Birth and Birthgivers: The Power Behind the Shame

Birth is traditionally sharam Ki baat, a matter of shame/shyness/embarrassment, not to be spoken about openly-only among older women and those who are mothers. Contesting the simplistic colonial and development discourses interpreting sharam only as shame, this volume sharam only as shame, this volume presents varied essays exploring women’s voices, agency and aesthetics in the traditional handling of childbearing. It included Ayurveda as it comprehends reproduction, sohars, birth narratives, cord-cutters, dais’ knowledge and compensation systems as well as analyses of biomedical dominance and erasure of indigenous knowledge. these essays provide a peek behind the purdah in this critical reclamation of ‘tradition’.