{"product_id":"forgotten-feminisms-a-subversive-retelling-of-indian-womxn-s-resistance","title":"Forgotten Feminisms: A Subversive Retelling of Indian Womxn’s Resistance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn most historical accounts of the country, Indian womxn\/women have largely figured as footnotes to the history of ‘great’ men, and have usually been cast as victims of the patriarchy. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eForgotten Feminisms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a firecracker of a book that radically challenges this reading of history and posits an alternate ‘herstory’ of India. Sindhu Rajasekaran argues that, historically, Indian women weren’t helpless victims in need of saviours—our foremothers, across the socio-economic spectrum, gave fierce battle to both the brahmanic patriarchy and British colonialism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first section of the book, ‘In an Antique Land’, chronicles the lives of Indian women from prehistory, through ancient andmedieval times, right up to the colonial moment. Rajasekaran rubbishes the notion that everyone in ancient India adhered to the tenets of the Manusmriti. Here, you will read feminist retellings of the lore of Draupadi and Surpanakha, the heroics of the daring Ezhava woman Nangeli who overturned the ‘breast tax’, and others such as dasis and enslaved women, courtesans, queens, saint-poets, and more. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe second section, ‘In Coloniality’, shows how, when the British Crown took control of India, it did everything it could to put Indian women and queer people in their place, branding them as ‘prostitutes’ and passing a whole posse of laws to persecute them. But the women—from social reformers like Savitribai Phule, warriors like Rani Lakshmibai and Jhalkaribai, rebellious sex workers like Piro Preman, to a whole host of transwomen, labourers, and tribal women—persevered in the quest to be seen, heard, and treated with respect and dignity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Aleph","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43952575578147,"sku":null,"price":899.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0281\/3607\/9395\/files\/810DAVZBsHL._SL1500.jpg?v=1789633245","url":"https:\/\/champaca.in\/products\/forgotten-feminisms-a-subversive-retelling-of-indian-womxn-s-resistance","provider":"Champaca Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}