Gendered Publics

The book comprehensively appraises the relatively unexplored but highly impactful women's association, the Assam Mahila Samiti, which led one of the most remarkable women's movements in colonial India. The Assam Mahila Samiti was perhaps the largest democratic women's association in India. Central to the Samiti story is its founding secretary, Chandraprava Saikiani (1901-72) who, despite being an unwed mother, and belonging to a lower caste, was a celebrated writer and a polemical columnist.