Papers by Dr Surbhi Saraswat
International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, Apr 30, 2024
A recurring question while discussing Islamic political states is the role of women within it. Ac... more A recurring question while discussing Islamic political states is the role of women within it. Accomplishments of male members have been documented preferentially disregarding those by the women. This project shall bring attention to the largely overlooked presence of the women in political and administrative chambers of one of the world's largest Islamic monarchies -the Mughal Empire. Outstanding and influential women who complimented their male counterparts in running the Empire. A modern theme in feminist literature is reclaiming voices of the women. Similarly, multiple women scholars have aimed to document the Mughal women's contribution in the dynasty's copacetic running. With threads of women's contribution intertwined in the Mughal courts political fabric, giving voice to her story, and allowing the discounted matriarchs a stage to highlight themselves is important. This project intends to analyse several important women who played significant roles in running the Mughal Empire by participating actively in the political affairs, through multiple authentic sources and illuminate their influence in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
International journal of human rights and constitutional studies, 2024
International journal of religion, Feb 6, 2024
The paper aims to look at the politics of representation and the importance of historical fiction... more The paper aims to look at the politics of representation and the importance of historical fiction in renegotiating women's position in history by focusing on the representation of Rani Jindan Kaur in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Last Queen (2021). The book is written from Rani Jindan Kaur's perspective who was the last wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the last regent queen of the Sikh Empire to reclaim her lost identity. This analysis begins with a brief description of Sikh empire and its glorious past with a special focus on a woman who equally contributed and shaped it. It then traces how historians have always been partial towards women for not giving them enough space in the annals of history. This underrepresentation was the systematic erasure as not only were they punished for stepping outside the limited roles offered to them but if they achieve great things they were often ignored or forced to submit to the prevailing gender norms of their times. It then focuses on how Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has used the erasure of women representation in history as a winning chance to rewrite the lost world of Rani Jindan that is not much talked about in historical documents. It further points out how this systemic bias has perpetuated a skewed historical narrative that failed to recognize the full extent of women's contributions and resilience throughout history.
Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results, Oct 19, 2022
Sujatha Gidla's autobiography, Ants among Elephants broadly discusses the idea of purity and impu... more Sujatha Gidla's autobiography, Ants among Elephants broadly discusses the idea of purity and impurity, and how it has dominated the age-old caste narrative. The memoir focuses on the lives of her parents, grandparents and their resultant inner turmoils. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the lives of indigenous people and their struggles in relation with caste hierarchy. This paper will examine the lives of lower caste Indians in the pre-independence era through the memoir of Sujatha Gidla.
Research Journal in Advanced Humanities
This paper explores the exploitation of commercial surrogates at the hands of the various stakeho... more This paper explores the exploitation of commercial surrogates at the hands of the various stakeholders and agents of the fertility industry in Kishwar Desai’s novel Origins of Love (2012). It begins with a brief description of the advances in the field of infertility treatment and the tailored options of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) for conceiving a child. It then traces the practice of surrogacy in mythology and explores how it is different from present day surrogacy. It further points out why ARTs is preferred over adoption by prospective parents and how this preference has led to the emergence of fertility clinics as the new baby supermarts, from where the parents can ‘buy’ egg, sperm and customised babies. The paper also throws light on how this trend of baby shopping makes fertility clinics operate akin to any other commercial industry and how in the novel Desai has depicted the inherent flaws of this phenomenon of baby shopping. It critically examines the rapi...
Research Journal in Advanced Humanities
This paper explores the exploitation of commercial surrogates at the hands of the various stakeho... more This paper explores the exploitation of commercial surrogates at the hands of the various stakeholders and agents of the fertility industry in Kishwar Desai’s novel Origins of Love (2012). It begins with a brief description of the advances in the field of infertility treatment and the tailored options of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) for conceiving a child. It then traces the practice of surrogacy in mythology and explores how it is different from present day surrogacy. It further points out why ARTs is preferred over adoption by prospective parents and how this preference has led to the emergence of fertility clinics as the new baby supermarts, from where the parents can ‘buy’ egg, sperm and customised babies. The paper also throws light on how this trend of baby shopping makes fertility clinics operate akin to any other commercial industry and how in the novel Desai has depicted the inherent flaws of this phenomenon of baby shopping. It critically examines the rapi...
Journal of emerging technologies and innovative research, Dec 1, 2018
Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and i... more Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The concept is taken from the Buddhist teaching of the impermanence, suffering and emptiness. Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni in her story "Meeting Mrinal" focuses on this aesthetics by presenting sentiments of both dislocation and solitude. The author presents the liminal space of diasporic Indian woman by highlighting the plight of Indian women in an unhappy marriage. The idea of perfectly imperfect drifts them to affirm rebellion against social traditions even when after pain and bitterness in life.
ECS Transactions
Mahesh Dattani’s The Big Fat City (2014) is a representative work of contemporary Indian English ... more Mahesh Dattani’s The Big Fat City (2014) is a representative work of contemporary Indian English Drama that explores the changing mindscape due to urban conditions. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the performance and performativity of the urban inhabitants and their consequential transformation. The paper explores the play at the cross-section of performance studies and urban theory to highlight the influence of ever evolving and fast paced life of city on its inmates with high aspirations, who gradually get stuck in the labyrinthine life with its compulsions. City as a social force works as an organic entity and presents an ambivalent vision of human relationship. Whenever characters fail in realising the pulse beat of time and the changing social system, they meet their predicament that ends in miseries and sufferings. Keywords: Urban Materiality, City Space, Performance Studies, Contemporary Indian English Drama, Mindscape
Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, Jul 10, 2021
Mahesh Dattani's play Thirty Days in September highlights the issue of child sexual abuse... more Mahesh Dattani's play Thirty Days in September highlights the issue of child sexual abuse and its post traumatic effect on female body and psyche. This paper highlights the issue of incest and the consequent trauma due to child sexual abuse. The paper analyse the play as a case study to understand the psychological perspective of trauma due to sexual abuse. Drama reflects life and this play brings such serious topic in the form of stage performance in itself is commendable. The play also questions and highlights the stigma that is associated with victim instead of perpetrator. This paper evaluates all these issues to discuss the play as Trauma Narrative.
ECS transactions, Apr 24, 2022
The Bengali short story Stanadayini or 'Breast Giver' by Maha Swetadevi and the M... more The Bengali short story Stanadayini or 'Breast Giver' by Maha Swetadevi and the Malayalam short story Maratthottil or 'The Wooden Cradle' by Lalithambika Antherjanam outline and explore women's identity as a mother and how the romanticism of motherhood for some woman is nothing more than a successful ploy to misuse and exploit her. Both Jashoda and Nangelipennu spend their lives rearing the children of their masters only to die after being rejected by the families. The stories acts as a window to the caste, class, gender, sex, culture, identity, body, and power that plays its role in the society. The status of both the women as care giver or mother collapses as soon as her material worth to the family fades. They swiftly revert to a normal woman who, as a result of her illness, becomes a liability. This research paper attempts to explore the vulnerability of a lower class/caste women by the hands of the upper class/caste custodians, thus making them vulnerable to exploitation and thereby negating her identity.
This research paper highlights the need of Dalit feminist writings as these writings provide a pl... more This research paper highlights the need of Dalit feminist writings as these writings provide a platform to the marginalized women of this community. Referring to Bama's two major works we can easily trace the atrocities that dalit women undergo in professional and personal sphere. The best part about both these works is that it ends with self realization that empowers the author and in turn the readers for the better tomorrow. Noida It is not so much that subaltern women did not speak, but rather that others did not know how to listen, how to enter into a transaction between speaker and listener. The subaltern cannot because their words cannot be properly interpreted. Hence, the silence of the female as subaltern is the result of failure of interpretation and not a failure of articulation. (195) Gayatri Spivak's argument that the voice of the subalterns is not heard properly clearly highlights the need of dalit feminist writings. Dalit women writing protests the established ...
Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and i... more Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The concept is taken from the Buddhist teaching of the impermanence, suffering and emptiness. Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni in her story “Meeting Mrinal” focuses on this aesthetics by presenting sentiments of both dislocation and solitude. The author presents the liminal space of diasporic Indian woman by highlighting the plight of Indian women in an unhappy marriage. The idea of perfectly imperfect drifts them to affirm rebellion against social traditions even when after pain and bitterness in life.
Journal of emerging technologies and innovative research, 2018
Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and i... more Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics that focuses on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The concept is taken from the Buddhist teaching of the impermanence, suffering and emptiness. Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni in her story "Meeting Mrinal" focuses on this aesthetics by presenting sentiments of both dislocation and solitude. The author presents the liminal space of diasporic Indian woman by highlighting the plight of Indian women in an unhappy marriage. The idea of perfectly imperfect drifts them to affirm rebellion against social traditions even when after pain and bitterness in life.
Asian journal of multidisciplinary studies, 2014
Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House ( Aadhe-adhure ) is one of the most significant plays about urban mi... more Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House ( Aadhe-adhure ) is one of the most significant plays about urban middle class family and poignantly projects the transition of values in the changing urban scenario in India. It is an epoch making work on the changing human relations and in particular the changing dynamics in the man woman relationship. Its central character, Savitri, a working woman and mother of three, is portrayed initially with sympathy but ends as a figure more threatening than threatened, damned to an impossible situation with a hopeless husband. The play does not stand comfortably on any univocal guiding perception of meaning and direction. It is built on shifting ground, eclectically appropriating and deploying elements and concerns of realistic, naturalistic and absurd or, more specifically, existentialist, traditions, creating in the process dissension, fragmentation and slipperiness at the very core of its meaning. This paper highlights the changing roles of women in the mod...
A great story teller Chitra Banerjee in her latest novel portrayed three generations and their st... more A great story teller Chitra Banerjee in her latest novel portrayed three generations and their strong bond even after getting apart from each other. This research paper focuses on the use of myth and gender as entwined by the author in the novel. The novel unfolds the journey of women to womanhood. The novel is a discourse of identity and independence as strived and achieved by all the characters.
This paper looks at the meaning of the word queer and develops an understanding that is associate... more This paper looks at the meaning of the word queer and develops an understanding that is associated with the link that it has with the theory. It also brings to a fore a different equation of gender and sex that is developed by the theorists in the recent past. Though Queer theory is comparatively new in the sphere of literary criticism still it brings a lot of speculations and contestation of ideas along with its theoretical framework. This paper is intended to bring the basics of this theory by refereeing to the key theorists who have evolved it as a subject of academia.
Mahesh Dattani's play Thirty Days in September highlights the issue of child sexual abuse and its... more Mahesh Dattani's play Thirty Days in September highlights the issue of child sexual abuse and its post traumatic effect on female body and psyche. This paper highlights the issue of incest and the consequent trauma due to child sexual abuse. The paper analyse the play as a case study to understand the psychological perspective of trauma due to sexual abuse. Drama reflects life and this play brings such serious topic in the form of stage performance in itself is commendable. The play also questions and highlights the stigma that is associated with victim instead of perpetrator. This paper evaluates all these issues to discuss the play as Trauma Narrative.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, Aug 29, 2014
Abstract Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House (Aadhe-adhure) is one of the most significant plays about u... more Abstract Mohan Rakesh’s Halfway House (Aadhe-adhure) is one of the most significant plays about urban middle class family and poignantly projects the transition of values in the changing urban scenario in India. It is an epoch making work on the changing human relations and in particular the changing dynamics in the man woman relationship. Its central character, Savitri, a working woman and mother of three, is portrayed initially with sympathy but ends as a figure more threatening than threatened, damned to an impossible situation with a hopeless husband. The play does not stand comfortably on any univocal guiding perception of meaning and direction. It is built on shifting ground, eclectically appropriating and deploying elements and concerns of realistic, naturalistic and absurd or, more specifically, existentialist, traditions, creating in the process dissension, fragmentation and slipperiness at the very core of its meaning. This paper highlights the changing roles of women in the modern urban setup and the changing dynamics of family as projects in the play. It ponders on the materialistic compulsions of the modern man; resulting in the disintegration of human relations, the loneliness of man, the sense of suffocation and disgust, boredom and the search for quick and easy escape routes. The desire to look for “completeness” may look like Everyman’s essential and irresolvable problem. Though we find all characters in this play are incomplete (in one or the other way) caught in their predicaments but the women are more incomplete than men. Key Words: Realistic, Naturalistic, Absurd, Existentialism
The proposed paper discusses Manjula Padmanabhan's play Harvest (1997). Though cast is in a futur... more The proposed paper discusses Manjula Padmanabhan's play Harvest (1997). Though cast is in a futuristic mould, the play highlights the postmodern reality of emerging technologies and its influence on our day to day life. The play posits the heinous self-inflicted suffering of people who require money to survive in the demanding environment of a modern city. It projects the economic desperation for which the marginalized poor sell their organs in a commercial process which benefits the rich and influential. As a piece of 'science fiction', the play uses the strategy of 'futurization' to speak of present day realities in an oblique fashion. It depicts the condition of helpless people of a third world country. There is a broader social critique in which Harvest projects, with mingled admiration and horror, the metropolitan aspirations and the increasing craze for electronic gadgets. The futuristic city space delineates urban India's new life style-an aimless striving for 'equipment', addiction to TV and a complete dependence on modern props. Apart from these issues, Padmanabhan also addresses the problems created by over population in urban spaces as she refers to organ trade, prison-like existence, partiality of parents towards employed children, and the pathetic condition of women. The play Harvest not only depicts the postcolonial scenario but also articulates the neo-colonisation process. It focuses on the power of foreign purchasers over third world organ donors, showing a 'cannibalistic' equation in sociological terms. Through this the playwright voices the subaltern existence of the city dwellers who suffer both the poverty and exploitation for survival. The city itself is an entity in this game. It fascinates in the beginning but gradually entraps the individual in its vicious coils.
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Papers by Dr Surbhi Saraswat