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In Search of Women in History of
Marathi Theatre, 1843 to 1933
Neera Adarkar
The recorded history ofMarathi theatre both marginalises and undervalues women's real contribution to theatre.
However, there is extensive material to show that when the presence of women became necessary for the survival
of the theatre, patriarchal society suitably modified its views on women performers.
IN July 1990, 'Expressions' a women's
Cultural festival was organised by some
women from various women's groups. Since
the focal point of the festival was 'theatre'
an effort was made to invite some of the first
generation stage actresses of the 1930s to
share their experiences. It was soon realised
that the task undertaken was rather difficult
as very few women of that generation were
alive and amongst those who were, most
were confined to the house because of their
age. The third important factor was that actresses from the upper caste background
were comparatively easier to contact than the
actresses of Devdasi origin. We were denied
access to them by their family members who
were rather ashamed of their past.
The study which follows is the result of
further research undertaken to explore
women's presence in, and their contribution
to theatre in the recorded history. History
of Marathi theatre in addition to a chronological documentation presents a comprehensive analysis of the various aspects
and issues related to theatre.
Annual events of natya sammelans (annual conferences on theatre), magazines like
Rangabhoomi published by a theatre company and dedicated only to theatre, many
literary periodicals and frequently held
seminars, discussions, lectures provided a
continuous platform to raise, discuss and
debate, to the minutest details, issues connected with theatre—from aesthetics and
techniques of the theatre to the political,
social and moral values of the people involved in theatre. From the study of the available
material it is seen that the actual contribution of women to theatre is marginalised in
the otherwise comprehensive analysis of the
theatre. Thus an important component of
women's cultural tradition is missing. On the
other hand one can find extensive material
to show how women in the context of their
'use' to the theatre were viewed by the
patriarchal society. This paper deals with
these two aspects.
DOCUMENTATION OF WOMEN'S
CONTRIBUTION TO THEATRE
Women as performers, as theatre company owners, as playwrights are practically
invisible as only a brief mention of the
names of a few of these women with cursory one line remarks about their work in
the history if made. This stands out starkly
against the backdrop of glorious accounts
of the contribution made to the theatre be
men, specially those who performed female
characters on stage. It is interesting to note
that historians of different periods have
given the same information about women
theatre companies while male theatre is
reviewed with a revised analysis over the
years.
The earliest record of women performers
is of 1865. Women performed in theatre
companies which were very often owned and
founded by women. Although specific information about their background is not
available, one can conclude from their names
that these were prostitutes or from the low
caste communities perhaps earlier associated
with 'tamasha' (a folk form). These theatre
companies were 'all women' theatre companies and the female as well as male roles
were enacted by women. There is not a single
mixed theatre company mentioned till 1929
when it was founded by the well known
classical singer Hirabai Badodekar although
Kamlabai Gokhale performed both female
and male roles in the company owned by her
husband and later managed by her. Barring
these exceptions, women actresses were not
part of mainstream theatre.
The recorded documentation is given
below. I have quoted some cursory remarks
available in the history books, specially the
ridiculing comments of the women's enactment of male characters.
The earliest mention of women performers in the theatre company as per
historical record is of 'Vibhujanchittachatakswativarsha Punekar Hindu Stree
Natak Mandall'. The main heroine's name
was Mhalsa "who was young and beautiful"
[1, 2]. This company was owned by a
brahmin and the cast composed of prostitutes. The company performed the play
'Padmavati' which dealt with child marriage,
widow marriage and world religious principles [1, 3]. In 1867 was set up the
Natakankar Manoranjak Mumbai Hindu
Stree Mishrit Natak Mandali where
Neerabai, Taibai, Vithabai, Mhalsabai were
in the cast [2]. Manik Prabhu Prasadik
Purnachandroday Sanglikar Mandali was
also owned by a brahmin, Joshi. Soni
Punekarin was the main performer, who was
"beautiful and was a good dancer"[l].
Purnachandroday Sanglikar Natak Mandali
seems to have been a mixed company where
Krishnabai acted as Draupadi. She is
described as being "fair, slim, medium
height but the quality of her voice and singing ability was average" [1].
From 1908-1925 three companies were performed regularly—Belgaonkar, Satarkar and
Manohar [1]. Belgaonkar Stree Sangeet
Mandali was a popular all-women theatre
company founded by a prostitute Ekamba
which performed a 'pro Ttlak' play
Dandadhari. The women performing male
characters looked like *ardhanari', 'ugly' and
'abnormal' [4]. A prostitute named
Sheshasani founded a company where male
and female actors performed [1,4]. Sarubai
owned Satarkar Stree Sangeet Natak
Mandali [1]. Kamlabai Gokhale from 1914
onwards performed male and female roles
in the company owned by her husband. In
1929, Hirabai Badodekar a famous classical
singer with her two sisters and one brother
founded a 'mix caste* company [3], In some
memoir books there are a couple of other
local companies mentioned, one of them at
Sawantwadi, where a local trader collected
the local prostitutes to form a theatre
company.
MARATHI THEATRE AND
SOCIO-POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
The growth of Marathi theatre has
paralleled the political and social movements
in Maharashtra. The year 1843 marks the
beginning of Marathi theatre when Vishnudas Bhave with the performance of Seeta
Swayamwar started a tradition of
mythological plays (which lasted till 1860).
This wat the period when religious resentment, specially of the upper caste Hindus,
towards the Christian missionaries had
reached its peak. The theatre companies of
this period were in the hands of brahmins,
pundits and shastries. The objective of these
mythological plays, according to Bhave was
'national entertainment'. The concept 'national' includes consolidation of religious
sentiments and moral values. The plays were
mostly based on Ramayana to show Ram
as an ideal of manhood against the effeminate males portrayed by tamasha' (a
folk form of decadent Maratha period)
which was still continuing at the time.
From 1861 a new tradition of historical
plays started to evoke the emotions of
patriotism rather than religious fervour.
These plays were termed 'bookish' plays
since for the first time the script of the play
was written down. The establishment of
universities and the exposure to English
literature encouraged many college students
and teachers to translate Shakespearean
Economic and Political Weekly October 26, 1991 WS-87plays as well as old Sanskrit plays and stage
their shows in the colleges of Bombay and
Pune. These historical plays in addition to
evoking the patriotic sentiments also upheld
orthodox, conservative and moral values.
The plays reflecting social reform issues had
to take the form of 'social plays'.
Although nearly 35 plays seem to have
been written on the theme of social reforms
pertaining to women till the 1930s, the
'golden era' of Mara!hi theatre is identified
only with musical historical plays between
1885 to 1920 which had a patriotic message
and very high standards of production and
music This is also characterised by the era
ol glorification of some of the male actors performing female roles. Actors like
Balgandharva were legends.
Most theatre company owners, playwrights (especially, Khadilkar), actors (such
as Balgandharva) were highly influenced by
the personality and political ideology of
l.okrnanya Tilak. Plays like Rana Bhimdev,
Khara Rajput (Real Rajput) glorified virtues
of self righteousness, strength, valour, national and religious pride and martyrdom.
All these plays were not subtle in conveying
the messages and directly provoked the
British rulers by characters and situations
identical to the then prevailing political
events.
Almost all the political events of that
period specially those taken up by Lokmanya
Tilak in his paper Kesari and Marathu
became ready material for plays. A few
examples: the Swadeshi movement and
boycott on foreign goods advocated by Tilak
reflected in the play Swadeshi Chalwal. In
the first Natya Sammelan of 1906, a resolution was passed to use only 'swadeshi'
material for theatre company requirements.
Partition of Bengal, the Vang Bhang
movement got reflected in Divya Arunoday
and British atrocities on the people demanding their right to sing 'Vande Mataram'
under the presidentship of Surendranath
Bannerjee a close friend of Lokmanya Tilak
(were reflected) in the Marathi play
Barisakhi Dhamdhum.
For Tilak the priority was political
freedom and not social reforms which according to him would divide the people by
isolating the orthodoxy, whereas leaders like
Agarkar, Bhandarkar, Lokhitwadi stressed
on the social reforms, specially those related
to women. These differences among the
leaders on social and political pnorit> are
well known. Since the theatre was more
influenced by Tilak, plays on women's issues
although not directed against the reforms
reflect Tilak's low. priority for women's
issues. The plays were structured to depict
the characters and views of both the sides,
the traditional and the reformist, however
characterisations and the situations created
in a very shrewd and clever way, always
showed the reformist as westernised, over enthusiastic ridiculous and a hypocrite.
There were during that time a few
examples of famous leaders like justice
Ranade who advocated widow remarriage
but himself remarried a young girl of 11
years. Such hypocritical behaviour of a
reformist was quoted frequently in the plays
to undermine the reformist movement in
general. Educated women were often portrayed as immature, juvenile, flippant and
anglicised.
The play Sampan Kaydyache Natak was
written on the 'Consent Act' of 1891 which
prevented a husband from having intercourse
with his wife under 12 years, the play showed how one of the sections of the act
becomes responsible for ruining the married
life of an innocent young man. Another play
on the same act, Indira Madhav SadhyasthiU
was written to oppose the views expressed
by the former play as it exposed the
hypocrisy of Tilak's supporters and their
shortcomings.
It is difficult to slot these plays as being
pro or anti reforms for women since many
plays which were considered pro women by
the writers and the viewers of that time will
not be so considered in today's context.
it is an interesting fact that, with the exception of Dandadhari which was produced by a women's company founded by a prostitute, almost all these plays on social
reforms dealing with women's education,
child marriages, love marriages, infanticide
by widows, divorce, dowry marriages were
enacted by a totally male cast. This contradiction is never mentioned in any of the
debates about women and theatre.
Women theatre companies which existed
during 1885 and 1925 had male roles enacted
by women. These roles were severely criticised and ridiculed by the historians of Marathi
sheatre with derogatory remarks like "ugly,
cheap, abnormal' [4].
The play Dandadhari provides a good example. This was performed by an all-women
company, Belgaonkar Stree Mandali founded by a prostitute named Ekamba. The play
was in the tradition of the pro Tilak plays.
Dandadhari is the 'nayak' of the play who
advocated a cautious and restrained attitude
towards remarriages of widows, not hurting
social sentiments. In contrast, the character
of a reformist stresses the immediate importance of remarriages. Both these characters
dressed like Lokmanya Tilak and justice
Gokhale respectively, were performed by
women. The review of the play in one of the
memoir book states that the audience applauded when Dandadhari appeared on the
stage and both the actresses playing Tilak
and Gokhale showed their acting talents but
they looked like 'Ardhanari Nateshwar,
Brihannanda' [4j. They looked ugly and unnatural. A paradoxical situation of this play
is worth noting. The play on widow remarriage, was performed by a cast of actresses
who were prostitutes and conveyed the
message against widow remarrige.
Glorious accounts of some of the male actors who performed female roles mainly
showed how these male actors even when
outside the theatre could fool society by posing as women. A frequently quoted example is how Vishnu Watwa enacting the
character of Sati Ramabai is worshipped by
the women in the audience.
There is at least one record to show how
women looked at male actors who performed female roles. At the Natya Sammelan in
1912, held at Amravati, an educated woman
Mathurabai Dravid read out a paper titled
'Actors and their Acting' [5j criticising very
boldly males enacting female roles, their entire appearance, mannerisms and acting
calibre.
She has described the way the actors wore
the low necked blouses and the manner in
which the saree was stretched over the front
emphasising the breast in a vulgar fashion.
She has observed that the young boys acting
as grown up women, do not do justice to the
language the characters speak and how even
if an actor was enacting an elderly married
woman, he used seductive gestures all the
time. She wonders whether these actors
believed that they could replace good performance by ornamentary gimmicks. "Certainly, at least the women cannot stand this
obscenity", she says. This paper must have
had a fair impact because in the debate
which took place in Rangabhoomi magazine
later many participants have taken note of
the criticism and supported it.
DEBATE ON WOMEN AND THEATRE
While women performers are cursorily
mentioned, the debate around this issue is
documented extensively! The debate is carried from 1903, continues till 1940 on the
platforms of theatre conferences and literary
conferences, periodicals and daily newspapers, public lecture series and seminars
and is conducted and participated by urban
educated middle class men only. Careful
scrutiny of the debate shows that the patriarchy initially justified the exclusion of women
from mainstream theatre but later to retain
the commercial viability within the changing society, the same system justified the inclusion of women but within narrow and
restricted confines. The discussion on this
subject started in 1903 but an intense debate
took place in two phases after 1910, the
deciding factor was "the change in society's
attitude towards male enactment of female
roles". The debate only centred around the
possibility of women as actresses, to replace
male actors enacting female roles. Women
as playwrights, company owners and music
composers were not considered.
The period 1903 to 1915 was the peak
period of the 'golden era' of Marathi theatre.
Male actors like Baigandharva, Keshavrao
Bhosale, Tipnis, Vishnu Pagnis were creating
history by their mass appeal. Therefore during this period there was not much discussion - on women entering theatre, and
whenever there was, it only assumed the
possibility of prostitutes as actresses.
In 1903 Abaji Kulkarni, a historian, talked of disadvantages of having women on
stage. To support his statements he described an unbelievable situation in a play on
Radha and Krishna. "Just before the curWS-88 Economic and Political Weekly October 26, 1991tains opened 'evil thought s' entered the
minds of the performers playing Radha and
Krishna and they were overcome by lust and
could not take their entry on the stage. The
curtain of course could not be raised and the
theatre company was ridiculed by the
audience" [2].
According to him there was no art in
women enacting female roles but there was
art in men enacting female roles. For Abaji
Vishnu Kulkarni who shows in his book his
intellectual and scholarly approach to the
analysis of history of Marat hi theatre in a
manner which may be appreciated even
today, the statement he makes against
women appearing on stage (as mentioned
above) sound superficial, hollow and
ridiculous.
The first phase of the debate was the latter
half of the 'golden era' of theatre. Society
had seen and appreciated male enactment
of female roles but at the same time, with
exposure to western literature and western
thoughts the shortcomings of the male
enactment were noticed sharply. Simultaneously because of women's education and
their increased visibility in society the
possibility of 'kulin' (from upper caste
origin) women enacting female roles in
theatre was considered for the first time.
Hence the focus of the debate was whether
the kulin women should enter theatre to
replace the male actors performing female
roles.
In the second phase between 1925-1933 the
complexity of the debate increased. The
theatre trade was declining because of a stiff
competition from cinema. Educated women
in good numbers were emerging in the so far
prohibited fields and the theatre trade
needed all pos s ible props for its financial
sustenance. So the trend was more towards
kulin educated women joining the theatre.
In both these phases the arguments,
whether against or in favour of kulin
women's entry into theatre, were firmly
rooted in the base of patriarchal moral
values. This patriarchal bias was sometimes
shrewdly camouf laged in the arguments
which were in favour of women's entry.
In the first phase in 1915, Rangabhoomi
invited open debate from readers on the
subject of kulin women and theatre, by
publishing a questionnaire which dealt with
the questions of moral values, development
of art and the advantages and disadvantages
of kulin women entering the theatre [6j. The
response from the men, most of them well
known in either theatre or literature, was
tremendous. Only one woman seems to have
participated in the debate.
The arguments given in favour of women's
entry only cpneerned the 'development of
theatre art' [7]. It is very clear that in this
period the only relevant issue was the growing dissatisfaction in society towards the
male enactment of female roles and towards
the obscenity, vulgarity and artificiality
which followed in the script, in the acting,
as well as in the production in general.
Development of art in practical terms
actually meant improving the above situation with women enacting female roles to
replace men.
In theory most men agree to the concept
of the 'development of art* but assumed that
there was an inherent contradiction between
art and morality. The choice was of morality
over art for the stability of the society. The
advocates of morality seemed quite sure that
if women and men came together in the
'vulnerable' f i e ld,of theatre, morals would
be adversely affected. It was said that to imagine any man other than the husband, in
the role of husband was in itself immoral.
There were some very 'practical' objections raised by these men, "if women take
to theatre as a career, then during the
menstruating period, is the company going
to stop the shows? Even the spoiled actors
of the theatre trade would not dare touch
this actress in her impure days!' It was
further asked whether the purity of theatre
as conceived by Bharat (author of Bharat
Naiya Shastra) would be retained by such
impure behaviour [10].
It is important to see how society viewed
prostitutes and widows in the context of the
theatre. For those who thought women
necessary for the 'art of theatre' but who did
not want kulin women to lose their morality,
gave reluctant 'consent' to the prostitutes
but with condi t ions that they should be
neeteeman', fil into the moral standard of
the society; or else these prostitutes would
spoil the morality of the men in the theatre
compani e s.
They were willing to accept prostitutes in
theatre under the guise of 'reforming the
prostitute' by offering them an opportunity
for a decent profession which in turn would
improve their immoral behaviour. Prostitutes' entry into theatre is justified by saying that their minds are full of evil thoughts
rather than se.....5le thoughts which would
help them enact all kinds of emot ions [6].
Those who were not very happy with the
choice of prostitutes suggested that widows
could take up acting [7] with necessary training in theatre craft.
In the second phase of the debate, i e, after
1925, the arguments against the kulin
women's entry are almost the same, but the
arguments in favour be come stronger and
very elaborate to make them sound convincing. The women were required in theatre,
as popular male actors performing female
roles were getting older and new men did not
find the enacting of female roles very
lucrative. The earlier glorified examples of
male actors were at this stage replaced by
giving examples of their ridiculous appearance and acting. Examples like these
were given to illustrate the 'degradation of
the art of theatre". Govind Tembe a very well
known personality in the world of theatre
mentioned that young men in our society
were beginning to imitate popular actors
enacting female roles. He maintained, that
at a time when the nation required strong
men. this tendency to look effeminate was
to be discouraged [9|.
The technical side of production by
this period was quite advanced. Threedimensional realistic sets replaced 'painted
back drops'. One finds description of how
the entry of the artists used to be purposely
delayed to allow the audience in the theatre
to appreciate the set of a pool side garden [10].
Changes in social attitude c ame about
due to a combinat ion of more realism in
techniques of production, and in the contents of the plays and due to the greater
visibility of women in various fields so far.
A shrewd twist was now given to the
earlier objections on the grounds of morality
versus art. It was argued that the danger of
any degradation of moral values was not so
acute any more because the women joining
theatre would be educated, cultured and kulin,
unlike the women of the earlier period [4J.
It is clear that at this stage the supporters
of women's entry into theatre did not
visualise women as independent and responsible persons but as women who fit in the
mould of the moral values put across by the
reformer men with women only in supportive roles.
'Natural feminine' qualities of women
were romanticised to pave their entry into
theatre. Much was written about the natural
grace of movements, flair for music and
natural inclination towards the emotions.
The most amusing comparison between the
two sexes made in order to prove that women
were beneficial for the art of acting is "the
imitating qualities" seen in young girls
playing with dol l s. How they imitate and
transform themselves into the roles of
mother, wife, grandmother with utmost
involvement as against boys of that age who
cannot concentrate in a single game. It was
further added that this quality in women
ought to be encouraged and purposely used
for the art of theatre [4].
The inclusion of kulin women had
another aspect. It was openly admitted that
the theatre trade in its prevailing low financial state, could not afford prostitutes
because the prostitutes earned Rs 1,000 per
night whereas the theatre trade could only
afford Rs 150 per month. Yet the needs of
the trade was greater than the number of
kulin women w ho were available. Therefore
a very clever move of expanding the definition of kulin to include more women was
made after an elaborate, intricate analysis
of the concept of kulin [II]. According to
the traditional concept, kulin is linked with
'higher' birth whereas the modified version
included women who were not necessarily
kulin by birth, but by their moral behaviour.
It had two expectations, one of being loyal
to one man and secondly of having an
aspiration of giving birth to a new kulin
'khandan'. The true intentions of this
modification of the definition should be
seen in the context of the social scene in
Maharashtra. There was a class of devdasis
from Goa who had a concubine status. They
had a high standard of artistic talents,
specially in music which the theatre trade
could not afford to waste. In order to be able
Economic and Political Weekly October 26, 1991 WS-89to be called 'neetiman', with high morals,
they could be pressurised to follow a life style
prescribed by the middle class patriarchy.
One can find examples of such women, some
of them still alive today, who must have been
emotionally pressurised to modify their
lifestyle in order to be called kulin. On the
other hand educated urban high caste kulin
women had to be trained in the art of
theatre. Quite pertinently nobody questioned
whether male actors needed any training at
all. Both these classes of women had to
follow a strict code of conduct prescribed
by the 'well wishers of the theatre*.
In 1915 when Rangabhoomi imited people
to react to the debate only one woman
Kashibai Herlekar had responded. In 1933
when the periodical Sanjiwani in its special
issue on women and theatre invited reactions, seven upper class educated (all degree
holders) women from places like Indore,
Nagpur, Khandwa, Pune and Bombay
responded. Out of these eight women who
responded, two were totally opposed to the
idea whereas six were in favour and were very
clear in advocating their views.
Some of the important points which
emerge from these reactions are: (1) Whether
women should act on stage, should be considered their personal choice based on their
personal inclination, in the same way they
would make a choice of careers as a school
teacher or a doctor. Concepts like woman's
urge for art, their ability for self expressions
are pointed out by these women, which were
never mentioned by men at any stage. (2) Art
need not be linked to morality or with being
kulin. (3) Women should not hesitate to take
the risk of entering theatre as any new venture has its own risks. They should not allow
men to make a mess of the theatre. (4) There
is no need to wait for society to accept
women in theatre but women should overcome societal prejudices. One should follow
the examples of the courageous women who
have already taken to acting to satisfy their
extreme urge to act. Jyotsna Bhole and
Padma Vartak [12]. (5) Women should accept and encourage free mixing of men and
women to overcome inhibitions. It is a
matter of our own opinion and not that of
society. (6) There are some very bold statements by Yamunabai Dravid [18] regarding
Khadilkar the famous playwright and
Balgandharva. According to her playwrights
cannot portray women characters and
Khadilkar is no exception. She has criticised
the way Khadilkar in the play Maneka, has
insulted the womanhood and motherhood
by making Maneka run after Rishi Vishwamitra urging him to make her the mother of
his child. She says "Every woman has an
urge to become a mother but certainly
women are not so crazy as to run after a
man. How can a male writer like Khadilkar
understand this? No wonder that a male
actor like Balgandharva is not ashamed to
portray this Menaka. She adds that Rukrnini
and Draupadi portrayed by Khadilkar in his
famous play Swayamwar are similarly 'male
nayikas' [13]. (7) Many women thought it
would be ideal if both the partners were in
the field of theatre, not necessarily as husband and wife. That any art form requires
total dedication therefore the women should
marry only if she can select a husband who
also respects and loves art, otherwise one
should remain unmarried to serve theatre.
Therefore in conclusion, we see that when
female roles performed by men were appreciated by society, there was a trend
against including women performers
whereas at a later stage when the demands
of 'realism' appear, the trend not only
changed in favour of women but sought to
lure women into joining theatre by romanticising feminity and by widening the definition of kulin women to include even the devdasis so that the needs of the trade were
fulfilled, but at the same time containing
them by not allowing them to deviate from
a code of conduct based on patriarchal standards of morality. There is no mention
of women's creativity or of their own
inclinations.
Thus on the one hand the 'well wishers
of theatre" looked down upon prostitutes as
having a commercial attitude towards the
art. They were called greedy for wealth and
were accused of not having a genuine love
for the art. On the other hand when women
performers become necessary of the same
•well wishers' blatantly used the language of
'using' women as a commodity to help the
theatre trade to elevate its financial and
social status.
R e f e r e n c es
[I] Valimbe, R S, Marathi Natya Samiksha
1865 to 1935.
[2] Kulkarni, Appaji Vishnu, Marathi
Rangabhoomi, 1903.
[3]Joshi, Sumant, Marathi Natyasrishtitali
Mushfiri, 1966.
[4]Kanekar, P G, Mazya Kahi Natya Smriti,
1944.
[5] Rangabhoomi (monthly), 1912.
[6] Rangabhoomi (monthly), 1915.
[7] Rangabhoomi, (monthly), 1916.
[8] Bipinchandra, 'Prostitutes and Theatre*.
Rangabhoomi, 1912.
[9] Tembe, Govindrao, 'Rangabhoomi Ani
Striya', Part I. Ratnakar, (monthly), 1928.
[10] Kale, P S, Lalit Kalechya Sahwasat, 19S6.
[II] Desai, Vasant Shantaram,'Kulin Striya Ani
Rangabhoomi', 1933.
[12] 'Striya va Rangabhoomi', special issue of
Sanjiani, 1933.
[13] Dravid, Yamunabai, 'Striya va
Rangabhoomi'.
Filling the Rice Bowl: Women in Paddy
Cultivation
K. Saradamoni
Based on intensive field work in three states (Bengal, Tamil Nadu and
Kerala), this book is a study of women's contribution to agricultural work.
The book documents in detail women's work in rice cultivation, both
in the fields and in support work (processing, supervision). It redefines
concepts like 'work', 'agricultural work', 'household work' etc. and sets
out in an appendix possible measures to ameliorate the lot of the women.
The author's profiles of some of the women bring out the ways in which
they manage their chores in the face of tremendous odds, with a courage
and dignity that light up their otherwise difficult lives.
The author taught at the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, until her
recent retirement.
Hardback Rs 150.00
Orient Longman
3-6-272 Himayatnagar, Hyderabad 500 029
WS-90 Economic and Political Weekly October 26, 1991

MARATHI THEATRE - Revision history

Thirdpoliceman007 at 12:38, 23 February 2012