ABSTRACT
The home and the world have been theorised as the distinction between the inner and outer domain, as also between the private and the public, with women ensconced in the so-called private/domestic domain and men in the public. The typical family/home of a Banaras Muslim weaver is a large family with the number of members ranging from seven – eight to 12–14. The educational level of most of the families profiled was low, with the older generation, barring a few, being illiterate. This chapter provides some glimpses into the lives of the families that were profiled: the manner in which they earn their daily bread, their spiritual/religious lives, their existential dilemmas, their frustrations regarding the present and hopes for the future and, their capacity to just endure and survive. It highlights the overall structural matrix to concretise and historicise the range of choices that are available to the men and women of the Momin Ansari weaver families of Banaras.
