ABSTRACT
Chapter II highlights a spectrum of themes such as family and marriage. While there is an overall emphasis on the brahmanical ideology as far as the situation of women is concerned, there are nevertheless regional variations that have found their way into Purāṇic narratives. The present chapter is an attempt to locate and identify the myriad images of women in these texts, especially in the five Purāṇas that are the focus of study, and to comprehend the manner in which these images may have reflected, shaped, and affected the reality of women’s lives. Even though the Purāṇas contain material belonging to different centuries as mentioned in the Introduction, they can be categorised as early (Viṣṇu, Mārkaṇḍeya, Matsya) and later (Agni and Bhāgavata), and an attempt will be made through the chain of analysis contained here to distinguish between the overlaps and the subtle changes which they reflect over time.
