Contents:
Introduction: Invented identities: the interplay of gender, religion, and politics in India / Mary McGee;
1. Speaking gender: vac and the vedic construction of the feminine / Sally J. Sutherland Goldman;
2. Language, gender and power: the sexual politics of language and language acquisition in traditional India / Robert P. Goldman;
3. evolution of third-sex constructs in ancient India: a study in ambiguity / Leonard Zwilling and Michael J. Sweet;
4. Untouchables, women and territories: rituals of lordship in the Parasara Smrti / Mikael Aktor;
5. From nayika to bhakta: a genealogy of female subjectivity in early medieval India / Daud Ali;
6. Pierced by love: Tamil possession, gender and caste / Karin Kapadia;
7. From demon aunt to gorgeous bride: women portray female power in a north Indian festival cycle / Ann Grodzins Gold;
8. Heroes alone and heroes at home: gender and intertextuality in two narratives / Lindsey Harlan;
9. Gender and the representation of violence in Pandav Lila / William S. Sax;
10. Engendering communal violence: men as victims, woman as agents / Amrita Basu;
11. Identifying differences: gender politics and religious community in rural Uttar Pradesh / Patricia Jeffery.