THE IMAGE OF INDIAN WOMEN AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO LITERATURE

Abstract

The paper deals with the ancient Indian women and their contribution to literature during the British period. The role of ordinary women and aristocrat ladies were the same in that period. Both were utilized to fulfill their household duties and to act as a consummate hostess to their men at the table. They were portrayed as a secondary character to men in most of the writings. Women were in general unaware of their fundamental rights due to illiteracy.  Cruel rites like Sati and Infanticide were imposed on women by the society and more or less they were just treated as a supporting character to uphold the story. It’s only at the end of the Second World War, the Indian women got a new sight and light about the world. It’s quite interesting to learn how the ancient women lived and experienced the world around them. Women and Literature are interconnected to one another and their writings added new prospects to English Literature.  Earlier, only the work of men were greatly appreciated and won recognition from the readers. But then, the effort of women writers came in to light which created a remarkable aspect in their style and matters they conveyed. They always focused on the language patterns of Indian Literature. It is to be noted that because of their varied style in writing women writers have become very popular among the Indian readers