Hello student,

Chandrabati was an impoverished Brahmin woman from a small village of Bengal, in eastern India, who had never been exposed to urban culture. We shall try to see how similar these two contemporaries were in their own cloistered cultures, and why one text is regarded as a major success while the other is considered a dismal failure by scholars of literature. To find an answer, we have to sift through questions of gender roles, silenced voices and the tensions between social versus individual priorities.

Chandravati is a profoundly individual version as a story told from a women's perspective (Sita in this case) which, rather than commending masculine heroism and bravery, mourns the enduring of women trapped in the play of male ego.

She was the first woman from the whole of the Indian subcontinent to write the historic epic story of Ramayana in Bengali language. She portrayed the Ramayana from Sita's perspective and criticized her better half Lord Rama. Born and raised in an urban community, she managed to write poems and tackle the subjects of male dominance in the society and raise awareness. Although started, she could not finish this epic poem.

I hope you find it useful.