ABSTRACT
This chapter tries to understand Bhojpuri women's folk songs as scripts of gendered conjugal performances. It tries to locate gender as an analytical category, being performed in the 'text' of the folk songs. The chapter addresses the 'disjunctures' in gendered conjugal performances, outside and inside folk songs. It describes overview of folk song genres would be extremely useful, as it would shed further light on the form, content and context of folk songs. The chapter discusses the genres, which 'perform conjugality' in the absence of husbands. It illustrates how folk songs are scripts of gendered conjugal performance which mark a departure from conjugal performances in 'real'. In Bhojpuri region, women folk songs are performed in women's exclusive spaces. However, men may listen to these songs from a distance but they do not constitute the 'legitimate' audience.
