Paper Title
Not a Damsel in Distress: A Study of Select Women from the Kathasaritsagar

Abstract
Gender studies across literature is a matter of great interest to researchers. The focus on women in ancient India has always been on mythical tales or Manu smriti(ancient Manual/code of conduct for Hinduism) and popular notions that have permeated into the Indian psyche via colonial and patriarchal rules. Contrary to the existing notions of women in early Medieval India being ‘subjugated’ or ‘illiterate’, the Great tales of Kathasaritsagar (KSS), which is an early medieval Indian text, portray women in a positive way. The women in the KSS are learned, intelligent, clever, eloquent, and always to the rescue of men in their lives. Using the theories of Liberal Feminism, this marked deviation from being a ‘weakling’ to the ‘unassailable’ is being celebrated in this paper. Keywords – Kathasaritsagar, Women in the KSS, Medieval Indian Women, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies