Creative Saplings (CS) (ISSN: 0974-536X) CODEN: CSABCJ is an international peer-reviewed (refereed), open access, monthly online journal of English language and literature from India. Creative Saplings has an expert editorial board and reviewers to analyze and select literary works from the English language, literature, and criticism. Creative Saplings publishes the unpublished, most original, and scholarly articles of students, scholars, and academicians from all over the world.
SAFE: (Society For Academic Facilitation and Extension, Regd.), Head office: 53, Karamchari Nagar, Bareilly 243112 (UP) India
Kampilya: Unravelling the Essence of History, Literature and Spirit
Kampilya: Unravelling the Essence of History, Literature and Spirit Edited by Shaleen Kumar Singh and Seema Gautam, published by Akhand Publishing House in 2014, ISBN: 978-81-19098-32-3, 149 pages, Rs ₹650 / $30.
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The poem vividly captures the reader's attention through the poet's deep bond with his serene, nature-rich homeland, which was filled with landscapes of hills, woods, lakes, and ancient sanctuaries. Reflecting on his youth, he remembers both his early school days and the simple pleasures of playing outdoors. Though a busy career temporarily distanced him from his roots, he feels an eternal connection to his place of joy. Ultimately, the work is a tribute to the lasting beauty of nature, nostalgic childhood memories, and a firm devotion to one's home.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kumara Swamy Ravipati https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The poem presents a critique of modern society's obsession with materialism, social media, and superficial appearances. It highlights how people often spend money on unnecessary things and seek empty praise while neglecting their health, emotions, and meaningful relationships. The poet observes that endless engagement with reels and virtual admiration has distanced individuals from genuine human connections and made them indifferent to the suffering of others. As a result, compassion, care, and traditional values are gradually fading in homes, workplaces, and society as a whole. However, the poem also offers hope by emphasizing the role of young minds in bringing positive change. It suggests that teachers and education can sow the seeds of wisdom and moral values in children. By guiding them to distinguish between truth and illusion, reality and superficiality, society can nurture a more compassionate and balanced generation. Ultimately, the poem is a call to restore genuine human values and prioritize inner well-being over external glitter.
These companion poems explore two contrasting yet interconnected dimensions of the human experience: the pain of emotional absence and the transformative possibility of profound union. Absence reflects on the quiet devastation of neglect, the futility of seeking love from those unable to give it, and the courage required to move toward authentic human connection. True Love envisions love as a patient process of inner and relational alignment, drawing on the metaphor of quantum entanglement to portray two souls gradually becoming one. Together, the poems invite readers to contemplate loss, healing, and the enduring human longing for genuine belonging and transcendence.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ayesha Salma https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Structural and Symbolic Violence in South Asian Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Roy, Hosseini, and Ali
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textoutline-type: none; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: .75pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: bevel; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HI;">This paper seeks to compare the works of Arundhati Roy, Khaled Hosseini and Monica Ali to examine how their novels alter the nature of violence from a mere event into an enabling process of constructing identity, memory and cultural identity in south Asian and diasporic communities. The study examines how these authors place the female agency, strength and unity at the centre of the systemic frameworks of male oppression. Roy's novels give a fairly good picture of how caste, communal and gender structures remain resilient and how one could hope to create an archive of the unsaid and whichever sections of history remain hidden. In each realist story, Hosseini places the issue of ethnic discrimination, of patriarchy and domination, and the experience of war trauma against the backdrop of a wider injustice, while at the same time showcasing the capacity of women's solidarity and sacrifice to change their world. By contrast, Ali portrays the “slow violence” of migration, when women find themselves constrained by cultural alienation, economic precarity, as well as racial stereotyping, and when the ability to live outside is strategies for resistance and a practice of collective care. Based on the foundations of trauma theory, postcolonial criticism, structural and symbolic violence and intersectionality, the research presented here foregrounds the capacity of literature to be witness to oppression, but also as an ethical arena for the imagining of resilience, justice and transformative solidarity.
Saang and Ragni in Cultural Haryana: Folk, Classical and Canonical
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-style-textoutline-type: none; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dpiwidth: .75pt; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-linecap: round; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-join: bevel; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-pctmiterlimit: 0%; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-dash: solid; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-align: center; mso-style-textoutline-outlinestyle-compound: simple; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This paper explores how the notion of folk spontaneity has been engaged with, in relation to classical/textual refinement and technological intervention, in the case of two folk traditions of the Haryanvi-speaking population, Ragni and Saang. It poses the main question: How the relationship between lok (folk) and shastra (classical) is being negotiated in the Haryanvi folk performances, while also maintaining their cultural identity. Ragni and Saang not only revive traditional stories but, as the study suggests, they rework them in the local language and with a lived experience perspective and in an awareness of community that enable them to affirm and make culturally meaningful performances. An another question this study takes is whether these traditions gain or lose their folk qualities through technological mediation. Results indicate that digital platforms have facilitated greater visibility, preservation and accessibility of folk forms, but that too much scripting, commercialism and institutionalisation may lead to a loss of dimension of folk expression that is spontaneous and participatory. Yet another question that is asked is if folk traditions can, at the same time, contribute also to cultural diversity and cultural cohesion. Analysis shows that these are performances which retain regional identities, pass on collective memory and ethical values, adjust classical stories to the present and represent solutions to problems of homogenisation and exclusion. This paper concludes that the process of folk creativity, classical inheritance and digital technology is a continuous dialogue, adaptation, and negotiated co-existence, which endures the vitality and cultural relevance of Haryanvi ragni and saang in a dynamic society.
Celebrating Mohan Rakesh's Centenary: Revisiting Adhe Adhure in Translation through a Reception Theory Lens
Mohan Rakesh is one of the most celebrated and innovative post-independence Hindi litterateurs. In his lifetime, Rakesh authored and translated works across several genres, which have been widely acclaimed. He pioneered the Nai Kahani (‘New Story’) movement of the 1950s and modern theatre, which presented psychological realism depicting societal and cultural struggles of the urban middle class. In modern drama, Rakesh shifted the spotlight from history and mythology to real, dynamic social stories and cultural contexts. The readers’ and audiences’ lived experiences took centre stage in his storytelling. He disrupted the way literature was received, as each of his works showcased an individual’s personal experiences rooted in their contextual settings. Audience interpreted the story based on their own sensitivities. The interpretation and reception of each of his works have been open to deep personal reflection and intellectual exploration. The present study critically analyses the reception and translations of his works as a playwright with particular reference to Adhe Adhure (1969) and its English translation by Bindu Batra titled “Half Way House”. The translator's proximity with the author, who himself was a translator, drives this exploratory analysis from a fidelity perspective. Findings from this study provide a roadmap for the future for translators, academia, and theatre enthusiasts. It is relevant to the NEP2020, which endorses the integration of arts and knowledge dissemination in Indian languages, opening up huge opportunities for translators. In the context of Artificial Humanities, it further opens up avenues for AI-based and Machine Translation of Rakesh’s works.
Copyright (c) 2026 Saloni Sinha, Shikha Pandey, Rajendra Prasad Pandey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The story is about Ekta and Bon, two doctoral students, whose friendship transforms into love while fighting for personal happiness and social responsibility. Their mutual affection reaches the marriage ring, with plans set in Canada, India, and beyond, all in the name of bringing together cultural, and traditional, traditions. But all their dreams are shattered when Bon's father's kidneys have failed and must be transplanted urgently. In this crisis, Ekta is disturbed by the ethic and social truths behind organ transplantations that involve poverty and organ trafficking in India. Filled with remindings of poverty, physical pain and injustice, she is filled with thoughts of self reflection and deep reflection. Ekta lives in a world where she strives to fulfill her life's purpose beyond the individual to the human, with thoughts cresting from her mother's humanitarian aspirations and her father's patriotism. She sees that her own giving of the body can be viewed as instrument to a social change and decides to dedicate herself to the service of the marginalized and the vulnerable whether it is to small villages or in everyday family life. So, she ultimately puts to rest her intentions to marry Bon, and instead lives for others. Love blossoms from being a private personal sentiment to a holistic commitment to achieving the general good, with a focus on the need to sacrifice and embrace moral obligation, as well as the necessity for society to provide the common good that prevails over personal ambition.
Remembering Colonial Histories: Trauma and Cultural Memory in Toni Morrison's Beloved
Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) has resulted in many interpretations as a novel about the experience of slavery and its aftermath in the United States, but it is also a novel about colonialism—a saga to which slave systems relate. In this paper these points will be examined to see how Morrison's novel Beloved can be analysed with reference to postcolonial theory, and as her novel entices to illuminate her wider colonial ploy that involved physical and psychological torture of slaves, as well as destruction of black history, black culture and black identity. The study understands the haunting, fragmented subjectivity as well as cultural memory to be a representation of the lingering effects of colonialism, as described by Frantz Fanon, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Edward Said. Alongside being a ghost of personal tragedy, the ghost of the novel, Beloved, is also the ghostly presence that refuses to be silenced of colonial histories. The violence of the colonies was not only physical, but it also took the form of Sethe's killing of the baby, and a lack of communication between the community. But Morrison also tells of the possibility of catharsis gained from people sharing together and the retrieval of oppressed histories. In making memory resistance a key feature of the novel, Beloved elicits contestation to colonial forgetting and makes room for cultural revival. This research argues that Morrison's novel is a portrait of the ‘silenced' voice and an interaction with the legacy of the colonial oppression in postcolonial literature.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dinesh Panwar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Deconstructing Modern Womanhood: Myth, Ideology and Lived Reality in Double Yoke by Buchi Emecheta
The present paper examines the role and condition of so-called modern woman who stand against the cultural norms of a particular milieu. Buchi Emecheta is considered to be a prominent Nigerian author who describes Nko as a resilient character that she herself is. Nko is her mouthpiece of modern woman. She is torn apart between the two ideological states: traditional Nigerian beliefs and modern progressive values. The transformation of ritualistic and traditionalistic Nigerians into modern African women and men makes them bear multiple loads that become their predicament in the course of the transition from one value system to another. This transition period however is characterized by moral confusion and disorder. It is difficult to know what is right and what is wrong. Nko, the protagonist desires her upliftment with her academic degree which was provided to her with additional responsibilities of pregnancy from her professor. Such is the irony of modern woman. The feminist approach and cultural aspects are far beyond the ground realities of the modern world. The role of female protagonist in the novel exposes the schism between the limiting yet familiar comforts of traditional African roles, and more expensive and sometimes dangerous choices offered by modern society. These forces buffet the life of the main characters in the novel.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sandhya Saxena, Priyadarshini Divya https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Representing African Subjectivities: Assimilation and Alienation in Americanah and Open City from an Afropolitan Perspective
Scholarly discussions of Africa and how it is portrayed in modern novels are changing from the conventional view that the continent is a place of proletarian struggle. Contemporary scholarly discussions regarding the portrayals of Africa and African identities in African diasporic stories have indicated that class and capital have emerged as crucial factors, complicating prevailing discussions surrounding race, identity, and culture. This paper contends that by utilizing transnational technologies and showcasing upper-middle-class experiences, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah and Teju Cole’s Open City highlight intricate negotiations of identity, especially regarding adaptation to Western cultural contexts and the persistent yearning for a sense of belonging that remains unfulfilled. Moving away from the earlier concerns of African authors with national identity and political matters, as well as their defense of Africa in civilizational terms, both works challenge the celebratory narrative typically linked to Afropolitanism, emphasizing the emotional and socio-economic conflicts that shape global African identities. My paper seeks to explore this evolving terrain within African diasporic narratives, focusing on the concepts of assimilation and belonging through the perspective of Afropolitanism.
Copyright (c) 2026 Partha Sarathi Mondal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Insurgency, Violence, and the Transformation of Assam's Social and Political Landscape: A Literary Study
The body of literature emerging from the decades of militancy in Assam has become crucial to understanding and interpreting the region’s shifting social and political discourses since the inception of the Assam Movement. The political turmoil caused by such a violent uprising became the source of utter misery and destitution for the people. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to study the works of select authors, including Arupa Patangia Kalita, Jahnavi Barua, Mitra Phukan, and Aruni Kashyap, to understand the consequences of these incidents in the social and political context as reflected in the literature of the period. We propose to study the theme of transformations and alterations in familial life in fiction set during the period of insurgency and its aftermath in Assam. The fervour of Assamese Nationalism was deeply seated in the hearts of the Assamese intelligentsia and the students of the state, and hence the violent uprisings of the period became an agitation of the masses affecting every household. The systemic violence of the period gave a new direction to the functioning of society, and we are interested in tracing these changes through a literary study of the fictions written about the period.
Copyright (c) 2026 Neha Mahanta, Diganta Borgohain https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Rewriting Myth: A Feminist Revisionist Analysis of Amar Jyoti's Poetry
Mythological narratives have always been the foundation of our culture, as they transmit values, beliefs, and traditions from one generation to another. However, within a deeply patriarchal structure, these narratives tend to idealize and glorify male prowess and heroism. Conversely, they position women in roles defined primarily by sacrifice, chastity, and tolerance. Drawing on the theoretical framework of ‘revisionist mythology’ as articulated by American poet and critic Alicia Ostriker, the study employs a qualitative close textual analysis of the selected poetry. The study examines how Amar Jyoti, in her poetry, reinterprets mythological female figures such as Sita, Draupadi, and Ahalya to interrogate the inherited gender norms. The analysis primarily focuses on how these legendary figures are transformed from powerless and passive figures into agents of strength and resistance. By deconstructing the role of female figures in dominant mythological narratives such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, she not only criticizes the patriarchal structure but also reclaims these myths as vital sites of resistance and re-articulation. The study argues that Amar Jyoti’s poetry transforms myth into a critical site of feminist resistance and enables the reconstruction of female subjectivity within contemporary Punjabi literature.
Copyright (c) 2026 Masoom Sahib https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Graphic Fiction in India: When Images Think and Narratives See
Graphic fiction is not merely a genre of literature in India; it is a civilizational echo—a revival of a sense of aestheticity, a re-awakening of a sense of locality, which never uttered a word, but always offered pictures, symbols, and silence. In this regard, the present research paper interrogates its history as the site of communication between tradition and modernity, by trailing the genesis of graphic fiction through the indigenous visual culture such as the Pattachitra, Madhubani, and Warli up to the contemporary graphic tales. The paper tries to scrutinize how this cloth-based medium of scroll painting and visual storytelling hailing from Odisha, Bengal, Bihar, and Maharashtra, respectively, turns into a medium of thought instead of a medium of storytelling, where images do not illustrate what is real, but form it. The study is guided by the cultural theory of Arjun Appadurai, an Indian-American anthropologist, and is implemented using a qualitative and interpretive method in its attempt to demonstrate how globalization, media flows, and the hybrid identities remake the form of narratives. The analysis of the works, especially of River of Stories (1994), Corridor (2004), and Kari (2008), allows seeing the way graphic fiction breaks the linearity to reveal the dissonances of the development process, the loneliness of metropolitan life, and the fluidity of identity. The query claims that the graphic fiction, in India, has not only gone beyond the roots in pedagogy and entertainment but has also been transformed into a visual epistemology, a form of perceptiveness which is never closed but ever embraces fragmentation, comprising participation. Over all, the paper proclaims that Graphic fiction, as a fiction, does not depict the world—it disciplines the eye to perceive what reality hides.
Copyright (c) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Nature, Rural Life and Eco-critical understanding in Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay's Pather Panchali (Song of the Road)
Literature is always a reflection of nature, society or surrounding and it perceives the transfiguration of the environment where we exist. Kate Soper writes – “…that nature is a series of changing cultural constructions that can be used to praise and blame”. Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay’s Pather Panchali (Song of the Road) is perhaps one of the greatest contributions to Bengali Literature for the depiction of changing cultural constructions. It is a vividly moving and utterly authentic portrayal of village people and the daily chores of their life at the backdrop of nature. Here the village and its natural landscape is not idealized; it is not explained or commented on; it is presented as it is, objectively at times, but more often subjectively, by the people who live in it. The two immortal characters – Opu and Durga walk along wondering what the road has in store for them round the next bend. Some of the stretches are lush with grass and fruit, gay with flowers and bird-song; but others are hard under foot and strewn with thorns; sometimes white - hot with the summer heat, sometimes lashed by storms and darkened by the threatening clouds; though always there is hope that the air will be kinder and going forward will be less burdensome. Through these romantic imageries, Opu and Durga still continue their journey, growing continuously in character and experience and in the nature of their dreams with a lot of expectation for the future. Besides the rural landscape and intricate depiction of nature, the novel also anticipates modern ecocritical concerns by typifying an intimate, everyday relationship between poverty-stricken villagers and the fragile ecosystems of rural Bengal. The study of the novel also examines how poverty and marginalization aggravates ecological accountability, suggesting that class and caste inequalities are inseparable from environmental injustice. The paper attempts to study nature, greenery, simplicity and its abundance as narrated by the author in the text. We would also try to discern how human perception connects idiosyncratically and impartially the condition of life with the serenity of nature and how green readings of the fiction offer a vernacular model of ecological consciousness.
Copyright (c) 2026 Leena Sarkar Bhaduri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Freedom Movement, Partition and Their Effects on the ‘dangerous outcasts’ As Portrayed in Contemporary Films and Literature
This present work discusses the historical practices of tawaifs and prostitutes in Indian history and portrayal of them in films and literature. Sumanta Bannerjee in his book "Dangerous Outcast: The Prostitute in Nineteenth century Bengal" (1998) talks about how the profession of prostitution underwent a vast change in Bengal after the Britishers came into control. They legally controlled this ancient profession which caters to the basic instinct of mankind. The Britishers during their rule enacted many laws subjecting the women's body to the state control. Their motive waas to mainly protect the government servants. Such discipline and punish was extended even during India's Independence and during the partition.
Copyright (c) 2026 Amrita Bhattacharya https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Walls of Delhi: Three Stories by Uday Prakash
The Walls of Delhi: Three Stories by Uday Prakash, translated by Jason Grunebaum, published by Seven Stories Press in 2014, ISBN: 978-1609805289, 234 pages, Rs 350.
Memory, Myth, and Cultural Belonging in the Poetry of A.K. Ramanujan
The paper explores the centrality of family, memory, cultural rootedness, Indian soul and soil in the poetry of A. K. Ramanujan, one of the significant voices of Indian English poetry. Living between India and America, Ramanujan experienced the tensions of migration, displacement, and bicultural existence, yet his poetry consistently returns to the emotional landscape of home. His poems recreate memories of parents, relatives, rituals, family, myths, and domestic spaces that shape his inner world and preserve his Indian identity. Family becomes not merely a social unit but a symbolic shelter and refuge that protects the self from alienation and rootlessness. Through irony, nostalgia, myth, and personal recollection, Ramanujan transforms private experiences into universal reflections on belonging, rootedness and identity. His engagement with Hindu beliefs, legends, and traditions further reveals his attempt to connect the inherited past with the realities of the present. The presence of the past is the hallmark of his poetry. The paper argues that Ramanujan’s poetry derives its emotional depth and sustenance from this continuous dialogue between memory and modernity, exile and belonging, tradition and contemporary life. His poems ultimately affirm that cultural memory and familial relationships remain essential sources of emotional stability and selfhood in a rapidly globalizing world.
Silence, Selfhood, and Patriarchal Pressure in Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors
What is the value of being a woman in a society that values you on your skin colour, your obedience and the ego of your husband? The Dark Holds No Terrors by Shashi Deshpande is an unsettling question that is answered in the book's psychological examination of Sarita's progression to become an abused wife and her quest for identity in the absence of a voice. Through the character of Sarita, The Dark Holds No Terrors examines the themes of gender discrimination, emotional trauma, marital abuse, silence and self-discovery. It examines the role of patriarchy in forming women's identities from childhood and how it continues to impact women's lives as they get married and into society. Sarita's experiences as an unwanted daughter, a professionally successful woman and an exploited wife highlight the psychological consequences of gender inequality. Deshpande employs silence and darkness for the purpose of not just symbolizing pain but also spaces of introspection and transformation. The novel is structured through psychological realism and introspection as Sarita moves from fear and guilt, towards self-awareness and self-acceptance. This paper discusses the connection between patriarchy, silence and identity formation in the novel and suggests that the book by Deshpande shows an internalisation of women's empowerment instead of an external protest. The novel is also a significant novel of feminist discourse in India as it reveals the significance of Indian women in relation to oppressive structures, and their quest for freedom and dignity.
Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and the Literature of Universal Humanism: A Comparative Study of Vedic and English Thought
This paper discusses the Vedic principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ("the entire earth is one family"), outlining it as an ancient Indian ethical construct relevant to the modern world. The study is based on the primary Vedic and Upanishadic literature, such as the Rigveda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and the Maha Upanishad, and charts the intellectual history of the doctrine, from the earliest hymns of collective harmony to its philosophical crystallization as a universal moral imperative. The paper also compares the tradition with the classic English poetry of Shelley, Arnold, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Hopkins, Ruskin, Donne, Eliot in order to show that the Vedic imperatives of collective well-being, of ecological responsibility, of dietary discipline, and of yogic liberation find compelling parallels in the works of these poets. The paper highlights that the Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is not a local cultural sentiment but a well-founded and universalistic moral approach. This philosophy is an alternative to the individualistic and exploitation-driven ethos of modern times, a need in the moral consciousness of all humanity at a time when the climate crisis, resource conflict, moral decay and civilizational fragmentation are haunting the world.
The Sultanate Market and the Literary Imagination: Alauddin Khalji’s Economic Policy Revisited
This paper presents a strong socio-economic critique of the ‘Market Control Policy’ (Siyasat-i-bazar) of the most powerful and ambitious Sultan of Delhi Sultanate, Alauddin Khalji. The main objective of the study is to consider the reasons that led the sultan to impose strict price controls. It relies chiefly on the chronicles of the historian Ziauddin Barani and demonstrates that the constant Mongol attacks made it necessary to keep a large standing army, and that under limited fiscal means, keeping the commodity prices at a bare minimum was the only way to pay soldiers low wages. The paper goes beyond economic statistics and addresses the general social impact of the policy, which broke down the middlemen, black marketeers, and corrupt traders, but also placed the productive classes—peasants and merchants—in an environment of harsh state control. The study is based on whether Khalji's economic structure was purely military or had a visionary part which was geared towards the economic stabilization of medieval India. Lastly the paper examines the role of the state in the medieval economy by following the policy's downfall and its far-reaching social consequences.
Copyright (c) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sport, Sovereignty, and Spectacle: Mughal Sports Culture in Historical and English Literary Perspectives
During the medieval period in India, the Muslims rulers saw sports and huntings as a part of royal life. Traditional games like chaugan (Polo) were encouraged by Mughal emperors, Akbar built chaugan grounds at Fatehpur Sikri and organized them in the Mughal empire. They controlled hunting (particularly the big ring-hunt of the qamargah) and organized large royal hunting parties. The royal patronage was extended to folk sports like wrestling too; wrestlers were called in to the festive occasions to play mall-yuddha (combat). Those activities were linked to military training, social order and also martial skill and royal splendor. The purpose of this study is to look at the main sports (chaugan, hunting, wrestling, archery and chess) and the policies that helped to form them (royal patronage, regulation, taxation and festival organization), and their social impact. The key sources consulted are Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari, Mughal farmans, and the accounts of the travellers of the period, as well as modern scholarship.
Copyright (c) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The “Golden Bird” in History and Literature: Trade Networks and Economic Prosperity in Ancient India
The real agenda of the entire investigation is to know the mechanism of India's emergence as the ‘Golden Bird' (sone ki chidiya) of the world when many other civilizations were still unorganized in the process of exchange. We have all heard that India was once a country of marvelous riches, but that riches did not fall down from the sky; it was the real income of our fathers' hard work, perseverence and marvellous commercial sagacity. This scholarly research examines the organization of the craftsmen and traders of the ancient world, as well as the nature of the markets and fairs in villages and the customs by which they conducted their business with distant, unknown lands. The paper follows the path from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the ‘Golden Age’ of Gupta dynasty, analyzing how the world's wealth was attracted to India. In non-technical language, it illustrates the skill of Indians artisans and the bravery of the Indian traders to secure India's sovereignty in the world markets. The final premise is obvious—with that old commercial muscle, there is no one who could stop India from regaining its pre-eminence in the world.
Copyright (c) 2019 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Cultural Identity as Resistance: Countering Cultural Imperialism in African Literary Fiction
This research paper examines the intricate relationship between cultural imperialism and cultural identity in African literary fiction. It contends that colonialism operated not merely as a mechanism of political subjugation but also as a cultural endeavour that reconfigured African cultural identities through language, religion, education, and representation. The study utilizes a diverse array of novelists, including Chinua Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, Tsitsi Dangarembga, J. M. Coetzee, and Nadine Gordimer, to illustrate that African fiction serves as a platform for resistance, negotiation, and the reconstruction of cultural identity. Colonial rule in Africa encompassed not only political and economic exploitation but also a systematic imposition of European cultural values, leading to what can be described as cultural imperialism. Consequently, African communities faced a crisis of cultural identity. African novelists used literature as a powerful way to talk about this crisis and try to get back their cultural heritage. This paper examines the ways in which African fiction portrays and challenges cultural imperialism while reclaiming a cultural identity.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sanganand Bagde https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Revisiting Shakuntala: An Ecofeminist Interpretation of Abhijnanashakuntalam
Ecofeminism, is an interdisciplinary critical framework, that investigates the intertwined subjugation of women and nature within the patriarchal mechanism. While most ecofeminist studies have engaged with modern narratives, classical works rooted in indigenous ecological thought remain underexplored. This paper undertakes an ecofeminist re-evaluation of the play Abhijnanashakuntalam by Kalidasa highlighting the inherent ecofeminist solidarity that shapes the evolutionary sojourn of its central character. By highlighting her transformative journey from a naive maiden to an empowered woman in the lap of nature, this paper argues how nature in this play is not merely a passive backdrop but a living, dynamic force facilitating resistance, regeneration and justice beyond human institutions. Engaging with the theoretical insights of Vandana Shiva, Susan Griffin, Carolyn Merchant, Sherry B. Ortner etc. this article situates the play within the contemporary ecofeminist discussions. Ultimately the paper positions Shakuntala as a proto-ecofeminist figure whose empowerment stems from her alignment with nature.
Copyright (c) 2026 Gayatri Muna, Dr. Brahmananda Padra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Nature as a Spiritual Medium: A Transcendentalist Reading of the Poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson
It was the poetry that did put most forcibly into words the articulation of Transcendentalism. This looks at nature as a vital instrument of realisation. This paper discusses the relationship between nature and spirituality in the selected poems of Emerson. His poetic vision makes the discarding of the material and the metaphysical possible. Through close textual readings of poems like “The Rhodora,” “Each and All,” “The Snow-Storm,” and “Nature,” the study shows how Emerson constructs nature as a symbolic and experiential medium that reveals the presence of a universal spirit. Based on Emerson’s Over-Soul, the paper argues that nature in his poetry is not simply an aesthetic or descriptive thing but a living entity that reflects an active and living divine unity. According to Emerson, flowers, trees, rivers, hills and storms express the universal energy of nature through symbolic language. The use of this dynamic structure allows one to go beyond empirical perception to intuitive knowing and affirms Transcendentalism’s emphasis on an individual’s autonomy and illumination. In addition, Emerson’s relationship with nature, which designates a centre of harmony and a centre of tension, is also examined for its beauty and empowerment. The paper situates Emerson’s poetry within broader Romantic and philosophical traditions while highlighting the uniqueness of his contribution to American thought. Emerson redefines spirituality as an immanent experience, with which one can relate consciousness and perception; instead of the institutionalised nature of the institutionalized, spirituality refers to the natural area. This study concludes by asserting that Emerson’s poetic treatment of Nature encompasses a whole vision of Reality in which the self and the universe are interconnected through spirit. In assigning any value to poems, the essay has an implication in the history and development of science criticism in America.
Copyright (c) 2026 Munish KumarThakur, Dhan Raj Bist https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Beyond the Curse: Mapping Epistemic Agency and Spiritual Interiority in Kavita Kané’s Ahalya’s Awakening
This research aims to explore the life of a woman, the wonderful creation of Lord Brahma, and the doting wife of a great Rishi; however, she has been cursed by her husband to remain invisible to all beings for thousands of years and will be liberated and redeemed by the touch of Shri Ram. Her name is Ahalya; she is not well described in Hindu mythology; however, she is known for her moral transgression. Moreover, the dichotomous situation is that she has become the symbol of female chastity and has been extolled as the Panchakanya (the five iconic women from the Hindu Epics), which struck a chord with Kavita Kané, bringing her onto the dais and humanising her as a contemporary woman. The objective of this research is to explore Ahalya’s attitudinal shift, which transforms her blemished image from that of a condemned adulteress into a pious, independent woman. This research examines how Ahalya asserts her individuality in a patriarchal world, turns her curse into a boon, and ultimately finds her salvation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Shivani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Tradition Reimagined: The Evolving Reception of Vijay Tendulkar's Plays in Contemporary Indian Theatre
Vijay Tendulkar is one of the most outstanding writers of plays in India who has always brought a twist in the traditional values and norms in his plays, thus providing a critical commentary to the socio-political realities of his era. The paper breaks down the reinterpretation of Vijay Tendulkar’s plays in the modern context, with reference to the subversion of traditional narrative and conventions of theatrical production in the contemporary performances. An examination of the major works as Sakharam Binder, Ghashiram Kotwal and Silence! The Court is in Session, the research investigates the approaches that the directors have towards the socio-political themes present in the writing of Tendulkar as well as the challenges directed at them by the directors. These adaptations are relevant to the modern audience, as they include new staging devices and allusions to modern culture, creating different responses to them, which mirror the concerns of the society. The article emphasizes the role of the contemporary performance in challenging the traditional understanding of gender relations and power distribution as well as encouraging the audience to think critically about the intricacies of Tendulkar’s critique of authority and morality. Finally, it is evident in this study that the Tendulkar’s work remains relevant in modern theatre, and it has the potential to become a subject of discussion and raise awareness about burning social and political issues.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nand Gopal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Cinema, Digital Media, and Ecological Representation: An Indian Perspective
The new dimensions in recent decades have given the manifestation of the environmental consciousness in the Indian cinema, as well as in the digital media. This research paper focuses on ecocinema as it appeared and developed in the context of Indians. It focuses on regional films, independent documentaries and Adivasi media practices by going beyond mainstream Bollywood. It states that in an Indian environment, the concept of environmental representation is deeply connected with such questions as caste, class, colonialism heritage, and development politics. The research paper is split into four parts: the first examines historical changes of green themes in the Indian cinema, the second examines the new forms of storytelling in the digital era such as web series and community media projects, the third takes into account the methodological innovation used in the study of the Indian cinema, and lastly the fourth part challenges the material aspects of media infrastructure and the issue of environmental justice. All along, it has been argued that Indian approach provides new orientations to ecocinema research in the world, especially in the environment of postcolonial ecology and the voice of the marginalized.
Copyright (c) 2026 Abhijeet Dawle, Shivaji Methe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Development and Impact of Digital Theatre on Contemporary Performance Arts
Digital theater is an iconic revolution in learning institutions as technology keeps gaining momentum and penetrating numerous aspects of learning. The integration of digital theater practices in traditional theaters programs is explored in the work, and its role in enhancing learning outcomes, audience participation, and creativity is discussed against the backgrounds of the audiences who are the consumers of such artistic outputs. The paper assesses the role of technology and online platforms in transforming the theatrical education landscape, not only during post-pandemic periods, but also considering the creative application of digital resources, such as virtual performance venues, augmented reality, and multimedia storytelling, to support new expressions and collaboration among students by examining case studies in multiple educational settings. The negative aspects of digital theater are also mentioned in the study, including inequality of resources, access, and need to develop the professionalism of teachers. By conducting qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, this research will offer a perspective on how digital theatre can and does not only supplement but also redefine the educational frontiers of theatre practice. Ultimately, the results will add to the discussion of the future of theatre education, supporting the strategic incorporation of digital approaches to promote inclusivity and flexibility in a fast-evolving world.
Copyright (c) 2026 Lucy Michael Iseyen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0