B. Meenu

Bio: B. Meenu is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: The woman question & Wife. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 2 publications receiving 5 citations.

Anxious Encounters with the (Monstrous) Other: The Yakshi Tales of Medieval Kerala

Abstract: Stories about monstrous encounters during travel are ubiquitous in every culture. Scholars see them as figurative representations of the cultural anxiety related to traversing the unknown and the encounter with the “Other”. For instance, the early Greek ‘monster-on-the-road’ tales are often read in the context of the expansion of trade among Greek city-states and the Greek colonization of far flung territories which necessitated going beyond the safety of familiar town boundaries. The Indian epics and folktales also abound with encounters of travellers with supernatural/monstrous beings. Whether it is episodes such as the “YakshaPrasna” in the Mahabharata, or the Bodhisatta’s encounter with the Naga and the Yaksha in Buddhist legends, or his encounter with Yakkhinis in the Jataka tales, travel often involved encountering the Dangerous “Other” who had to be defeated/satiated/converted. These early traveller’s tales can be read as records of the anxieties regarding expansion/establishment of the Kshatriya hero’s kingdom where the wild/primitive outside the bounds of civilization had to be conquered/appropriated. In the case of the religious hero, the monster represented a crisis of faith – either he/she was an embodiment of the allures of material pleasure the ascetic had to guard against or a staunch believer of another faith who had to be converted/conquered. All these “forgotten” traditions of travel come together in the Yakshi tales of medieval Kerala where a shape-shifting tree spirit haunting lonely pathways evokes memories of the ancient traveller’s encounter with the wilderness and its corresponding deities. This paper attempts to read these tales from medieval Kerala against earlier Indian traditions of travel as well as the literal and metaphorical crossings of caste and gender borders that travel entailed during the medieval period.

“The Widow and the Wife”: Debating the ‘Woman Question’ in Muthumeenakshi (1903)

Abstract: In this article, I look at the radical Tamil reformist novel, A. Madhaviah’s Muthumeenakshi published in 1903. This novel which dealt with common reformist issues of the time such as widow-remarriage and female education still struck a more radical note from the other reformist novels of the day in its support of the re-marriage of the widow who was not a virgin. In this paper, my attempt is to situate Muthumeenakshi amongst the other social reformist novels of the day and trace where the novel conformed to and departed from the other reformist novels. Through this, I plan to complicate the commonly held assumptions about social reform by bringing out the contradictions within the reformist project as well as explore the variety of positions within it and trace the aftermath of the reformist debates in India’s later history, especially in the nationalist discourse.

Contentious Traditions The Debate On Sati In Colonial India

Abstract: Thank you very much for reading contentious traditions the debate on sati in colonial india. As you may know, people have search numerous times for their chosen readings like this contentious traditions the debate on sati in colonial india, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they cope with some malicious virus inside their laptop.

Yakshi at the Crossroads: Gendering Horror and Trauma in Malayalam Horror-Comedies

Abstract: Anxiety, nervousness, and an unplumbed fear grip our sense of being, waking to the realization of a thrilling experience that we enjoy over and over again. Ironically, the use of horror films to ne...