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The anthology Tradition and Modernity: Essays on Women of India includes essays ranging from the philosophical and analytical to the descriptive and the explorative and the experimental perspectives. It explores the lived experience and positioning of women in diverse Indian social, religious and cultural contexts. The essays deal with issues varying from the intricacies of the gender concepts embedded in contemporary tradition-modernity debates to a detailed consideration of women currents of thought, action and life, and the problem of understanding they throw up.

While most of the papers rightly reflect on the unequal and oppressive situation of the women in highly patriarchal and hierarchical settings, there are quite a few which sensitively touch upon the theme of human spirit and the beauty of love and relationships between man and woman in the midst of caste and gender hierarchies. There is reflection on the theme of the growing awareness about women, environment and development, particularly the relationship between violence of nature and women.

This collection of writings will appeal to readers of all hues as well as students and scholars of culture and religion, in particular of India, gender equality, democracy and difference, and feminist theory.