Indian Women Writers :: Literature Writing Middle Eastern Papers

Indian women writersA world of words, lost and found a brief overview of womens literature in India from the 6th century BC onwardsThe Vedas cry aloud, the Puranas shoutNo good may come to a woman.I was born with a womans bodyHow am I to come over truth?They are foolish, seductive, deceptive -Any connection with a woman is disastrous.Bahina says, If a womans body is so harmful,How in the world will I annoy truth?Much of the worlds literature has been dominated by a canon that nearly dismissed womens writing more than two centuries ago. The counter-canons that have emerged as the outlet of this exclusion have helped to establish womens writing in mainstream culture, but still in some ways fail to acknowledge womens literature coming from non-white countries. This sample is an attempt to highlight some of the works produced by women in India over the ages.Although India has a history of ancient civilisations such as the Harappa and Mohenjodaro, and of matrilineal societies in the s outh, no written records of womens literary prowess exists predating the 6th century BC. The emergence of the first body of metrical composition by women in India could be attributed to the advent of Buddhism. Perhaps it was the independence offered by the religion, the way of life it offered to women, and the principle of equality that it propagated which allowed women to pen their thoughts for the first time.Buddhism offered women the opportunity to break away(predicate) from the restrictions of home life, a major factor in the rise of Indian womens literature in the early 6th century BC. The earliest known anthology of womens literature in India has been identified as those belonging to the Therigatha nuns, the poets universe contemporaries of the Buddha. One of these, Mutta, writes, So free am I, so gloriously free, free from three petty things - from mortar, from pestle and from my twisted lord. Tharu and Lalita p.68Muttas works, translated from Pali, offer an explanation by their interpretation. Religious escapism was the only way out for many women who were frustrated with a life inside the home. They chose to join the Buddhist sangha (religious communities) in their attempts to break away from the social world of tradition and marriage. Thus emerged poems and songs about what it meant to be free from household chores and sexual slavery.Although the early forms of writing addressed the issue of personal freedom, the poetry that followed later was a celebration of womanhood and sexuality.