By Madhav Hada. Translated from the original Hindi by Pradeep Trikha

Unlike many saint poets, Meera’s own personality also shines forth in her poetry. Hada notes her use of symbols and imagery related to the feminine body. ‘Words like kaakan (bracelet), moondro (ring), ghagroo (skirt or lehenga), duladi (double threaded beads), dovodo (a special ornament), akhota (ear ornament), jhootano (pendant), besari (nose ring), choodo (ivory bangles), rakhari (head ornament), are frequently used in her poetry.’ Intense emotions caused by separation also fill her poems and she can say ‘Phaarungi chir karun gal kantha, rahungi bairagan hori ri’ (I’ll tear my clothes, will renounce all material pursuits, clad in a patched robe).


Reviewed by: Mohammad Asim Siddiqui
By Volga. Translated from the original Telugu by Purnima Tammireddy

It is not knowledge which centres around ‘man’ as being the sole harbinger of ‘civilization’ with relentless power to subjugate whosoever fails to obey him. This is the wisdom Shabari expects from Rama and this is the wisdom with which she feels that the world is yet to realize the kernel of truth in her words. Shabari tells Rama, ‘I was looking forward to seeing you. My hope is that you will guide mankind into times when there would be no kingdom, no cities, no civilization’ (p. 118). ‘Mata! You’re trying to spin the wheel of time backwards, and that’s impossible’ (p. 119), pleads Rama. Shabari attempts to convince him that in his desire and duty to fight and punish, he is abiding by the rajdharma of breeding enmity. Rama shares with her the inevitability of humankind’s march towards civilization.


Reviewed by: Disha Pokhriyal
By Salma. Translated from the original Tamil by GJV Prasad

Her mother, Zohra, is gentle, obedient, and conservative. Her steadfast devotion to her husband’s authority renders her incapable of crossing the boundaries drawn by patriarchy. But all women in Rabia’s familial network do not belong to the same category; some openly rebel, while others find subtler ways of defiance. Through Rabia’s gaze and the polyphony of voices that surround her, Salma constructs a vivid theatre of women, living and dying; of women who, though confined to their cloistered lives, are dreamers and rebels, defiant survivors and victims, tragic sufferers and filled with laughter and gaiety, all at the same time.


Reviewed by: Nishat Zaidi
By M. Mukundan. Translated from the original Malayalam by Nandakumar K.

What was the way out? You loved life as much as the sea loves the shore. Your grouse was that life did not reciprocate even an iota of that love. The thought of suicide had never occurred to you. How could someone with a lust for life end his own life? Instead, you began to seriously consider the option of taking a vacation from life and going somewhere else.’ Witness the sensitivity with which the author captures the angst of an individual even while preserving the dignity and meaning of life! This showcases the essence of the writer’s contribution to modernist sensibilities in Malayalam literature. On the part of the translator, it requires sensitivity to the nuances of words, tones and voices in the text.


Reviewed by: V Bharathi Harishankar
By K Bharathi. Translated from the original Tamil by T. Sriraman

Married off before she has attained puberty, the fact (among other things) that she slowly grows taller than her husband, is pretty much a cause for complaint for her mother-in-law. Her fondness and talent for music is not allowed to flourish, and the veena she brought from her maternal home upon marriage is relegated to the forgotten confines of a store-room, never to see daylight or come alive under her deft fingers ever again.


Reviewed by: Malati Mathur
By Ki Rajanarayanan. Translated from the original Tamil by Shubashree Desikan

For me, one of the lesser problems in this translation is the tendency to annotate, to present words in the original language and give an endnote or explaining them in parenthesis inline. And I think it is perfectly alright if employed judiciously. But in the book, most often, such words from Tamil are not only explained within parenthesis in-line in the text, but also explained away in endnotes, and when it is done repeatedly on almost every page, unlike in the original, it impedes the narrative, acting as roadblocks as it were.


Reviewed by: Subash Jeyan