronounced, where schisms run deep and wide. The old-world charm is taken over by the avant-garde appeal of the later poets. The anthology does not seek casual browsing by readers, for there are verses that need to be dwelt on with earnest. The poems of the poets that come earlier in the content list are a class apart! Those in the middle are again to be noted. And further ahead, the poems are of a varied and richer strain, modern in content and style, serious in tone and reflect the social anxieties. One must feel them with every fibre of ones being. Verses is an anthology presented by two sisters of a scholarly home. One an avid reader of poetry and the other a poet through life, and they hand-picked the best poets. The anthology is an anchor of love, where translation opens the key to the silence that language had locked in since scores of years. From Assamese, the poems flow evenly into English.