Introduction

In a 1990 article titled 'The Myth of Judith Shakespeare: Creating the Canon of Women's literature', Margaret J. M. Ezell argues that a great number of pre-eighteenth-century British women writers are now totally forgotten. As it was difficult for women to be published, many of them circulated their works in manuscript form among acquaintances, which Ezell calls 'coterie circles' (Ezell 1990: 590). Subsequently, their names and works have disappeared from the literary pantheon. the history of women's writing has met with a similar fate across race, region and age; their works remain relatively unread and understudied in academic scholarship, which in turn has led to a limited understanding of their creative potential. South Asian women writers are no exception to this norm.