Religion and Women in India

Tanika Sarkar's internationally recognized histories have focused on the interface of religion, politics, and women. Her many books include Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Community, Religion and Cultural Nationalism; Rebels, Wives, Saints: Designing Selves and Nations in Colonial Times; and Hindu Nationalism in India. She has been Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Visiting Professor at Yale University, the University of Chicago, and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She taught for many years at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and now teaches at Ashoka University.

• Preface1. Women's Histories, Gender Studies: An Overview Historiographical Shifts: A Very Brief GlancePre-Modern GenderThe British at Home: How Similar and How DifferentReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 12. Redesigning Gender Laws Colonial LawmakingPersonal LawsParsis"Tribal" CustomMuslim LawsChristian Personal LawsHindu Personal Laws: The War Over WidowsWar Over Widows: RemarriageBeyond Personal Laws: Female InfanticideBeyond Personal Laws: Civil MarriageWar Over the Child Wife: The Age of Consent Act of 1891MatrilinyProperty LawsBack to Civil Marriages: The New CenturyBack to Child Marriages: The New CenturyReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 23. Redesigning Gender: Reformers and the Orthodoxy Changes in Tribal CultureHindu Reformers and the OrthodoxyWidowhoodRebellious WomenEducating WomenDalit Social ReformsChristian ReformsMuslim ReformersSikh ReformsBirths, Birth Control, and the Spectre of Female SexualityReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 34. Gendering Work Work Within HouseholdsSlaves, Servants, ArtistesFactory WorkLabour ReformismNew ProfessionsReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 45. Gendering Politics The Queen of JhansiAssociations and Movements Mass MovementsArmed RevolutionariesGender on the LeftGender on the RightWar, Independence, and PartitionReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 56. Holy and Unholy Gender HolinessUnholy Gender – Beyond the Two GendersCourtesans, Concubines, Sex WorkersInterracial RelationshipsBeyond HeteronormativityPrisons and Lunatic AsylumsReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 67. Writing and Performing Gender The World of Printed BooksGender in the Modern JournalsGender on the StageReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 78. Post-Colonial India Gendering Births and DeathsGendering LabourGendering PropertyGender in HouseholdsSocial Work for Gender ReformLegal ReformismWomen's Political Activism and Feminist PoliticsGendering State RepressionGendering PogromsRe-Presenting Literature: GenderGender in the CinemaReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 89. The "Others", Pakistan and Bangladesh Early Political VicissitudesScripture, Custom, NormsThe Gendering of DressWomen's ActivismThe Hudood DecadeBangladesh: An Outline HistoryGendering WarCulture vs LabourPolitical WomenGender and FaithReferences and Suggested Readings for Chapter 9Index

"…Religion and Women in India is a triumphant synthesis of several vast bodies of work. It places many of the 'classic' works in the field—some of which were written by Sarkar herself—alongside the more recent scholarship at the cutting edge of research in South Asian studies. Specialists in South Asian history will undoubtedly find this book an invaluable synthesis of so many works, stories, themes, and scholarly turns all in one place … This is ultimately a book that can and should receive wide readership and be held in high esteem." — H-Net Reviews (H-Asia)"This book is required reading for anyone interested in modern South Asian history, politics, economics, religion, and culture … Capacious in its historical ambitions, nuanced in its theoretical approaches, and relentless in its insistence that gender must be part of any account of history, this book will capture a wide audience." — CHOICE