'Indian Women: Myth and Reality' was the theme of a National seminar organized by us on 9, 10 and 11 March 1989. Queries from different parts of India prompted us to put together the contributions that make up this volume. This is an incomplete volume, in the sense that a few articles that were either presented or scheduled to be presented in the seminar have nor been included. We hope to bring out a companion volume when they are made available to us.

We owe special thanks to Chandreyee Niyogi for her careful translation of the inaugural address given by Ashapurna Devi and Shailaja Kejriwal and Arun Patnaik for translating and transcribing Manimala's talk. In preparing the volume we had valuable assistance from Sarbani Goswami, Madhuchchanda Karlekar, Ashok Mukherji, Samir Roy, Subha Das Gupta, Sutapa Niyogi, Subimal Bhattacharya, Robin Mukherji, Srikant Jana and Aniruddha Bagchi, Despite our best efforts flaws always have remained.

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This book analyzes the current myths of Indian womanhood and explains how these influence the lives of Indian women. The essays in this volume written by noted historians, social scientists, activists and litterateurs study the social status of women over the past hundred years, as perceived through prevailing social norms, religion, art literature and films. They address the problems of all women, who strive to enrich their lives and surroundings and focus on the fact that whether urban middle class or rural poor, society always seeks to marginalize them through laws, media representations, social customs and economic deprivation. The book notes with concern that no genuine social upliftment can be effected unless the material and ideological constraints on their lives are properly confronted.