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Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories
Romila Thapar
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Description for Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories
Paperback. Originally published: New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1999. Num Pages: 296 pages, 6. BIC Classification: 2BBA; DSB; DSG; HRGS; JFFK; JFHF; JFSJ1. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 147 x 216 x 23. Weight in Grams: 444.
The figure of Sakuntala appears in many forms throughout South Asian literature, most famously in the Mahabharata and in Kalidisa's fourth-century Sanskrit play, Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection. In these two texts, Sakuntala undergoes a critical transformation, relinquishing her assertiveness and autonomy to become the quintessentially submissive woman, revealing much about the performance of Hindu femininity that would come to dominate South Asian culture. Through a careful analysis of sections from Sakuntala and their various iterations in different contexts, Romila Thapar explores the interactions between literature and history, culture and gender, that frame the development of this canonical figure, as well as a distinct conception of female identity.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2011
Publisher
Columbia University Press United States
Number of pages
296
Condition
New
Number of Pages
296
Place of Publication
New York, United States
ISBN
9780231156554
SKU
V9780231156554
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar specializes in early Indian history and is professor emerita in history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. In 1983 she was elected general president of the Indian History Congress and in 1999 a corresponding fellow of the British Academy. Her best known works are Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, From Language to State, Interpreting Early India, and Time as a Metaphor of History: Early India.
Reviews for Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories
Through a timeless character of legend and literature, we are allowed a ringside view of our most fascinating cultural
and gendered
history. India Today Thapar shows how it is possible to express complex ideas, rooted in philosophy and hermeneutics, without recourse to jargon. This book is a frontrunner for the prize of the best book on Indian history. Telegraph As fascinating as Sakuntala's journey is Thapar's retelling of it and her careful assumption of the role of a literary detective. Hindu Thapar's wide-ranging essays and monographs make a strong case for the urgency to historicize traditions and highlight the changing meanings of texts and oral cultures. Hindustan Times A virtuoso feat of historical and cultural analysis. Biblio Professor Thapar's book is not only significant in uncovering the historical impulses, often multiply driven, that empower certain readings or receptions of the story but also gives us in the process many of those forgotten stories
Saswati Sengupta Religions of South Asia
and gendered
history. India Today Thapar shows how it is possible to express complex ideas, rooted in philosophy and hermeneutics, without recourse to jargon. This book is a frontrunner for the prize of the best book on Indian history. Telegraph As fascinating as Sakuntala's journey is Thapar's retelling of it and her careful assumption of the role of a literary detective. Hindu Thapar's wide-ranging essays and monographs make a strong case for the urgency to historicize traditions and highlight the changing meanings of texts and oral cultures. Hindustan Times A virtuoso feat of historical and cultural analysis. Biblio Professor Thapar's book is not only significant in uncovering the historical impulses, often multiply driven, that empower certain readings or receptions of the story but also gives us in the process many of those forgotten stories
Saswati Sengupta Religions of South Asia