Devathaigal Sooniyakkarigal Pengal

About the book

Influenced by Neil MacGregor's 'A History of the World in Hundred Objects', this new book attempts to narrate an alternate history of the world in fifty objects from the feminist point of view. Culture, mythology, politics, literature, philosophy, sociology, arts, science and every other subject known to humankind have been dominated exclusively by men. In other words, the history of humankind is reduced to nothing but the history of men. That is how it has always been taught, written, argued and understood.

History proves otherwise. In the beginning, women were the leading power centres. They were instrumental in social formations. They fought battles, invented things, raised questions, ruled places, wrote stuff and created storms and revolutions. How then did matriarchy give way to patriarchy? Did women simply surrender their power to men on a platter? Devathaigal Sooniyakarigal Pengal raises these important questions and attempts to reorient our thinking, examine certain accepted concepts, question all values and judgments and reevaluate our world and ourselves.

About the author

Marudhan is a Tamil writer based in Chennai. He is a regular contributor to The Hindu Tamil, Ananda Vikatan, Junior Vikatan and a few other Tamil magazines. He is the Editor of New Horizon Media, one of the leading publication houses in Tamil Nadu. Marudhan writes extensively on history, international affairs, politics and society. He has written over 25 books in Tamil on these topics. Currently, he is working on a comprehensive history of ancient India. Some of his recent publications include Romila Thapar (an introduction to Thapar's life and works), Ashoka (the Emperor and his times) and India Kandupidikapatta Kathai (on foreign travellers to ancient India). A few of his books have won awards from educational institutions and literary institutions. Devathaigal Sooniyakarigal Pengal appeared as a series of articles in a woman's magazine for over a year and was subsequently brought out as a book by Her Stories publications.