Valmiki's Daughter

Valmiki's Daughter
Author: Shani Mootoo
Publisher: House of Anansi
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2010-09-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0887848370

Een welvarende familie op Trinidad weet niet goed raad met seksualiteit.

Joothan

Joothan
Author: Omprakash Valmiki
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2008-07-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0231503377

Omprakash Valmiki describes his life as an untouchable, or Dalit, in the newly independent India of the 1950s. "Joothan" refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. India's untouchables have been forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India's social pyramid. Although untouchability was abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. Valmiki shares his heroic struggle to survive a preordained life of perpetual physical and mental persecution and his transformation into a speaking subject under the influence of the great Dalit political leader, B. R. Ambedkar. A document of the long-silenced and long-denied sufferings of the Dalits, Joothan is a major contribution to the archives of Dalit history and a manifesto for the revolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness.

The Valmiki Syndrome

The Valmiki Syndrome
Author: Ashok Banker
Publisher: Random House India
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-05-17
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 8184002912

Maxing our career is our ‘dharma’ in this age of Kali. But at what cost? Working parents don’t see enough of their children, couples barely spend time with each other, young men and women become strangers to their families and friends. And here’s the irony–most of us mention our families and loved ones as the main reason for why we strive towards success, without realizing that we stand to lose them in this very quest. So how do we strike a balance between our careers and our families? In his first major work of non-fiction, bestselling author Ashok K. Banker goes back to Puranic sources to address this question. He writes of Ratnakaran the bandit, who made a living out of killing and looting to support his family, and his transformation into Valmiki, the sage. Using his story and contemporary stories from today, he shows us how they contain the answers to today’s most pressing issue: how to prioritize, manage, and enhance our personal as well as professional lives. Insightful, thought-provoking, and utterly inspiring, The Valmiki Syndrome is a map to the most elusive treasure of modern existence–personal fulfilment.

Valmiki's Ramayana

Valmiki's Ramayana
Author:
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 563
Release: 2018-04-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1538113694

One of India’s greatest epics, the Ramayana pervades the country’s moral and cultural consciousness. For generations it has served as a bedtime story for Indian children, while at the same time engaging the interest of philosophers and theologians. Believed to have been composed by Valmiki sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, the Ramayana tells the tragic and magical story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, an incarnation of Lord Visnu, born to rid the earth of the terrible demon Ravana. An idealized heroic tale ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, the Ramayana is also an intensely personal story of family relationships, love and loss, duty and honor, of harem intrigue, petty jealousies, and destructive ambitions. All this played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. With her magnificent translation and superb introduction, Arshia Sattar has successfully bridged both time and space to bring this ancient classic to modern English readers.

The Ramayana

The Ramayana
Author: Linda Egenes, M.A.
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1101993057

A delightfully straightforward and lyrical retelling of the ancient Indian epic of loyalty, betrayal, redemption, and insight into the true nature of life -- one of history's most sacred ethical works, rendered with completeness and sterling accuracy for the modern reader. Here is one of the world's most hallowed works of sacred literature, the grand, sweeping epic of the divine bowman and warrior Rama and his struggles with evil, power, duplicity, and avarice. The Ramayana is one of the foundations of world literature and one of humanity's most ancient and treasured ethical and spiritual works. Includes an introduction by scholar Michael Sternfeld.

Indentured and Post-Indentured Experiences of Women in the Indian Diaspora

Indentured and Post-Indentured Experiences of Women in the Indian Diaspora
Author: Amba Pande
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2020-01-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9811511772

This book describes the processes of migration and settlement of indentured Indian women and tries to map their struggles, challenges and agencies. It highlights the fact that even though indentured women faced various kinds of violence and abuse owing to the authoritarian and patriarchal setup of the plantations, over a period of time, they managed to turn the adverse circumstances to their advantage. They struggled to emerge as productive workforces and empowered themselves through acquiring education and skill, and negotiating new spaces and identities for themselves. At the same time, they also raised families in often inhospitable circumstances, passing on to their descendants, a strong foundation to build successful lives for themselves.The book discusses indentured women from a multidisciplinary perspective and adopts multiple methodologies, including primary and secondary sources, personal narrations, pictorial representations and theoretical discussions. It also provides an overview of the current discourses and the changing paradigms of the studies on Indian indentured women. Further, it presents a detailed, region-wise description of indentured women migrants. The regions covered in this book are Asia- Pacific (countries covered are Fiji, Burma and Nepal); Africa (countries covered are South Africa, Mauritius and Reunion Island); and the Caribbean (countries covered are Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago). In addition, one full section of the book is devoted to the theoretical frameworks that touch upon gender performativity, normative misogyny, Bahadur's Coolie Women, literary representations and resistance movements. It is intended for academics and researches in the field of diaspora/migration/transnational studies, history, sociology, literature, women/gender studies, as well as policymakers and general readers interested in the personal experiences of women and migrants.

Questioning Ramayanas

Questioning Ramayanas
Author: Paula Richman
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520220744

A wide-ranging examination of the many different versions of India's greatest epic, the Ramayana, focusing on versions that subvert the dominant readings of the work.

Talisman, Extreme Emotions of Dalit Liberation

Talisman, Extreme Emotions of Dalit Liberation
Author: Thirumaavalavan
Publisher: Popular Prakashan
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2003
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9788185604688

Translated For The First Time Into English From The Original Tamil, These Essays Present The Characteristically Honest And Uncompromising Views Of Thirumaavalavan, A Leading Dalit Intellectual And Mla Of The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Or The Liberation Panthers Of Tamil Nadu. Hard-Hitting, Courageous, Thought Provoking This Collection Shows New Directions In Dalit Politics.

Caste in Everyday Life

Caste in Everyday Life
Author: Dhaneswar Bhoi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2023-10-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3031306554

This edited volume brings together a range of scholars to reflect on the varied ways in which caste is manifested and experienced in social life. Each chapter draws on different methods and approaches but all consider lived experiences and experiential narrations. Considering Guru and Sarukkai’s path-breaking work on ‘Experience, Caste and the Everyday Social’ (2019), this volume applies the insights of the theories to multiple settings, issues and communities. Unique to this volume, Brahmin and other dominant castes' experiences are considered, rather than simply focusing on the lives of oppressed castes (Dalits). Analysis of cross-caste friendships or romances and marriages, furthermore, brings out the intimate and ingrained aspects of caste. Taken together, therefore, the contributions in this volume offer rich insights into caste and its consciousness within the framework of everyday experiences.

Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions

Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions
Author: Julia Leslie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019-11-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9781138708709

This title was first published in 2003. For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic Ramayana. Yet for a vocal community of Dalits (ex-untouchables), Valmiki is God. How does one explain the popular story that Valmiki started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal?