Enslaved Daughters

Description

This is the second edition of a remarkable study of a young woman's defiant stand against Hindu orthodoxy and the colonial legal establishment in late nineteenth century India. It revolves around a suit for 'restitution of conjugal rights' filed against Rukhmabai, who was married at age eleven and refused to go and live with her husband. Based on extensive archival research, this lucid and engaging account captures the dramatic unfolding of the litigation, as well as the huge social and political debate set off by it. The narrative skillfully weaves together the details of the case with larger issues of gender and law, colonialism, culture, reform, and modernity. This edition includes a new Afterword in which the author analyses a vexatious libel case into which the rival party dragged Rukhmabai with a view to breaking her will, even before the original suit had been settled.

About the Author

Sudhir Chandra was formerly Senior Fellow, Centre for Social Studies, Surat, Gujarat and Visiting Professor, Institute for the Study of Languages & Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He is the author of Continuing Dilemmas: Understanding Social Consciousness (2002), and The Oppressive Present: Literature and Social Consciousness in Colonial India (1992, OUP) and Dependence and Disillusionment: Emergence of National Consciousness in Later 19th Century India (1975).

Table of contents

Prologue
Ch 1 Rukhmabai and Her Case.
Ch 2. A Disputed Charter.
Ch 3. The Law on Trial.
Ch 4. A Challenge to Civilized Society.
Ch 5. The Brutal Embrace: Let it Stand.
Epilogue. Appendices ? A - E. Index.