Papers presented at a Seminar on Women in Indian History : Social, Economic, Political, and Cultural Perspectives, organized by Dept. of History, Panjab University, Chandīgarh in February 1992, and sponsored by Indian Council of Historical Research.

Women Warriors in Indian History explores the life of ten Indian women warriors as narrated by other historical characters. While Italian traveller Marco Polo recounts the story of his contemporary Queen Rudramba, Emperor Jahangir narrates the tale of Durgavati to his future consort. Legendary Tatya Tope unfolds Avantibai's heroics to Lakshmi Bai and the eunuch General Malik Kafur regales a young sultan with Raziya Sultana's exploits. Put together chronologically, from the slave dynasty to the first war of Indian independence, these stories showcase the changing canvas of Indian history. More importantly, the narratives bring forward the exceptional qualities of these women warriors, while fighting against gender, social, religious and political odds and oppositions. They prove that women are unequivocally strong leaders who have waged and won many battles with courage and conviction down the ages. Well-researched and engagingly narrated, this book familiarizes readers with these extraordinary women, their highs and lows and provides a glimpse into their unique, yet relatively less known lives.

In this study of British middle-class feminism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Antoinette Burton explores an important but neglected historical dimension of the relationship between feminism and imperialism. Demonstrating how feminists in the United Kingdom appropriated imperialistic ideology and rhetoric to justify their own right to equality, she reveals a variety of feminisms grounded in notions of moral and racial superiority. According to Burton, Victorian and Edwardian feminists such as Josephine Butler, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, and Mary Carpenter believed that the native women of colonial India constituted a special 'white woman's burden.' Although there were a number of prominent Indian women in Britain as well as in India working toward some of the same goals of equality, British feminists relied on images of an enslaved and primitive 'Oriental womanhood' in need of liberation at the hands of their emancipated British 'sisters.' Burton argues that this unquestioning acceptance of Britain's imperial status and of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority created a set of imperial feminist ideologies, the legacy of which must be recognized and understood by contemporary feminists.

Includes songs by Buddhist nuns, testimonies of medieval rebel poets and court historians, and the voices of more than 60 other writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the diverse selections are a rare early essay by an untouchable woman; an account by the first feminist historian; and a selection from the first novel written in English by an Indian woman.

The idea of heroism in women is not easily defined. In men the notion is often associated with physical strength and extravagant bravery. Women's heroism has tended to be of a very different nature, less easily categorized. All the women portrayed-Draupadi, Radha, Ambapali, Raziya Sultan, Meerabai, Jahanara, Laxmibai and Hazrat Mahal-share an unassailable belief in a cause, for which they are willing to fightto the death if need be. In every case this belief leads them to confrontation with a horrified patriarchy. In the book we meet lotus-eyed, dark-skinned Draupadi, dharma queen, whose story emerges almost three millennia ago; the goddess Radha who sacrificed societal respectability for a love that transgressed convention; Ambapali, a courtesan, who stepped out of the luxurious trappings of Vaishali to follow the Buddha and wrote a single, haunting poem on the evanescence of beauty and youth. Raziya, the battle-scarred warrior, who proudly claimed the title of Sultan, refusing its fragile feminine counterpart, Sultana; the courageous Meerabai who repudiated her patriarchal destiny as cloistered daughter-in-law of a Rajput clan; the gentle Mughal princess Jahanara: who claims the blessings of both Allah and the Prophet Muhammad and wishes 'never to be forgotten'; Laxmibai, widow, patriot and martyr, who rides into legend and immortality fighting for her adopted son's birthright; and Hazrat Mahal, courtesan, begum and rebel queen, resolute till the very end in defying British attempts to seize her ex-husband's kingdom.In these engrossing portraits, mythological characters from thousands of years ago walk companionably besides historical figures from more recent times. They rise to reclaim their rightful place in history. Daughters, wives, courtesans, mothers, queens, goddesses, warriors-heroines.

Citizens of Everywhere is a global history of Indian women's activism during the final decades of colonial rule, demonstrating their contributions to both the international women's movement and to the Indian independence struggle.

The author traces the history of Indian women from the nineteenth century under colonial rule, to the twentieth century after Independence. She begins with the reform movement, established by men to educate women, and demonstrates how education changed their lives, enabling them to take part in public life. Through the women's own accounts, the author has compiled an accessible and immediate record of their achievements over the past two centuries, which will be of interest to students of South Asia and to anyone concerned with women and their history.