Re-Presenting Woman: Tradition, Legend and Panjabi Drama

"Pankaj K. Singh’s Re-presenting Woman: Tradition, Legend and Panjabi Drama is a pioneer work on Panjabi legends and drama from gender perspective. The book juxtaposes the textualities of legend and drama to reveal how the post-independence drama re-presents woman along more just, realistic and humanistic lines as opposed to her pervasive marginalisation and misrepresentation in the traditional narratives. It examines woman’s construction in the context of patriarchal paradigms, particularly in the context of love, sexuality and marriage. The appropriation of woman in the pre-independence Panjabi drama is also considered. Four major legends central to the Panjabi cultural heritage–‘Hir Ranjha,’ ‘Mirza Sahiban,’ ‘Puran Bhagat’ and ‘Raja Rasalu’–and their rewriting in Panjabi drama since its emergence in the early twentieth century form the subject of this study. The playwrights discussed include Balwant Gargi, Sant Singh Sekhon, Shiv Batalvi, Kapur Singh Ghuman, Surjit Singh Sethi, Ajmer Singh Aulakh, Manjit Pal Kaur and Atamjit. The book constitutes a substantial contribution to the areas of women’s studies and contemporary Indian drama."