The Socio-Cultural World of Women in Medieval Andhra

The book titled " The Socio-Cultural World of Women in Medieval Andhra" (From 11th to 13th Centuries A.D.) is a study of the socio-political history of medieval Andhra from a woman’s perspective. The traditional historiography has either ignored the positive role of women or portrayed it as insignificant. The fundamental contributions of wormen to socio-economic life have not been fully brought about. This has particularly been the case of Andhra history. So far no attempt has been made been made to study women in medieval Andhra and this book is the first of its kind. The special feature of the book is that, it deters from the traditional classification of women, which does not justify inclusion of all classes or categories of women. It attempts a broad classification of women into the ‘elite’ and the ‘folk’, which is based on socio-economic distinctions. Through a contextual reading of source material, a sincere attempt is made to project the variations in the society as well as attempts of integrYation at the same time and the ensuing women’s involvement in these. The study, it is hoped, will make a useful contribution to women’s history as we may note that in several aspects the status of women today does not seem to have changed much from the study period; particularly the importance of gender roles, status of widows and the victimization of women.