Abhaya

It was Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie who reminded us that lives are rarely single stories—rather “they are composed of overlapping stories.”

Abhayaa – Women Who Dared is a lecture demonstration by musician Chitra Srikrishna that features the work of women poets across India from the 8th to the 21st century, from Andal of Tamil Nadu to Lal Ded of Kashmir, Soyarabai of Maharashtra, Ambabai and Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka.

While these poets have been celebrated for their work the story of their lives and poetry is often rendered monochromatically as a single story—that of devotion.

In this program, Chitra Srikrishna reflects on the reality of their lives—caste discrimination, trauma of child marriage and widowhood, and travails of social expectations whether in their marriages or communities which while glossed over by others, informs their work.

This program was featured as part of the Indian Music Experience Museum's ‘Women’s History Month’ programming.