The genre of fictionalised autobiography, what Laura J. Beard terms as the creation of “political discourse and artistic practice", paves way for addressing the diverse experiences of women in the post-colonial era who are trying to discover their positioning in the hierarchical structure and reclaim their voice in the established Anglophonic literary tradition. Writers like Anita Desai and Arundhati Roy have used their fictional writing as a tool to challenge and resist the dominant cultural order which is primarily misogynistic and patriarchal. At the same time, the semi- autobiographical nature of their fictional works suggest the attempt of these writers to take control of the narratives that seek to topple this patriarchal world order. By undertaking the critical study of Anita Desai’s Clear Light of the Day and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, this paper presentation aims to recount the destabilising effects of these writings in exposing the societal hypocrisies and reclaiming the agency of female voice. Both these works are set in the neighbourhoods in which these writers spent their childhood, revolve around the complexities of families that define the journey of the characters and are narrated in a non- linear narrative. This provides an ample scope to trace the intersection of feminist, postcolonial, and postmodern critical perspectives in the formation of narrative resistance and comprehend how these fictionalised autobiographies assume power to speak an essential feminist experience.

The Partition of India has been extensively documented, yet the varied experiences of Dalit refugees remain largely excluded from dominant narratives. This research aims to address this knowledge gap by examining the fractured histories of Dalit refugees during and after Partition, focusing on their (under)representation and significant absences in literary texts and oral narratives.

Recent scholarship emphasizes the importance of oral testimonies and histories in recovering Dalit experiences. This study draws on oral histories, archival materials, and literary texts to contextualize the experiences of Dalit refugees within the broader historical, socio-political, and cultural context of Partition. This raises critical questions: Can historical resources—oral testimonies, archives, memoirs, visual materials, books, and documentaries—adequately capture Dalit histories? Can there be an objective rendering of Partition? How do Dalit oral histories challenge dominant narratives? What role does caste and class play in shaping Dalit experiences? How did displacement impact Dalits spatially and temporally? And what is the role of memory in their post-Partition lives?

By situating the arguments within relevant historiographical and theoretical debates, this research seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the intersections of class, caste, and identity in shaping Dalit experiences. The study humanizes the historical narrative, highlighting the importance of acknowledging and preserving the forgotten histories of marginalized communities which is crucial for constructing a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of the past and its enduring impact for the future.

Bonobibi, a guardian deity of the Sundarbans, is revered by both Hindu and Muslim communities as a protector against tiger attacks and a symbol of ecological balance. Her legend, primarily oral and deeply embedded in regional folklore, exemplifies themes of human-wildlife coexistence, interfaith syncretism, and environmental ethics. This study positions Bonobibi within the framework of comparative literature, examining how her myth intersects with broader traditions of guardian deities across cultures. By employing Digital Humanities methodologies, including AI-driven textual analysis, folklore mining, and network visualization, this research tracks thematic shifts and linguistic patterns within various iterations of Bonobibi Johuranama, while also identifying cross-cultural resonances through comparative myth analysis. Drawing on ecocritical and postcolonial perspectives, this study explores how Bonobibi’s narrative engages with global discourses on ecofeminism and environmental justice. GIS mapping and spatial storytelling further contextualize the geographical dissemination of Bonobibi’s worship, demonstrating how mythological traditions adapt across time, space, and socio-political landscapes. Folklore network analysis, facilitated by tools such as Gephi and Palladio, uncovers intertextual and interreligious dimensions of Bonobibi’s myth, positioning her as a transnational figure within global mythological studies. By integrating AI-assisted textual and spatial analysis, this research highlights the intersections of folklore, ecology, and gender within comparative literary traditions. Ultimately, this study underscores the relevance of digital tools in preserving and analysing oral traditions, while situating Bonobibi as a crucial site of inquiry in comparative mythology and world literature.

The study of theatre has been broadly the study of texts and themes, devoid of its intermediality and theatrical public sphere. There is a need to decenter the text and bring in the sonosphere of performative traditions into the center of comparative studies. This paper attempts to highlight the sonosphere of Parsi theatre in South and South East Asia during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Indar Sabha, is a Hindustani play written in 1851 by Agha Hasan Amanat, attached to the court of Wajid Ali Shah at Lucknow. The play was first performed in 1853 in Lucknow and was subsequently published in 1854. Curiously, the first Parsi theatre, Parsi Natak Mandali, too came into existence in 1853 in Bombay, the same year in which the first performance of Indar Sabha took place in Lucknow. The most remarkable aspect of Parsi theatre was the introduction of enchanting music and dance, spectacular stage craft and the skill in taking it to the cities in South and South East Asia to create a new sensibility among the public. The Victoria Parsi Theatrical Company, founded by Khurshedji Balliwala, not only travelled all over India but also visited Colombo (1889), Rangoon (1878), Penang, Jakarta and Singapore (1878), Mandaley (1881), London (1885), Nepal (1901) and Guyana, making Indar Sabha and other plays of its repertory and their music highly popular.

Parisi theatre’s itinerary, absorptions, diffusions and circulations lead not only to the emergence of a Indian national theatre but also a pan-Asian theatre. Several local multilingual Indian communities, Parsis, Arabs, Sinhalese, Burmese, Malays and communities with absolutely unconnected to India constituted its audience, many of them not even conversant neither with the language of the play nor its music, enjoyed the productions of Parsi theatre. Parsi theatre’s musical vocabulary included Ghazal, Qawwali, Thumri, Dadra and Hori and the common musical instruments were Harmonium, Clarinet, Sarangi, Tabla and Nakkara drums. In South East Asian visits, a wooden Xylophone (Gambang) was added. In addition, Parsi theatre also borrowed singing and performing styles not only from the European opera but also from the native Courtesan-Tawaif repertoire. Within this background, this paper attempts a history of the sonosphere of the Parsi theatre problematizing issues like print culture and textuality, spatiality of itinerary performative traditions provided by nineteenth century developments, colonial modernity and reaction to it, circulations within the theatrical public sphere, and the issue of (non)translation. In brief, it is an attempt to understand the social epistemology of music in Parsi theatre in time and space.