Mother Only You

This chapter examines child marriage, prevalent till the nineteenth century, as amongst other things the expulsion not just of the girl but the psychic and cultural associations of the feminine. Psychically, the space of the feminine is often reserved for pain, suffering and emotionality. Mostly, exiling of the girl/woman is an act of violence and fear of the female body with its sexual and emotional excessivness. Scholars have argued that the triumph of good and overcoming of obstacles overruns the theme of loss and a longing for the daughter. The embedding of Uma-sangit – which combines agamani and bijaya – in the midst of the Kali worship may be read as an ode to a culture at odds with a dominant culture of masculinity. In the emergence of this folk tradition, songs and poems appear to be bringing a domestication of religiosity

Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Psychology · South Asian Studies and Diaspora