VISUAL NARRATIVES IN CONSTRUCTING INDIAN WOMANHOOD: VISUALISATION OF SITA IN AMAR CHITRA KATHA AND EARLY 20TH-CENTURY INDIAN CALENDAR ART
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v7.i1.2026.7050Keywords:
Gendered Perception, Indian Womanhood, Amar Chitra Katha, Calendar Art, Visual AnalysisAbstract [English]
The paper explores how the visual art forms, particularly the Amar Chitra Katha and the early 20th-century calendar art, contribute to the gendered perception of Indian womanhood. Using the illustrations of Sita as pre-text, the study investigates how these visual narratives construct the notion of womanhood through three dimensions: Sita as a pious and divine, sensually idealised woman subject, and an intellectual figure with voice and agency. This changing representation of Sita can thus be understood as a part of a broader cultural paradigm shift which challenges the gendered patriarchal notions and opens spaces for reconstruction, negotiation, embodiment and agency. Building on Rudolf Arnheim’s theory on ‘Visual Thinking’ and Geetha Kapur (2000) theoretical notions regarding visual culture, the analysis focuses on how attire, postures, body movements, curves, positioning, colour, and tone are used to convey the changing perception of womanhood. The study hypothesises that these visual illustrations have contributed to the dynamic visual codification of womanhood, which brings socio-cultural attitudinal shifts in readership in terms of gendered perception and inclusivity.
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