Acknowledgments  xi

Note on Transliteration and Pronunciation  xvii

Introduction. The Unsung Sing  1

1. The Daily Grind  33

2. Singing Bargains  71

3. Biyah/Biraha: Emotions in a Rite of Passage  115

4. Sita's Trials  155

5. When War is Marriage  189

6. Taking Liberties  219

Conclusion. Taking Liberties  219

Notes  261

Glossary  271

Bibliography  277

Index  289

“Unearthing Gender is a welcome addition to literature on South Asian gender and folklore. Jassal writes with compassion and with technical rigor—with an eye for poetry and an appreciation for the power of performance. She is clearly moved by the creativity and artistry of the performers with whom she worked, and she conveys this sentiment well.”— Ian Woolford, Journal of Anthropological Research

“Unearthing Gender is a welcome addition to literature on South Asian gender and folklore. Jassal writes with compassion and with technical rigor—with an eye for poetry and an appreciation for the power of performance. She is clearly moved by the creativity and artistry of the performers with whom she worked, and she conveys this sentiment well.”— Ian Woolford, Journal of Anthropological Research

"Smita Tewari Jassal's incisive ethnographic analysis of folksongs maps a complex, multivocal genealogy of agrarian structures, patriarchal practices, and the nuanced gendered worlds of peasant women in north India. This rich exploration of emotions embodied in women's collective singing practices offers an unusual, often delightfully irreverent window into caste, gender, and the workings of power in the agrarian political economies of north India. An engaging and beautifully written book—a 'must read' for scholars and teachers interested in questions of subaltern consciousness and women’s agency."—Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity

"Smita Tewari Jassal has accomplished meticulous and groundbreaking original scholarship based on many years of fieldwork. The most admirable feature of this book is its ritually contextualized presentation of rural women's songs (full texts and translations) with their nuanced poetics—all framed by the author's acute insights into the complexities of gender and power in the world from which these songs emerge."—Ann Grodzins Gold, co-author of In the Time of Trees and Sorrows: Nature, Power, and Memory in Rajasthan

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