Author: -

Abstract: »In this respect, Schmueckle’s chapter aligns well with the following examination of the patriarchal uses and appropriation of consent, this time in medieval-era Bengal. Chapter 12, ‘Women’s (Absent) Consent and (Culturally Sanctioned) Coercion in Medieval Bengali Literature’ by Debadrita Saha, analysessexual agency and consent in the Bengali poems Chandimangal and SatiMayna. Though these texts date from the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth century respectively, they are situated within a period of history designated in Bengali as the Madhya Yuga, Middle Ages (as explained further within the chapter). Though this terminology was imported by British colonialists, it remains a popular framework within Indian history64 to refer to the period c. 1200–1800, marked by the advent of Islam and the start of British colonisation. More generally, global medieval studies problematises the typical (though certainly not uncontested) definition of the medieval period according to the terms of European history, as neither the term ‘medieval’ nor the years 500 to 1500 necessarily carry any particular significance in non-European contexts. Saha’s chapter critiques the patriarchal mediation of consent in the figure of the sati (the devoted wife who ultimately immolates herself in her husband’s funeral pyre), and identifies aspects of both cultural and literary coercion in the didactic function of these texts and the implication that Hindu women ought to emulate their heroines. Saha’s analysis illuminates the specific ways in which consent was compromised in or indeed irrelevant to medieval Hindu understandings of marriage, while also offering resonances with the intensely patriarchal culture of medieval Europe. Indeed, these texts reveal interesting and significant parallels to European literature, such as the faithful wife motif of Middle English romance, while they also illustrate how Bengali works both incorporated and co-opted women’s concerns about child marriage and the patriarchal mediation of desire.« (Source: Bonsall, Jane, and Hannah Piercy. »Introduction: Why Reconsider Medieval Consent and Coercion? Why Now?« Reconsidering Consent and Coercion: Power, Vulnerability, and Sexual Violence in Medieval Literature. Edited by Jane Bonsall et al. Turnhout 2025: 32-33)

Contents:

	Chandimangal and SatiMayna (p. 239)
	Chandimangal (p. 240)
		Subjectivity of a Child Bride: Consent or Coercion? (p. 241)
	SatiMayna (p. 247)
		Mayna’s Lament: The Grieving Sati as a Critique of Pativratā Dharma? (p. 248)
		Chandrani and the Liberated (?) Woman — A Happy Ending? (p. 250)
	Conclusion (p. 252)

Lecture: Saha, Debadrita. »The faithful wife or a slave to patriarchal norms? Delineating sexual coercion and consent in Chandimanagal and SatiMayna.« Gender and Medieval Studies Conference. Paris 2022. - Bibliographic Entry: Info

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of India / Medieval India | Literature: Bengali literature / Mukundaram Chakravarti, Chandimangal, Daulat Qazi | Sex and the law: Sexual violence