Female Identity and Conduct Book Tradition in Orissa

Feminist critics and historiographers have studied the place of 'advice for women' texts vis-a-vis female identity formation in Bengal during the late 19th and early 20th century. Regrettably, however, little or no work has been done in the context of Orissa. This essay focuses attention on a three-volume work Gruha Laxmi by Jagabandhu Singh published during the late thirties and early forties in Orissa.