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Book Review: Victor Mallet, River of Life, River of Death: The Ganges and India’s Future

supported the practice of polygamy, forcing new brides into antagonistic relationships with their mother-in-law, sister(s)-in-law and co-wives. Such conflicts strengthen the position of male household heads, reflected in the lament that ‘[m]y notorious husband ... Is always threatening me ... He is taking his food ... And scolding me without any reason ... He is lying down with [an]other lady ... And getting his entertainment’ (p. 130). Riddles and rhymes, heavily symbolic in nature, can be used to send strong messages of abasement and sexual objectification. Widespread acceptance of this has led to ‘wish-fulfilling’ rhymes chanted by Bankura women, whose ‘motifemes’ include the desire to be reborn ‘as a human being’ in an ideal family as preached about by the Puranas (pp. 153–4). The final element in the narrative completes the cycle by discussing folklore arising out of organic community organisations and examining their use as a form of resistance. Chapter 6 details how female political and economic participation has increased since the 1990s, supported by certain amendments to the Indian Constitution. Chattopadhyay also discusses the supportive role of civil society associations, notably self-help groups as means of access to credit and education, earlier political movements like the Gandhian non-cooperation and freedom movements, and recent government programmes that use retelling of folklore as a progressive tool. The main contribution this book makes to the vast literature on gender inequality is therefore its study of the ‘inner dynamism’ of popular culture, finding that ‘culture uses reality as much as reality uses culture’ (p. 220). There are some issues with the clarity of data in Chapter 3 in particular, as in some places legends and data visualisation would have aided understanding. But overall this is an interesting read for all those piqued by the continuing social and economic geographies of gender inequality.