Literary Voice: An International Peer Reviewed Journal of English Studies (ISSN: 2583-8199) is published annually with a special focus on literature written/being written or translated in English all over the globe. It aims to promote healthy, constructive, critical, and interpretative writing on literary issues and trends, and provides a publication platform to talented young research scholars from all over the world and emerging new voices in the genres of poetry. We publish research papers/articles on various facets and genres of literature, literary criticism, linguistics, ELT, Book Reviews, Poems, and Interviews with writers. The journal aims to promote high-quality empirical and non-empirical interrogations of the extant critical canons that define and enrich credible appreciation of literary texts. The submissions are screened by internationally eminent Editorial Board Members who hail from the U.S.A., Canada, Turkey and India.
Sequins
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Woman's day
A Flamenco Chant and Art is Blue
Ecstatic Wonder of Allamaprabhu (Select Vacanas: Translation with Critique) Translated by Basavaraj Naikar Authorspress, New Delhi, 2023, pp. 662, Paperback Rs 1395, US$ 40.
This review examines Ecstatic Wonder of Allamaprabhu, translated by Basavaraj Naikar, as a major scholarly and poetic contribution that brings the mystical vacanas of the 12th-century saint-poet Allamaprabhu to contemporary English readers. The volume, comprising 582 translated vacanas with critical commentary, is evaluated for its linguistic fidelity, interpretive depth, and philosophical clarity. The review foregrounds Allamaprabhu’s radical non-dual mysticism, his critique of ritualism and institutional religion, and his emphasis on Sunya (the Void), inner realisation, and egoless union with the divine. Through close readings of selected verses, the study highlights the poet’s use of paradox, symbolic inversion, and body-temple imagery to destabilise conventional modes of religious understanding. Naikar’s translation is praised for preserving the lyrical intensity and spiritual urgency of the original Kannada while making the text accessible through analytical notes, glossary, and contextual framing. The review concludes that the work functions not merely as translation but as a significant interpretive guide to Virasaiva spirituality, reaffirming the enduring relevance of Allamaprabhu’s inward-centred mysticism for modern global readership.
Rupa Rao’s A Poetic Odyssey: Life and Legacy of Dr. Jernail S. Anand A Review
Abstract This review evaluates A Poetic Odyssey: Life and Legacy of Dr. Jernail S. Anand by Rupa Rao as a compelling literary biography that traces the formative struggles and creative ascent of Jernail S. Anand. Blending documentary precision with emotional sensitivity, the book reconstructs Anand’s journey from a modest childhood in Alamgir, Ludhiana, to international literary recognition. The review highlights Rao’s focus on the poet’s early hardships, moral grounding, and psychological development, demonstrating how resilience and familial values shaped his intellectual and creative trajectory. Rather than merely cataloguing achievements, the biography foregrounds the inner life of the poet and the socio-cultural forces that informed his worldview. Noting Yeatsian and Eliotian resonances in Anand’s oeuvre, the review argues that Rao successfully presents a nuanced portrait of an evolving literary figure whose work engages universal human concerns. The study concludes that the biography stands as a significant contribution to contemporary literary life-writing, illuminating the dynamic interplay between personal struggle, poetic vision, and enduring creative legacy.
‘Trailing the Transient Silhouettes of Meaning’ in Sushmindar Jeet Kaur’s A Journey Towards Light
This review critically examines A Journey Towards Light by Sushmindar Jeet Kaur as a significant contribution to contemporary Indian English poetry. The collection of approximately forty poems interweaves spiritual inquiry, feminist assertion, and lyrical introspection, positioning itself at the intersection of Eastern devotional traditions and Western poetic lineages. Through recurring motifs of light, journey, silence, and selfhood, Kaur constructs a coherent poetic architecture that traces a movement from existential uncertainty to self-realization. The review situates the poems in dialogue with writers such as John Donne, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman, and T. S. Eliot, while also engaging Sikh mystical thought and feminist discourse. Emphasizing the poet’s use of free verse, symbolic binaries, and a multi-voiced lyrical “I,” the review argues that the volume achieves thematic unity through repetition and narrative progression. Ultimately, the collection emerges as a meditative poetic journey that reconciles tradition and modernity, individual and cosmos, and thereby affirms poetry’s enduring role as a vehicle of spiritual and cultural illumination.
Ananda Lal, Centrestage: Essays on Theatre, India and Intercultural Seagull Books, Calcutta. 2025. Pp.187. Rs. 699.
This review essay critically examines Centrestage: Essays on Theatre, India and Intercultural by Ananda Lal, positioning the work within the broader neglect of theatre studies in Indian English literary discourse. The essay foregrounds the marginal status of drama in comparison to fiction and highlights the scarcity of rigorous theatrical historiography in India, particularly the lack of English translations and critical documentation of regional performances. It argues that Lal’s volume partially fills this scholarly gap by offering research-driven essays that document performance histories, especially those centred on West Bengal, while also addressing Indian English drama and the historiography of modern Indian theatre. The reviewer emphasizes Lal’s distinctive theatre-historical methodology, which prioritizes production details—direction, acting, stagecraft, and audience reception—over purely thematic literary criticism, thereby making the work especially valuable for practitioners of theatre. The essay further evaluates Lal’s reflections on pedagogical reforms in Indian universities, noting both the desirability and practical challenges of integrating performance-based theatre pedagogy in English departments. In its discussion of intercultural theatre, the review highlights Lal’s analysis of cross-cultural exchanges between Indian and Western theatrical traditions, referencing figures such as August Strindberg, Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Richard Schechner, Tim Supple, and Peter Brook. The review also underscores Lal’s corrective intervention in exposing factual inaccuracies in major Western reference works on Asian and Indian theatre, attributing these errors to linguistic and methodological limitations. The essay concludes that Centrestage is a significant scholarly contribution that documents a neglected field, challenges Western misrepresentations, and calls for greater institutional engagement by Indian scholars and publishers in theatre historiography. The book is recommended as an essential resource for researchers, theatre practitioners, and academic libraries interested in Indian theatre studies.
“Dissent is Patriotic”: Ban This Book as a Literary Voice Against Censorship of Books
Censorship of books has served as a means of maintaining power, enforcing conformity, protecting perceived moral, social, or national order, and as an effective tool to silence dissent. Although modern states provide freedom of speech and expression as a Constitutional Right, the age-old practice of censorship of books persists and remains a controversial issue, particularly due to resistance to such acts in various ways. Advocates of individual freedom and plurality of thought, vehemently voice against banning books. This paper attempts to delineate how literature too voices against the censorship of books focusing on Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book. Gratz, weaves a story of standing up for the freedom of reading by children. By writing the story of resistance he is also voicing in favour of writers’ freedom of expression. Through this narrative, Gratz not only encourages young readers to question imposed restrictions but also reaffirms the role of writers in defending intellectual freedom. The paper foregrounds the author’s stance that dissent is necessary for the survival of democratic principles, and that writers have the duty to promote awareness about censorship and the need to resist it.
Censorship, Reading, Freedom, Resistance, Dissent
Therapy-speak and the Biomedical Self: Performing Depression in David Foster Wallace’s “The Depressed Person”
David Foster Wallace’s “The Depressed Person” (1999) offers a glimpse into the late twentieth-century therapeutic culture in America by reproducing the linguistic and ideological frameworks through which depression is diagnosed and narrated. Drawing on Deborah Cameron’s concept of verbal hygiene and Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, this paper examines the linguistic performance of therapy-speak, which regulates the articulation of depression and shapes the protagonist’s identity in the narrative. By reading the story through Suman Fernando’s critique of psychiatric universalism, the paper situates Wallace’s narrative within the epistemological framework of biomedicine to discuss how depression is framed as endogenous and displaced from its social and political contexts. Together, the paper reads “The Depressed Person” as a critique of therapeutic discourse that fails to recognize the ethical and social dimensions of mental illness and gestures towards the need for forms of speech and listening that exist beyond the language of pathology.
Depression narratives, therapy-speak, verbal hygiene, biomedical model, medical humanities.
Mad Epistemologies and Crip Doulaing: A Study of Select Zines on Mental Health
While the biomedical model dominates global understanding of mental distress, mad zines emerge as a unique site of resistance. This paper draws on crip theory and mad studies to critically analyse how these non-commercial, self-published works challenge dominant biopsychiatric discourses and champion survivor/user voice from the margins. Moving beyond mere personal confessionals, the zines operate as borderlands rhetoric and carve out a ‘third space’ that navigates the intersections of minority identities. Lilith Cooper has demonstrated how zines on disability could act as ‘crip doulas’ that offer practical, lived wisdom to individuals entering the disability community. This study extends that framework to the realm of mad zines, examining their unique thematic and stylistic features. Beyond their role as counter-cultural artefacts, these zines provide the necessary tools for prefigurative politics and internal coalition-building. Additionally, the study asserts that mad zines contribute significantly to a distinct mad epistemology by demonstrating madness as a productive and legitimate way of being in, interacting with and understanding the world.
Zines, Mad Studies, Psychosocial Disability, Mental Health, Disability Justice.
Dr. Sucha Nand superannuated as a Professor of Medicine from Loyola University of Chicago, U.S.A. To him "Writing Fiction has been both a joy and catharsis." He has written poems, short stories, and The Partition: A Novel (2007). In the recent past he has written A History of the Brahmins in two volumes. Dr. T.S. Anand and Dr Kalpna Rajput spoke to him about his engagements with creative literature and the issues that inform his oeuvre.
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Meeting the Artist in Transnational World: Jeff Goldberg with American Glance on Indian Theatre
Jeff Goldberg is an Actor and Film Director who, after finishing his Bachelors in Film and Television from Boston University, moved to Paris to attain Graduate degree in Film direction from EICAR, The International Film School of Paris, and embarked upon his professional career. While in his early 20’s, Jeff wrote and directed his first independent feature film on the streets of Paris that was selected to the St. Petersburg International Film Festival. On the heels of that success, he began working as a director and screenwriter with French, American and Indian producers winning several prestigious screenwriting awards. After moving to India in his 30's, he directed a string of short films that were selected at several international film festivals and has staged hundreds of theatres shows all over India. In conjunction with his film work he has also been writing, directing and acting for the stage producing over 20 productions at some of India’s most renowned venues and festivals. As an educator Jeff has taught at some of the leading film schools and acting programmes in the world; The Lee Strasberg Institute (NYC), EICAR, The International Film School of Paris, The School of Visual Arts (NYC) and Fordham University (NYC). Currently, Jeff runs one of the finest acting studios in India, The Jeff Goldberg Studio and has worked with many of India’s top talents and a variety of NGOs; Salaam Bombay (educational initiative for slum children), Teach for India and Being with Beti (women’s rights). Jeff's shows have played to sold-out audiences all over India. His work cuts across genres ranging from drama to comedy, classics to experimental. He dares to challenge the conventions of theatre with each new production, making sure to incorporate his school of acting The Goldberg Method. He regularly tackles classics and original work pushing the boundaries each time he stages a show. Jeff happens to be one of the most popular trainers for acting workshops in Mumbai. He is extremely vocal about all the issues that he brings out via literary stories and performances and he loves meeting the youth with the sense of responsibility to be handed over to them. That is the responsibility of taking care of this world with the art of acting, the art of connecting people and the art of performing for humanity. Dr. Bhagyashree Varma, Associate Professor of English at Mumbai University interviewed Jeff Goldberg to unravel the mystique about the active experimentalist and thinker artist in Theatre and film industry.
The Mingling of Philosophy and Prayer in Puran Singh’s The Spirit of Oriental Poetry
This article explores the philosophical dimensions of Puran Singh’s The Spirit of Oriental Poetry, examining his integration of mysticism, spirituality, and poetic expression. Singh perceives poetry as a divine revelation, distinguishing Eastern poetry’s transcendental essence from the materialistic tendencies of Western literature. Through his discussions on poets like Whitman, Blake, Rumi, Guru Nanak, and Kabir, Singh underscores poetry’s role in spiritual awakening. His critique of Western rationalism highlights the erosion of poetic intuition, advocating for a return to poetry as a means of divine communion. By positioning poetry as a bridge between the human and the divine, Singh reaffirms its metaphysical significance. This study contextualizes Singh’s work within comparative literature and mystical philosophy.
Puran Singh, mysticism, spirituality, poetry, Eastern vs. Western poetry, poetic intuition, transcendence, The Spirit of Oriental Poetry
Relevance of Rabindranath Tagore’s Muktadhara, to Contemporary World – A Perspective
The present article explores Tagore’s concept of freedom against the backdrop of Tagore-Gandhi debate on ‘charkha,’ the role of science and technology in Indian context, and the concept of Nationalism. These concerns of Tagore are evidently manifest in the play, Muktadhara as the author analyses the writer’s ‘meditations’ on the frailties of State sponsored educational system and the imposition of science on humanity, thus causing horrible imbalance in man-nature equations.
Charkha,’ nationalism, science, technology, ‘mukti.’
Inherited Wounds: Intergenerational Trauma in Kavita Daswani’s Everything Happens for A Reason
This research paper explores the theme of intergenerational trauma in Kavita Daswani’s Everything Happens for A Reason through Jeffrey C. Alexander’s Cultural Trauma Theory. Centering on the protagonist, Priya, the study examines her family dynamics and cultural expectations to understand how collective traumatic experiences are transmitted across generations. The analysis highlights the emotional and psychological impacts of inherited trauma on Priya’s identity and mental health, particularly how family secrets and unspoken histories perpetuate these struggles. The paper delves into the cultural and societal pressures that Priya faces, emphasizing the conflicts arising from traditional values and modern aspirations. Additionally, it investigates Priya’s journey toward healing and reconciliation, showcasing her efforts to address and overcome the cycle of trauma. By applying Cultural Trauma Theory, this study offers a nuanced perspective on how cultural and societal factors shape personal histories and resilience, contributing to literary scholarship, psychology, and cultural studies.
Intergenerational Trauma, Identity, Family Dynamics, Cultural expectations, Societal pressures
Theorizing Sisterhood: Reconstructing the Female and Feminine in Literature
This research paper is meant to be an extension of any study of Women’s Studies. The roles of women in societies and domains of knowledge are not devoid of struggles of varied hues. Despite the struggles, women have spelled out a strong presence for themselves over centuries. In the realm of Women’s Studies, the waves of Feminism and Womanism have rendered immense strengths and conviction to makeovers in policies, attitudes and structures by highlighting and resisting injustices targeted towards women and men. The struggles and resistances have been strengthened by the collective powers of women’s organisations and women’s’ influences on drafting better political and social policies that reduce the struggles and sufferings of both, men and women. This paper elaborates the concept and role of Sisterhood and its fundamental status in the realm of Women’s Studies.
Sisterhood, Feminism, Womanism, Humanism, Oppression, Sameness, Feminist Osmosis Theory
Healing and Transformation: Power of Resilience in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
The interplay of healing and transformation to the fate of humanity, as well as that of individual characters, is a recurrent theme in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The focus of this paper is on the concept of resilience as it extends beyond the portrayal of the characters to include societies and landscapes, and how efforts taken by Tolkien centered around myth, sacrifice and redemption. Close reading and the textual analysis of Tolkien’s works reveal the healing and transformation of various characters. Frodo, is one among them whose healing is not merely a physical aspect but has deeper spiritual connotations, with imposing effects arising from sacrifice. This is further compounded by the fact that for Tolkien healing and transformation are intertwined concepts, and this synthesis resonates in Frodo and even more in Aragorn. The paper presents the argument that landscapes are equally important here. The healing of the Shire and the destruction of Mordor seem to mark the themes of nature and corruption respectively. Focusing on the sacrificial hero and the reborn king as prominent archetypes, Tolkien’s works are placed in a greater context in which cycles of death and rebirth and renewal are important. This line of analysis helps the readers see how healing and metamorphosis are key parts of resilience in Tolkien’s outlook, emphasizing that in reality healing is both individualistic and collective.
Resilience, Sacrifice, Redemption, Spiritual connotations, Nature, Corruption.
Aesthetic Consciousness and Literature: Sartre’s Existential Queries
Jean-Paul Sartre raised a number of pertinent existential questions exploring the realms of not just art, philosophy and literature, but addressed all aspects of man’s being. His philosophic thought starts with two types of being- Being-in-itself and Being-for-itself. In-itself is the transcendent essence of human existence, therefore beyond the framework of space and time. Being-for-itself perpetually seeks completion. Being arises through Nothingness, yet Nothingness denies Being. He discusses three types of consciousness: perceptual, conceptual and imaginative. Imagination functions on the basis of the negation of what is here and now. The imaginative act results in the creation of an unreal object. Why then does man create art? This is the question which immediately arises in this context. All creative activity, according to him, derives its impetus from Being-for-others. Art is an expression language (the term 'language' here is taken in a wider sense and does not merely refer to verbal language) that reveals the others. Without language, no awareness is possible- of oneself as well as of others. Therefore, language becomes valuable as a means of revealing the other in his essential freedom. His essay ‘What is Literature?’ delves into the deeper queries of the creation of literature, beginning with what, for whom, what should and so on.
Aesthetics, consciousness, existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, literature, language.
Exploring Historical Echoes: Unveiling the Allegorical Connection Between A Clash of Kings and The War of the Roses
In this research article, the analysis explores into George R.R. Martin's complex combining of historical allegory from the 15th-century The War of the Roses into his epic fantasy, A Clash of Kings. The analysis reveals similarities between important historical characters from Westeros, including Richard III and Henry VII, and shows how the political complexities of real-world inspiration are reflected in the fictional battles of the book. Beyond war scenes, the research highlights the significance of family dynamics in historical and fictional contexts, suggesting parallels between The War of the Roses and the power struggles in the Seven Kingdoms. Additionally, the narrative complexities in A Clash of Kings are examined, highlighting the seamless blending of historical events into the fantasy plot. For instance, the conflict between the Starks and the Lannister’s recalls images of the York’s and Lancaster’s historical struggles (Neubauer 30; Martin 245). Ultimately, this article indicates that Martin's novel serves as a bridge between historical events and the fantastical world of Westeros, providing readers with a rich and engaging experience that goes beyond genre and era conventions.
George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, The War of the Roses, Westeros, political intrigue, dynastic rivalry, historical allegory, family conflicts, Seven Kingdoms and Battle of Blackwater Bay.
The Cultural Genealogy of ‘Bharat Mata’ and Mothers in Gandhian Discourse: A Reading of Raja Rao’s Kanthapura and Doodhnath Singh’s “Mai ka Shokgeet”
This paper proposes to interrogate the cultural genealogy of Bharat Mata and the posited connection of the anthropomorphic image with the accent on women’s participation in the Gandhian movement in terms of the fictional, textual space of Raja Rao’s Kanthapura and Doodhnath Singh’s long short story, “Mai Ka Shokgeet.” Both the texts offer a serious, sustained engagement with the idea of women’s assimilation and participation in the Gandhian nationalist movement, and indeed stage this engagement in terms of how it is practiced in everyday lives of ordinary women. The Gandhian movement is credited with being the most participatory and inclusive mass movement. Records suggest that the kind of participation of women it ensured in the public domain remains unparalleled. Part of the reason for this overwhelming participation may perhaps have to do with not only how Gandhian discourse effectively played upon the iconic symbol of Bharat Mata /Mother India: this had been successfully done in various preceding as well as parallel nationalist/ revivalist movements. None of the other movements, however, correlated Bharat Mata with the lives of ordinary mothers as effectively. In the Gandhian framework, not only were women expected to participate in the struggle to free Bharat Mata; their collective participation was held out as the promise as well as proof of their own emancipation. This paper, shall examine how, in these texts Bharat Mata gets established in a reinvented myth as a besieged deity; and why, therefore, her devoted son Gandhi must be assisted in every way possible. The paper shall attempt to understand how this myth circulates, negotiates resistance and gains currency. How at the outset, it is presented as an intervention in known lores, which requires interpretation of a knowledgeable insider in order to be accessed by an entire community or group. The interpretation, of course, is inevitably geared at inspiring women listeners to enlist in Gandhi’s ‘army’. Interestingly, these women, in the very act of accepting this conscription–which is a radically changing experience for them–often turn the Gandhian agenda into something radically different as well. Eventually, the pursuit of the Gandhian promise of emancipation is transformative, though not necessarily as desired. These leading faith keepers of Mother India (who incidentally are almost never mothers), manage to come good even when the Gandhian dream does not.
Gandhian Movement, Bharat Mata, Culture, Mother, Emancipation
Gender Discrimination is a social phenomenon where unfair treatment is meted out to a person based on gender. This inequality is caused due to gender bias or sexism. The treatment may be due to the distinctions with regard to biology, psychology and sociocultural norms. While some of the distinctions are empirically grounded others are social constructs. Gender roles can further lead to unequal treatment. Violence against women is a kind of gender discrimination and can limit their access to education, job opportunities and other facilities thereby perpetuating the cycle of gender inequality.
Gender Discrimination, Bible, Women, Christianity, Old Testament
Revisiting Bankim Chandra’s Idea of Cultural Nationalism-A Perspective
In the 19th Century, due to the influence of the West, there was a tendency to offer reasons for and against standard practices. Dharmic traditions and practices, too, suffered a similar fate. Young nerves in Bengal were influenced by Western culture and started to doubt the validity of any classical understanding of life's problems. Several attempts to understand dharma as being based on morality, science, art, or as a type of philosophy have resulted in a wide range of views among classical philosophers. On the other hand, there have been some critical attempts to distinguish religion from other forms of understanding. It has been argued that the enterprise started by early classical thinkers to rescue religion from obscurity and isolate what is unique about it by approaching it psychologically dominates our thought today. Bankim was the one who attempted to offer a secular basis for religion to a mind that had already embraced the empirical objection to all suprasensible phenomena. Thus, this paper will further explore the colonial literary thoughts raised by Bankim against the secular orientation of dharma in the Indian context.
Literature, dharmic consciousness, omnipotent, reformation, and nationalism
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Lalit Mohan Sharma. Imaginary Knots: Poems, Authors Press, New Delhi. 2024
Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end, says Virginia Woolf. And the poet’s vocation is to charter this irregular flow of life, and try to inject meaning into the anarchic, and if possible, order the chaos. In the ordered universe, only man is an aberration. He is in fact an organized chaos, working hard to rework his own pattern and trying to find meaning in jumbled existence. Catch a thread in a jumble and you can unknot it by and by. But human mind is a jumble which knows no easy solutions. The unrest, angst, the stir that marks human mind at this juncture of existential history of mankind is what makes the warp and woof of Dr Lalit 's poetry. If poetry is an image of our lives, his poems go a step forward and present not only the outward image, but also lay bare the inside corrosion suffered by the human soul. The most corrosive of all elements is the passion for greed, more and more, and a complete lack of sensitivity towards others who might suffer when we blow our trumpet.
To Be or Not to Be: Undergraduate ESL Learners’ Attitudes Towards Code-Switching
Code-switching and its pros and cons, is a highly debated phenomenon in second language learning in a classroom setting. This study also discusses how hindering code-switching affects the learning process in English language classrooms. The data for this quantitative study was gathered from the population of 50 BS second language learners at the University of Lahore through a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. The results indicate that the majority of undergraduate learners have a favorable disposition towards the practice of code-switching. They face difficulties when they are not allowed to switch codes in the classroom. However, it has been found that there are a few learners who do not feel any difficulty in the absence of code-switching opportunities. According to the findings, stopping the learners from code-switching in educational settings is disadvantageous. The encouragement of code-switching practice in classrooms is a robust way of enhancing communicative skills, socio-emotional engagement, and accelerating learning outcomes. These findings have important implications for language educators and policymakers and will help in fulfilling the actual classroom requirements and bringing about a change in the attitudes towards code-switching.
Code-switching, ESL learners’ attitudes, problems, Learning development.
Moving from a Textual to Visual Medium: Transposition of Ruskin Bond’s The Blue Umbrella to the Cinematic Canvas
Intertextuality, which emphasizes the interaction of various works of art, is associated with adaptation studies. According to comparative literature scholar James Naremore, modern life's nerve center is remaking. Additionally, based on the interpretation of the original source material, remaking brings out ideological and aesthetic beliefs. According to the intertextuality school of thought, the novel always comes before the movie, but a consumer is more likely to see the movie first. However, the novel and the movie complement one another visually and aesthetically due to the components they contain. The study attempts to explore how Vishal Bharadwaj's adaptation of Ruskin Bond's novella The Blue Umbrella differs from the original and how they stay connected. The paper will try to find aspects of film and literature that are not easily changeable while considering the convergence of these two art forms.
Intertextuality, Adaptation, Convergence, Fidelity, Aesthetics
Intimate Partner Violence and its Realistic Projection: A Critical Study of Contemporary Indian Cinema
Despite an array of new statutes designed to safeguard women and punish abusers, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) continues to snuff out many lives leading to infringement of fundamental human rights and serious physical and mental health consequences. Like other societal phenomena, gender-based violence particularly IPV alongside its resistance, is prominently depicted in contemporary Indian cinema. By evaluating three films in light of a social responsibility paradigm which relies on realistic representation as its basic dimension, this research investigates how accurately IPV is portrayed across contemporary Indian cinema. The behavioural elements of the widely recognized The Duluth Model and Power and Control Wheel will be applied to determine realistic representation of IPV in each particular movie. This study focuses on films like Jasmeet K. Reen’s Darlings, Charukesh Sekar’s Ammu and Vipin Das’s ‘Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey’ which premiered in year 2022 in Hindi, Telugu and Malyalam cinema respectively. The results demonstrate significant variations in the measure of social responsibility indicating that contemporary Indian cinema may play a significant role in realistic projection of IPV
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), Indian cinema, realistic presentation, Power and control, social responsibility
Mind-Body Mantra: Unleashing the Potentials of Life through Mind-Body Medicine illustrated in the Essays of Swami Vivekananda and Deepak Chopra
Good bodily and mental health is a condition of well-being. We may keep our bodies in good health by embarking on a quest to explore the deepest corners of our minds. The practical and scientific approaches for comprehending the relationship between the mind and body are the main emphasis of the study. Through their writings, Deepak Chopra and Swami Vivekananda emphasize the vitality of the fountain known as consciousness as a prelude to awareness, focus, and purpose - all of which are subsequently incorporated into medical procedures like radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Both the writers’ literary works highlight and discuss ancient Indian life sciences like Yoga and Ayurveda as well as Western Medicine. Through the field of Medical Humanities, the intersection of Literature, Philosophy, and Medical Science, this research will engage significant elements required for the purpose. Thus, the research delves into both the physiological and psychological facets of preserving bodily health.
Mind-body balance, awareness, attention, Ayurveda, Yoga
The Women Characters of Amish Tripathi: A Postfeminist Perspective
The paper attempts to explore the women characters of Amish Tripathi in his Shiva Trilogy and Ram Chandra Series with a post-feminist perspective. In the recent trend of mythological fiction, women characters are given the roles of protagonists for voicing their emotions and decisions. From their shadowed existence to their new avatar of prominence and strength they have become role models for the young generation. Tripathi has subverted the characterization of women with extraordinary virtues. His Sita is the pride of Malayputras who confer on her the coveted title of ‘Vishnu’ for making her accountable for the welfare of the people by destroying evil. He very carefully associates masculine qualities with women to prove their wisdom and power. The paper focuses on Tripathi’s defiance of patriarchal society by presenting a world of women who possess masculine qualities along with utmost femininity.
Post-feminism, Empowered Women; Femininity; Feminism, Mythology