This article was first published in the print edition of Manushi Journal. (Issue-50-52, Jan-Jun 1989)
With this issue Manushi has entered its eleventh year. We celebrate this occasion by putting together the lives and poetry of a whole range of extraordinarily courageous and creative women who asserted their right to their own life as they defined it. They have left a powerful social and cultural legacy for us. This legacy constitutes a living tradition even today, not only in the sense that their songs are an integral part of popular culture in their regions, but also because they are remembered and revered for having stood by their chosen ideals in defiance of prevalent social norms.
The work of these women and the legends surrounding each of them testify not only to their creativity but also to their joyous exploration of their own truth, even when this involved radical departure from the life legislated for most women. Though the memory of them that is preserved in legend identifies them as symbols of pure selfless love, they are also renowned for songs and verse sayings of deep wisdom and philosophical thought. The vigour and sheer audacity with which they expressed their thoughts still have the capacity to move, to inspire and to surprise us…