Listen to the Heron's Words: Reimagining Gender and Kinship in North IndiaIn many South Asian oral traditions, herons are viewed as duplicitous and conniving. These traditions tend also to view women as fragmented identities, dangerously split between virtue and virtuosity, between loyalties to their own families and those of their husbands. In women's songs, however, symbolic herons speak, telling of alternative moral perspectives shaped by women. The heron's words—and women's expressive genres more generally—criticize pervasive North Indian ideologies of gender and kinship that place women in subordinate positions. By inviting readers to "listen to the heron's words," the authors convey this shift in moral perspective and suggest that these spoken truths are compelling and consequential for the women in North India. The songs and narratives bear witness to a provocative cultural dissonance embedded in women's speech. This book reveals the power of these critical commentaries and the fluid and permeable boundaries between spoken words and the lives of ordinary village women. |
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A. K. Ramanujan ammā Asikaur auspicious bāgon men jhuk bahū banā bhakti bhāt birth Brahman bride Bridegroom-prince brother conjugal village context courtyard cultural dān dancing songs daughter Delhi discourse dominant edited erotic festival folklore gālīs Ganeshji gender Ghatiyali ghunghat girl goddess groom Gujar hāṁ Hindi Hindu Holi husband husband's sister ideology indar rājā bāgon Indar Raja comes Indian women jhuk rahe jī jungli rani Kakar keśyā king lives Mahita male marriage married moral mother mujhe natal home natal kin natal village North Indian northern India one's oral traditions Pahansu and Hathchoya patrilineal performed perspective pīhar prestations purdah queen Rajasthan Rajput Ramayana rani's relations relationship resistance ritual sāsū sasurāl Shobhag Kanvar sing Singh Sita Sitala social South Asian speaking split story Subaltern Subaltern Studies sung tions University Press Uttar Pradesh Vatuk veil verses voices wedding wives woman women's songs words worship wrap