Article summary
Abstract
This paper examines the representation and recovery of women's voices in medieval Indian historical narratives across Sanskrit, Hindi, Persian, Tamil, and other regional literary traditions. Drawing on feminist historiography, postcolonial literary theory, and Indian women's literary history, it challenges the prevailing assumption that medieval Indian women were silent or passive. The analysis centers on Bhakti poet-saints such as Mirabai, Akka Mahadevi, and Andal, as well as portrayals of women in court chronicles (tarikhs), Jain narrative literature, and Tamil Sangam poetry, to trace the ways in which women's voices were expressed, documented, suppressed, and subsequently recovered. Additionally, the paper investigates how canonical texts construct feminine ideals, exemplified by the figure of Sita in the Ramayana, and explores how historical women writers and speakers navigated and contested these ideals. The conclusion addresses the methodological challenges inherent in literary-historical recovery and underscores the significance of these voices for contemporary feminist literary scholarship in India.